Stage 2 and HIDs installed! - LotusTalk

s14roller · 10-06-2008, 09:02 AM

So yesterday glb, macdady2424 and one more fellow who's sn i don't know met up with me to install the stage 2 and DDM HIDs. First and foremost, thanks a TON to the guys for helping the install. They were knowledgeable about the car and knew tricks to make the process a bit smoothy. Top notch fellows.

As for the mods, well, I'm extremely happy. The DDMs I went with (direct from the DDM site) was the 55w 6000K kit. The lighting difference is unbelieveable. I really can't stress what a difference this made...and the kit was around $150...better lighting/safety/looks, what else could you ask for? Finally my "exotic" has HIDs like the rest of my cars lol

As for the stage 2...also very pleased. It's much deeper/louder than videos/sound clips would suggest. The car sounds great and I can't wait to take it out again! The "gurbles" and "pops" aren't very loud and I can barely hear them but the exhaust overall still sounds great.

FYI for those considering the exhaust. If the stock was a 5 out of 10 on the noise scale, I'd say this exhaust is around a 8. Loud but liveable (need to play with the RPM in your development at night lol) but not loud enough to drown out a conversation or go deaf (although a friend said I was screaming at her on the phone while in the car).

Can't wait to take the car out again!

carbuff · 10-07-2008, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by s14roller

So yesterday glb, macdady2424 and one more fellow who's sn i don't know met up with me to install the stage 2 and DDM HIDs.

That was me. You can tell from my car's picture.

How late did you stay? Sorry I couldn't see the project through to completion...

Anyway you were in good hands...glb knows the ins & outs of the HID conversion. And it was obvious that MacDaddy had taken an Elise exhaust out before!

s14roller · 10-08-2008, 10:39 AM

Atwell, we stayed to about 915. It was dark by then so we aligned the HIDs.

All in all the car came out great! HIDs are spectacular!

macdady2424 · 10-08-2008, 07:04 PM

Cool. Was gonna ask how everything turned out. Guess the lights make a huge difference. As for the exhaust, hope there are no weird rattles or vibrations. And with the exhaust, you gotta get up in the higher RPMs and then kinda coast/idle and let them fall back down. You'll find ranges where the exhaust makes different noises and gets louder or quieter.

Hopefully we'll see you out on some of the drives coming up before winter hits hard.

s14roller · 10-09-2008, 06:58 AM

Yeah the exhaust install was great. Thanks for all your help! No strange noises or anything although I must say, it is alot louder than I expected. All the sound clips don't nearly capture the true sound level. Def. fun on short rides though!

iwantanelise · 10-09-2008, 03:45 PM

Uggg...non-factory HID's. Congrats on getting them. On my next ride (hopefully a Lotus), I hope to have them as well, but I sort of dread them. The two cars that I was able to drive for extended periods of time had non-factory HID's (Crossfire and Elise) and yet one bulb would go out at least once every drive, and then you had to wait for them to come back on whenever they want. To have to worry about whether or not your lights work or not when you turn them on kills any driving experience. Nevertheless, please keep us updated on their condition as time goes on. They certainly help improve visibility by a ton, but my unreliable experiences with them worry me too. Just something I'd like to share with you.

Of course, if anyone has never had a light bulb go out on their HID's, give me the name of the kit!

ENJOY!

Oh, and the stage 2 is very fun. The supercharged Elise I was driving for a few days always cracked, snapped, and popped every 2-3 shift, even when driving lightly. Very fun indeed.

glb · 10-09-2008, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iwantanelise

Uggg...non-factory HID's. Congrats on getting them. On my next ride (hopefully a Lotus), I hope to have them as well, but I sort of dread them. The two cars that I was able to drive for extended periods of time had non-factory HID's (Crossfire and Elise) and yet one bulb would go out at least once every drive, and then you had to wait for them to come back on whenever they want. To have to worry about whether or not your lights work or not when you turn them on kills any driving experience. Nevertheless, please keep us updated on their condition as time goes on. They certainly help improve visibility by a ton, but my unreliable experiences with them worry me too. Just something I'd like to share with you.

Of course, if anyone has never had a light bulb go out on their HID's, give me the name of the kit!

ENJOY!

Oh, and the stage 2 is very fun. The supercharged Elise I was driving for a few days always cracked, snapped, and popped every 2-3 shift, even when driving lightly. Very fun indeed.

Mine are from the same source as OP and they've not missed a beat in the 1.4 yr and 10k miles I've had them, except for the dbl-sided tape failing, which I expected.

Plus, we got some sort of lifetime warranty.

Mr. Know · 10-09-2008, 08:52 PM

Always awesome to have a bunch of gearheads get together and help mod a fellow owner's car.

I bet the Stage 2 sounds great.

10-06-2008, 09:02 AM	#1 (permalink)
s14roller Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 138	Stage 2 and HIDs installed! So yesterday glb, macdady2424 and one more fellow who's sn i don't know met up with me to install the stage 2 and DDM HIDs. First and foremost, thanks a TON to the guys for helping the install. They were knowledgeable about the car and knew tricks to make the process a bit smoothy. Top notch fellows. As for the mods, well, I'm extremely happy. The DDMs I went with (direct from the DDM site) was the 55w 6000K kit. The lighting difference is unbelieveable. I really can't stress what a difference this made...and the kit was around $150...better lighting/safety/looks, what else could you ask for? Finally my "exotic" has HIDs like the rest of my cars lol As for the stage 2...also very pleased. It's much deeper/louder than videos/sound clips would suggest. The car sounds great and I can't wait to take it out again! The "gurbles" and "pops" aren't very loud and I can barely hear them but the exhaust overall still sounds great. FYI for those considering the exhaust. If the stock was a 5 out of 10 on the noise scale, I'd say this exhaust is around a 8. Loud but liveable (need to play with the RPM in your development at night lol) but not loud enough to drown out a conversation or go deaf (although a friend said I was screaming at her on the phone while in the car). Can't wait to take the car out again! __________________ 05 Chrome Orange Elise Touring pack, Sports pack, Starshield, Stage II, HIDs

10-08-2008, 10:39 AM	#3 (permalink)
s14roller Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 138	Atwell, we stayed to about 915. It was dark by then so we aligned the HIDs. All in all the car came out great! HIDs are spectacular! __________________ 05 Chrome Orange Elise Touring pack, Sports pack, Starshield, Stage II, HIDs

10-08-2008, 07:04 PM	#4 (permalink)
macdady2424 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Northern NJ Posts: 937	Cool. Was gonna ask how everything turned out. Guess the lights make a huge difference. As for the exhaust, hope there are no weird rattles or vibrations. And with the exhaust, you gotta get up in the higher RPMs and then kinda coast/idle and let them fall back down. You'll find ranges where the exhaust makes different noises and gets louder or quieter. Hopefully we'll see you out on some of the drives coming up before winter hits hard. __________________ 225 TTQC & 05 Elise

10-09-2008, 06:58 AM	#5 (permalink)
s14roller Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 138	Yeah the exhaust install was great. Thanks for all your help! No strange noises or anything although I must say, it is alot louder than I expected. All the sound clips don't nearly capture the true sound level. Def. fun on short rides though! __________________ 05 Chrome Orange Elise Touring pack, Sports pack, Starshield, Stage II, HIDs

10-09-2008, 03:45 PM	#6 (permalink)
iwantanelise Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 332	Uggg...non-factory HID's. Congrats on getting them. On my next ride (hopefully a Lotus), I hope to have them as well, but I sort of dread them. The two cars that I was able to drive for extended periods of time had non-factory HID's (Crossfire and Elise) and yet one bulb would go out at least once every drive, and then you had to wait for them to come back on whenever they want. To have to worry about whether or not your lights work or not when you turn them on kills any driving experience. Nevertheless, please keep us updated on their condition as time goes on. They certainly help improve visibility by a ton, but my unreliable experiences with them worry me too. Just something I'd like to share with you. Of course, if anyone has never had a light bulb go out on their HID's, give me the name of the kit! ENJOY! Oh, and the stage 2 is very fun. The supercharged Elise I was driving for a few days always cracked, snapped, and popped every 2-3 shift, even when driving lightly. Very fun indeed. __________________ CP Detailing...http://cpdetailing.com Please feel free to ask me questions on how to keep your Lotus looking gorgeous or for detailing rates!

10-09-2008, 08:52 PM	#8 (permalink)
Mr. Know British by extrapolation Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Marin, California Posts: 2,160 Images: 5	Always awesome to have a bunch of gearheads get together and help mod a fellow owner's car. I bet the Stage 2 sounds great. __________________ 07 Magnetic Blue Exige S

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