[AlexApps]

I bought a 2010 Elise on Sunday and then drove about 900 miles across Europe. Apart from the roof leaking slightly, the weather being absolutely awful, the right headlight flickering off occasionally, and scraping the underside slightly twice, it was a good trip. The low beam headlights are useless though. I'm going to replace them with some HIDs ASAP. I'll look into getting the driving lights to improve the high beam too.

I've read lots about the different HID kits available but none seem to get that fantastic reviews.

Has anyone tried these from theretrofitsource? I get the impression they're good but I'd like to know how difficult they will be to fit and if they are plug and play.

H7: Morimoto Elite HID System - HID Systems from The Retrofit Source Inc

 

[holmz]

If you are remote and have the high been on for a long time, then HIDs work in the high beam.
If you flick them on, or flash them a lot to signal other drivers, then non HIDs may be better in the HB slot.

The warmest colour (which is the coolest in K(elvin), do not look as cool as the purplely-blue ones, but are brightest, and attract the least attention.
(something 4.5k to 5500k I think)
The sank-factor for the high temp ones are better though.

There is a SELOC forum out of England is you are in Europe...

 

[Nessal]

For some reason these are not that popular on this forum. In fact, I only ever saw 1 person that had a set.

Anyways, I bought a set a month ago and installed them. They work like any retrofit should. I got the 5k bulb and it is pure white without any blue. I won't recommend anything above 5k. I'm going to try 4.3k bulbs in the future.

Install was not horribly hard but I did order the wrong kit. I got the HD relay hit when the kit that you want is the CANBUS kit. For some reason upon cold fire up, either one of the bulbs would not fire up or both would not fire up. I had to hit the light switch again in order for them to turn on. I was told by TRS that I needed the canbus adapter because it has the extra capacitors in them that will aid in cold fire ups. However, once turned on for a little bit, they will fire on and off just fine. It is when the car has been sitting for a few hours that it does it. I got the CANBUS adaptor but haven't had a chance to install them yet. Also these retrofit kits take quite a bit longer than OEM HID to fully warm up. For example, the OEM HID in my Camaro warms up within 3 seconds. These take about 15 seconds to get to the pure white color. On warm up, it is this nasty blueish ricer color.

Now, prior to this kit, I had a DDM kit in the car. To be honest, I don't have any issues with DDM at all. I only replaced it because one of the light bulbs went out and I decided to get a "higher" quality kit. However after receiving the morimoto kit....just on face value, I don't think the morimotos are any different besides being 5X the price. I may be wrong...but it's just my observation. What you pay for is the customer service from TRS. Is it worth it? Well, that is for you to decide.

 

[AlexApps]

It's between the 4.3k and the 5k at the moment. These would only be in the lows. We're there any differences between the two kits install wise? Did the DDM kit suffer with the same long warmup time? If you bought another car which kit would you buy?

 

[Nessal]

Keep in mind that no OEM uses 5k. They all use 4.3k. Both kits install exactly the same. The DDM had the same warm up....and the same performance...similar form factor....which leads me to believe that the internals are from the same source. They are both made in China so that tells you something. If I bought another car I wouldn't use either. I would get the Denso unit and pot it so that it is water proof. Don't get me wrong. They are both good kits but you can't compare them to OEM. The denso units arent much more expensive...maybe 100 to 150. This is of course just my personal opinion. I would rate both DDM and Morimoto 8 out of 10 stars. YMMV.

 

[AlexApps]

My Morimoto 35w 4300k HID kit arrived about a week ago. I gave it a shot fitting it this evening. It was not fun! The new Elise headlights are nothing like I've seen in all the guides. Trying to find somewhere to mount the ballast and the canbus capacitor thing was interesting! Removing the lower wheel arch liner was next to impossible and refitting it even worse. Looks like someone has broken the top bolt previously and come up with a 'fix'.

I'm pretty happy with the HIDs though they do need aiming down slightly. They don't currently make as much difference as I thought they would but hopefully they'll be better soon as they're aimed correctly.

The only two problems I've got is firstly that the radio now has horrific interference and cannot pick up most stations. Any ideas? Secondly, the right bulb doesn't ignite first time. The left is fine but the right I have to turn off and on at least twice to get it to work. I guess this means its a bad ballast? I guess I'll be checking out TRS's customer service in the new year! Not looking forward to doing that again.

 

[Nessal]

My Morimoto 35w 4300k HID kit arrived about a week ago. I gave it a shot fitting it this evening. It was not fun! The new Elise headlights are nothing like I've seen in all the guides. Trying to find somewhere to mount the ballast and the canbus capacitor thing was interesting! Removing the lower wheel arch liner was next to impossible and refitting it even worse. Looks like someone has broken the top bolt previously and come up with a 'fix'.

I'm pretty happy with the HIDs though they do need aiming down slightly. They don't currently make as much difference as I thought they would but hopefully they'll be better soon as they're aimed correctly.

The only two problems I've got is firstly that the radio now has horrific interference and cannot pick up most stations. Any ideas? Secondly, the right bulb doesn't ignite first time. The left is fine but the right I have to turn off and on at least twice to get it to work. I guess this means its a bad ballast? I guess I'll be checking out TRS's customer service in the new year! Not looking forward to doing that again.

Alex, I just want to say that I also had the same problem with the passenger side bulb not coming on the first try. I contacted TRS and they sent me the CANBUS module with the capacitors. They said that this will fix the problem. But I still have this same issue. Maybe the best way is to use the HD relay and run it all the way back to the battery. Sounds like a real pain in the ass if you ask me. I just hit the lights twice now when I turn it on. I can't comment on the radio since I never use it. But the few times that I have tried, it was garbage pre and post installation.

 

[Skwerl]

I ordered a set of HIDs from DDM a couple years ago, and they never really worked very well. One flickered a lot, and then after a few months changed color and stopped flickering. Now they are both a dull yellow color instead of bright white. DDM's customer service is absolute garbage. After my initial trouble ticket, they've ignored follow ups, e-mails, and new tickets. So essentially there's no warranty or support anymore. **** them.
I'm going to try the Morimoto minis from TRS. Hopefully I'll have some better luck with them. I will post back when all is said and done.

 

[Nessal]

Let me know how the morimoto mini works out.

It turns out that there was a recall from my ballast that addresses cold start issues with the lights requiring multiple fires to come up. I got the recalled ballast back and the problem is much bettee but still occurs once in a while.

 

[sleepe]

I installed the ddm ultra hid kit a month ago and am satisfied thus far.

 

[Skwerl]

Just finished a VERY long weekend installing the Morimoto kit and TRS' new LED halos and polishing my headlights. I'll post a write up this week. The HID installation went smoothly, but installing those LED rings was kind of a bitch. I love the look of this new product, though- super bright, crisp LED light, but with the solidity of a CCFL ring.
Included a quick, crappy photo. I'll figure out how to shoot this better tomorrow.

 

[Skwerl]

I just wanted to report back that I've had some ups and downs with these LED halos. First off, I want to say that they look great. All in all, the trouble is worth it. However, I've had a bunch of the LED drivers burn out. Tech support at The Retrofit Source wasn't able to diagnose the problem, but customer service was really great. They have sent me several replacement drivers over the past few months. See this thread for details. I do NOT recommend installing these without the TVS diodes. Either the driver has insufficient protection or my/our cars send a gigantic voltage surge on startup.