MORIMOTO 2STROKE 2.0... I don't get it!

[kanonengedonner]

So I installed the Morimoto on my 2018 T4R. I gave them about a week of city driving and finally over the last 2 days 600 miles of country, highway and city driving with a lot of rain and some dry weather.

I am at a loss! I bought them because of the few good reviews, but I am putting back the $hitty stock halogens.

The Morimoto, to say the least, do not inspire any confidence. I'd say they are unsafe. They have a weak output, a very short throw, an insane amount of glare in the rain and I actually ended up with bad tunnel vision once, and had to pull over.


I feel bad as I wanted to like them. The install was quick and easy. The bulbs weer turned all the way into the socket, and at first I got kinda struck by how nice the color is. Then I saw that the light washed out with public lighting.... I kept driving and convinced myself that I would see the true potential once I hit dark highways and country roads. Not really.

The straw that broke the camel's back. I went and did a bit of research about the company as I thought it was a Japanese brand. Their "About Us" page has a stock picture of an Asian fellow with safety glasses on... add the Morimoto, Japanese sounding name and you get .... An Atlanta-based company !!

I guess I have to go the HID route and do the ballast drilling that i didn't want to do.

 

[Decipher]

I once purchased a Morimoto HID kit believing, for the price, that it would be a quality piece. I was wrong. They were awful in every way. They didn’t consistently fire. They created interference with my radio. They would flicker if they did fire. They were just awful and I quickly concluded that they were some of the most overpriced products out there. You can do way better for less money with that company. I’m not surprised hearing your experience.


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[kanonengedonner]

There was so many comments of people wanting to try them and others having such a positive experience that I thought I couldn't go wrong... I wonder how legit those reviews and comments are!

 

[srsrogerissrs]

LEDs in general just don't do well in the housing.

 

[HOJeepster]

LEDs in general just don't do well in the housing.

This. Apparently, you didn't research enough before you bought the LEDs. Don't blame the product.

If you want 10/10 lightly, you'll want to do a complete retrofit which would mean installing an HID or LED projector, ballasts, D2s bulbs, etc.

I've had Morimoto D2S 4.0 projectors with CBI bulbs and 55w ballasts, and they are nothing short of awesome.

 

[IndyFastlane]

There was so many comments of people wanting to try them and others having such a positive experience that I thought I couldn't go wrong... I wonder how legit those reviews and comments are!

I bought the two strokes and have been running them for a couple of weeks now. I feel like they are ok. There are situations where the light seems to “wash out”, but honestly I thought the halogens did the same thing at times. IMO, the Morimoto are a bit better than the halogens were....certainly not worse.

I think that some folks are more/less sensitive to different colors of light. It could be that the whiter color just doesn’t work for you. It may also be that the bulbs need adjusting. Mine seemed perfect right out of the box, but I think there is some adjustability on them to make sure the diodes are in the exact right spot. Maybe get in touch with whoever sold them to you and ask? I bought mine from retrofitSource and they seem to respond pretty quickly to emails.

In my previous vehicle (17 tacoma....with very similar headlights), I had been using HID lights. They are FAR superior to these LEDs....but like you, I didn’t want to deal with drilling out the covers and have to tie up all the excess wiring, etc. That said, I feel like these LEDs are an improvement over the stock halogens for sure....to my eyes, anyway.

 

[kanonengedonner]

This. Apparently, you didn't research enough before you bought the LEDs. Don't blame the product.

I did a bit of research ...I understood the possible issues with LED etc. But I think I got suckered by the overwhelming positive reviews some left. I did't expect the bulbs to be this bad ...

As for the "don't blame the product" part, I beg to differ. These are advertised as PnP giant leap in technology.

The Japanese name and the Asian dude on their page left a bade taste in my mouth in addition.

I agree with you on the need for a complete retrofit ...

Anyway, just my opinion though.

 

[kanonengedonner]

I bought the two strokes and have been running them for a couple of weeks now. I feel like they are ok. There are situations where the light seems to “wash out”, but honestly I thought the halogens did the same thing at times. IMO, the Morimoto are a bit better than the halogens were....certainly not worse.

Installation was simple ... They slotted in nicely till they stopped turning. I am not sure of they needed to be turned back... no mention on their website about adjusting the turn. The only thing they write is "installation is reverse of removing the stock" ...

On how they compare to the stock: in my opinion they are worse (especially during rain) because they disperse light way too much and you end up with a much dimmer light for a slightly longer distance vs the stock which have a laughable short throw, but the immediate distance is fairly well lit.

With the Morimoto I have to turn on the fogs all the time for some immediate lighting.

 

[IndyFastlane]

Installation was simple ... They slotted in nicely till they stopped turning. I am not sure of they needed to be turned back... no mention on their website about adjusting the turn. The only thing they write is "installation is reverse of removing the stock" ...

On how they compare to the stock: in my opinion they are worse (especially during rain) because they disperse light way too much and you end up with a much dimmer light for a slightly longer distance vs the stock which have a laughable short throw, but the immediate distance is fairly well lit.

With the Morimoto I have to turn on the fogs all the time for some immediate lighting.

What I meant by adjust was to turn or clock the “element” portion of the bulb so that it is pointing exactly at 3 and 9 o’clock when seated in the housing. Many of these bulbs have that adjustability and I guess I just assumed that these did as well.....maybe not?

Like i said, I installed them as-is from the box and they seemed to light pretty well.....same “hot spot” and beam pattern as the stock halogens for the most part.

Maybe contact the dealer you got them from to rule out adjustability before you give up on them totally?

 

[Uneeq]

I did a bit of research ...I understood the possible issues with LED etc. But I think I got suckered by the overwhelming positive reviews some left. I did't expect the bulbs to be this bad ...

As for the "don't blame the product" part, I beg to differ. These are advertised as PnP giant leap in technology.

The Japanese name and the Asian dude on their page left a bade taste in my mouth in addition.

I agree with you on the need for a complete retrofit ...

Anyway, just my opinion though.

I have the 2Stroke in my car. They work fine for me. The consensus on the thread here is that they aren't much brighter or better than the stock Halogens, but they are still better. I got them because I wanted the white color.

I haven't had to drive in the rain with them yet, but when I had my H9s driving in the rain, I've had to check multiple times if my headlights were even on, so they can't be much worse than that.

Also- why not post this in the original 2stroke thread so people can see your review when they're checking it out?

 

[Hans Moleman]

If they are crap for low beam headlights you can use them for fog lights.

 

[JSparky]

Some reading if you haven't come across it yet.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...t-hid-vs-led-initial-photo-pics-reposted.html

 

[kanonengedonner]

If they are crap for low beam headlights you can use them for fog lights.

Yep... That is exactly my plan. And hopefully they are OK as fog lights!

 

[aelarson]

So I installed the Morimoto on my 2018 T4R. I gave them about a week of city driving and finally over the last 2 days 600 miles of country, highway and city driving with a lot of rain and some dry weather.

I am at a loss! I bought them because of the few good reviews, but I am putting back the $hitty stock halogens.

The Morimoto, to say the least, do not inspire any confidence. I'd say they are unsafe. They have a weak output, a very short throw, an insane amount of glare in the rain and I actually ended up with bad tunnel vision once, and had to pull over.


I feel bad as I wanted to like them. The install was quick and easy. The bulbs weer turned all the way into the socket, and at first I got kinda struck by how nice the color is. Then I saw that the light washed out with public lighting.... I kept driving and convinced myself that I would see the true potential once I hit dark highways and country roads. Not really.

The straw that broke the camel's back. I went and did a bit of research about the company as I thought it was a Japanese brand. Their "About Us" page has a stock picture of an Asian fellow with safety glasses on... add the Morimoto, Japanese sounding name and you get .... An Atlanta-based company !!

I guess I have to go the HID route and do the ballast drilling that i didn't want to do.

That is unfortunate that you had a poor experience with these. I installed a set about 2 weeks ago and have been satisfied for the most part. If you go in the dedicated Morimoto 2Stroke 2.0 Low Beam thread, you will see that overall most people like them. For the price, they aren't going to be the end all, be all solution for the headlight. As mentioned previously in this thread, light is tricky and can affect everyone's eyes differently. Maybe its the color or beam pattern that is throwing your eyes off.

I am curious that you say that the output is weak, when it is proven that these increase output over the stock bulb. It sounds like you may have had them installed improperly or had a defective set of bulbs. The vast majority of folks will tell you that this is an upgrade, but not life changing.

Personally, I would post your thoughts in the dedicated thread for this product, you may reach more people and maybe even find a solution.

 

[epjfsa]

Lets put it this way, when someone dishes out $100 for a pair of bulbs that have a very noticeable difference (e.g. light color), it's really easy to think that the difference is an improvement. The exact same thing happens with intakes/exhaust/software/every other aftermarket part. For the most part, the best options are factory, or some very tried and true upgrades (HID projector retrofit, H9 swap, 9011 swap, etc.). These easier and sometimes too-good-to-be-true options are just that.

I was on the fence with putting these bulbs in the high beam, and think I'll just go 9011's (to complement my eventual IS250 projector retrofit)

 

[litezzz]

They work fine for me. I have bad night vision and they are definitely an improvement over stock, and for $90 there's nothing to complain about IMO.

 

[kanonengedonner]

They work fine for me. I have bad night vision and they are definitely an improvement over stock, and for $90 there's nothing to complain about IMO.

That's interesting ... I have zero issues with my day vision or night vision. I would't have made the post if i believed the change is marginal (worst or better) from the stock halogen. To me they are clearly worst regardless of their price...

That being said, I am glad they are working well for you. I'd say that you have the type of bad night vision that works well with the Morimoto LEDs

 

[kanonengedonner]

Lets put it this way, when someone dishes out $100 for a pair of bulbs that have a very noticeable difference (e.g. light color), it's really easy to think that the difference is an improvement.

Exactly ... the major difference is the improved color of the light. It does seem at first that they are way better ...

 

[Texas_Ranger]

When installing these, I noticed there was no polarity markings on the cable extensions. Any way this could be an issue with some lights being dimmer than others? Also my left light has a hot spot on the ground right in front of the car to which I haven't figure out yet.

 

[kanonengedonner]

When installing these, I noticed there was no polarity markings on the cable extensions.

I think they don't turn on if the polarity is wrong. I had to reverse the cable plug on one of the lights as it didn't turn on when i first installed it.