As some of you folks know, the ACA HID projectors have a tendency to "jiggle" the lights when going over bumps. There have been many threads asking what causes it and what can be done to help keep it under control.

I posted a thread back in April -07 that addresses this problem. It appears that the cap that holds the D1S bulb in place needs a bit more oomph than what the factory gives you, so I placed rubber washers in order to secure the bulb from the back.

I recently saw a post from forum member "Rupert" who said he shimmed the bulbs with an old radiator hose. I thought his post had great points so I decided to try it myself.

I found what Rupert had said was true, there is a significant amout of play between the D1S bulb housing and the projector body.

You can see the gaps quite easily:





I didn't have any radiator hose lying around, so I used what I could find, an old vacuum line.



I cut it into quarters and then I sliced off as much as I needed to get the pieces to fit all around the body of the D1S.





There is absolutely no play in the bulb now. It sits rock-solid in the projector housing and will not move.

After putting it all back together, (keeping the original end-cap hose washers in there for extra insurance) I took it on a road test I have found that the jiggle is essentially eliminated. There is still a tiny hint of it, but nothing like prior to the mod.

So if any of my fellow ACA users are looking for a way to get rid of that little light dance, give this mod a shot. And for those of you who will buy these lights and install them, you would be wise to do this before you install them, so that you won't need to go back in there later afterwards.

Once again, I have to give the credit to Rupert for the idea, it will finally put this issue to rest for me.

 

Great write up Jason! Thank you.

It does beg the question of why do the bulbs fit so chitty? Has anyone contacted the manufacturer?

 

Sweet. I knew I'd find a fix for this one day. On mine only the passenger side jiggles. I'll try this out tomorrow.

 

Great, I am getting ready to install mine and want to install them with no shake, shimmy. Thanks for the sharing of info.

 

Thanks for the info. I've been following your posts as well as others for some time now, since I also recently purchased the ACA kit as well. I also purchased a set of DS1 bulbs in the 6000K range so I planned on swapping them before the install and adding the hose washers under the cap as well. Guess I'll have to shim the sides of the bulbs as well while I'm in there. I've printed out all of the posts for the last couple of months on the tips and tricks of installing this kit, and I think I have a stack of paper about 4"s high! LOL

 

cool man, let me know if you need help with the install.

 

Great write up, and thanks for posting pictures.

 

Good call.

Would silicone also work?

 

JD,

I like your choice of materials, the shape will act as a natural shock absorber

 

it would, until you tried to take the bulb out.