Another Projector Retrofit Gone Wrong!
Another Projector Retrofit Gone Wrong!
Hey Fellas,
Figured I'd share my experience with AAC as well. Unfortunately, my experience was similar to Ed's.
Here’s the services I requested for my coupe:
Demon eyes
CCFL in clearance light
Custom Painted Housing (blacked out)
Cleared out blinker
Projector retrofit
Lights were received by AAC on Dec. 1st. I got them back on Jan 3rd. This was my first issue. Downtime was much longer than what was agreed to. I wanted the lights back before the 16th and made this clear several times. He said that was more than enough time to get the lights back to me but as it turns out, he was still working on them up to the last minute. Don’t commit to a date if you can’t honor it! You’re dealing with the availability of people’s cars here!
When he finally shipped the lights, he e-mailed me pictures of the completed work, which looked like this:
WTF?!?
I paid for two demon eyes -- one for the headlight and one for the fog light -- not one for the blinker! I did not OK this change and I was pissed, but the lights were already on their way back to me so what could I do? It took me a couple of days to calm down before replying to Justin. He stated that the new black bezel he was using for the projector made the white demon eye ring stand out and look out of place. He knew I wanted my lights back asap so rather than delay the work further by waiting for a response from me, he proceeded with the design change. He said it turned out really good and that it looked very classy.
Ok, so I figured I’d wait for the lights to arrive to make that determination for myself. Sorry, but no matter how hard I tried, the demon eye around the blinker was not doing it for me. Further, it was poorly done, I did not like the angle of the diffuser lens and it did not completely cover the opening -- you can see the reflector in the back when you look below the ring.
When I lit up the two rings, they were noticeably different colors…large ring was a nice cool white whereas the smaller ring was a very warm off-white. I would have thought the rings would be turned on and tested beforehand to look for this kind of thing?!
I spent a week trying to like it…from all angles and distances, but I finally decided to take the lights apart and remove the blinker rings (this was the last thing I wanted to do).
Other issues I found while working on the lights:
1) the hole where the ccfl wiring enters the clearance strip was left open – had to use a rubber washer and silicone to seal up the hole around the wiring. The holes for the inverter power leads coming out of the housings were also not sealed.
2) the inverters were making a lot of noise bouncing around inside the housing. They weren’t secured. According to Justin, they were braced under the headlight bracket and were dislodged during shipping. I went and secured them with extra strength Velcro – hopefully this will be adequate
3) the inverter for the clearance light ccfl was mounted outside of the housing using double-sided tape. I assumed this position was tested for fitment beforehand so I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the lights to fit back on the car. Finally, I realized the inverter was indeed in the way and it wasn’t just me. Argh!! Justin stated he did not have a car to test for fitment. Gee...thanks...the double-sided tape was a pain in the a$$ to remove!
4) when the housings were blacked out with paint, there were a lot of dust particles that were painted over. I can understand a speck here or there, but the amount of particles I saw on the painted surface were unacceptable in my eyes and really stood out when viewed from certain angles – the painted surface did not look smooth.
5) black plastic bezels had a lot of surface imperfections. I tried sanding down to smooth out the surface but it was taking too long and wasn’t worth the time. I do like how the bezels look but wish they were cleaner looking.
6) the rear opening to access the xenon bulb was left open so I will need to seal it up. The projector was mounted to the bracket using self-tapping screws similar to Ed's. I’ve replaced the screws with bolts and nuts and loctite'd them.
Questions for the experts:
A) Is it ok to leave the projector the way it is with the open space between the lens and the reflector as shown above? I’m concerned that the light output might be reduced if some of the light is escaping to the inside of the housing. My other concern is that if this illuminates the inside of the housing, you’d see the light escaping from the space around the bezel. I've thought about changing the plastic bezel with a chrome one and using aluminum soda can for the shroud, but I think the current bezel opening in the housing is too large for that now. Is plastic even an ok material to use for a bezel?
B) Is there enough room in the fender for the xenon bulb socket to extend that far out of the housing or will it get in the way of the fender liner?
C) Do you guys think this setup will look good with just one demon eye around the fog light and a ccfl in the clearance strip? That's what I'm stuck with now.
Some of the positives around the work (hold on...let me think):
1) Good job in taking the lights apart and putting them back together – lights appeared to be well sealed
2) Demon eye install around the fog light was well done
I’m going to ask for my money back for the smaller rings since that was a change in the scope of the work that I did not approve.
After my experience, I can’t recommend AAC for custom professional work beyond demon eye installations. Given the amount of time and money I put into this, I would have been better off just buying '06 projectors or the MREV mod!!!!! I haven’t driven my car since Thanksgiving because of this damn nightmare of a project which I had really high hopes for.
I'm still working on the lights and have yet to mount and aim them. Hopefully, I won't be running into anymore surprises.
Ok, I’m done venting, thanks for reading. Look forward to hearing any suggestions folks might have with regards to my questions above.
Figured I'd share my experience with AAC as well. Unfortunately, my experience was similar to Ed's.
Here’s the services I requested for my coupe:
Demon eyes
CCFL in clearance light
Custom Painted Housing (blacked out)
Cleared out blinker
Projector retrofit
Lights were received by AAC on Dec. 1st. I got them back on Jan 3rd. This was my first issue. Downtime was much longer than what was agreed to. I wanted the lights back before the 16th and made this clear several times. He said that was more than enough time to get the lights back to me but as it turns out, he was still working on them up to the last minute. Don’t commit to a date if you can’t honor it! You’re dealing with the availability of people’s cars here!
When he finally shipped the lights, he e-mailed me pictures of the completed work, which looked like this:
WTF?!?
I paid for two demon eyes -- one for the headlight and one for the fog light -- not one for the blinker! I did not OK this change and I was pissed, but the lights were already on their way back to me so what could I do? It took me a couple of days to calm down before replying to Justin. He stated that the new black bezel he was using for the projector made the white demon eye ring stand out and look out of place. He knew I wanted my lights back asap so rather than delay the work further by waiting for a response from me, he proceeded with the design change. He said it turned out really good and that it looked very classy.
Ok, so I figured I’d wait for the lights to arrive to make that determination for myself. Sorry, but no matter how hard I tried, the demon eye around the blinker was not doing it for me. Further, it was poorly done, I did not like the angle of the diffuser lens and it did not completely cover the opening -- you can see the reflector in the back when you look below the ring.
When I lit up the two rings, they were noticeably different colors…large ring was a nice cool white whereas the smaller ring was a very warm off-white. I would have thought the rings would be turned on and tested beforehand to look for this kind of thing?!
I spent a week trying to like it…from all angles and distances, but I finally decided to take the lights apart and remove the blinker rings (this was the last thing I wanted to do).
Other issues I found while working on the lights:
1) the hole where the ccfl wiring enters the clearance strip was left open – had to use a rubber washer and silicone to seal up the hole around the wiring. The holes for the inverter power leads coming out of the housings were also not sealed.
2) the inverters were making a lot of noise bouncing around inside the housing. They weren’t secured. According to Justin, they were braced under the headlight bracket and were dislodged during shipping. I went and secured them with extra strength Velcro – hopefully this will be adequate
3) the inverter for the clearance light ccfl was mounted outside of the housing using double-sided tape. I assumed this position was tested for fitment beforehand so I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the lights to fit back on the car. Finally, I realized the inverter was indeed in the way and it wasn’t just me. Argh!! Justin stated he did not have a car to test for fitment. Gee...thanks...the double-sided tape was a pain in the a$$ to remove!
4) when the housings were blacked out with paint, there were a lot of dust particles that were painted over. I can understand a speck here or there, but the amount of particles I saw on the painted surface were unacceptable in my eyes and really stood out when viewed from certain angles – the painted surface did not look smooth.
5) black plastic bezels had a lot of surface imperfections. I tried sanding down to smooth out the surface but it was taking too long and wasn’t worth the time. I do like how the bezels look but wish they were cleaner looking.
6) the rear opening to access the xenon bulb was left open so I will need to seal it up. The projector was mounted to the bracket using self-tapping screws similar to Ed's. I’ve replaced the screws with bolts and nuts and loctite'd them.
Questions for the experts:
A) Is it ok to leave the projector the way it is with the open space between the lens and the reflector as shown above? I’m concerned that the light output might be reduced if some of the light is escaping to the inside of the housing. My other concern is that if this illuminates the inside of the housing, you’d see the light escaping from the space around the bezel. I've thought about changing the plastic bezel with a chrome one and using aluminum soda can for the shroud, but I think the current bezel opening in the housing is too large for that now. Is plastic even an ok material to use for a bezel?
B) Is there enough room in the fender for the xenon bulb socket to extend that far out of the housing or will it get in the way of the fender liner?
C) Do you guys think this setup will look good with just one demon eye around the fog light and a ccfl in the clearance strip? That's what I'm stuck with now.
Some of the positives around the work (hold on...let me think):
1) Good job in taking the lights apart and putting them back together – lights appeared to be well sealed
2) Demon eye install around the fog light was well done
I’m going to ask for my money back for the smaller rings since that was a change in the scope of the work that I did not approve.
After my experience, I can’t recommend AAC for custom professional work beyond demon eye installations. Given the amount of time and money I put into this, I would have been better off just buying '06 projectors or the MREV mod!!!!! I haven’t driven my car since Thanksgiving because of this damn nightmare of a project which I had really high hopes for.
I'm still working on the lights and have yet to mount and aim them. Hopefully, I won't be running into anymore surprises.
Ok, I’m done venting, thanks for reading. Look forward to hearing any suggestions folks might have with regards to my questions above.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,148
Likes: 0
From: Hoboken,NJ
Originally Posted by Paragon
Questions for the experts:
A) Is it ok to leave the projector the way it is with the open space between the lens and the reflector as shown above? I’m concerned that the light output might be reduced if some of the light is escaping to the inside of the housing. My other concern is that if this illuminates the inside of the housing, you’d see the light escaping from the space around the bezel. I've thought about changing the plastic bezel with a chrome one and using aluminum soda can for the shroud, but I think the current bezel opening in the housing is too large for that now. Is plastic even an ok material to use for a bezel?
B) Is there enough room in the fender for the xenon bulb socket to extend that far out of the housing or will it get in the way of the fender liner?
C) Do you guys think this setup will look good with just one demon eye around the fog light and a ccfl in the clearance strip? That's what I'm stuck with now.
like i said on Ed's thread, i hope these guys stand up and do the right thing. they're on the boards and i expect them to reply something to both threads stating they'll do the right thing and refund some if not all the money paid. both these jobs were unprofessional and definitely not what any consumer would want.
good luck on everything.
good luck on everything.
nope. he's not going to refund any money.... not for me at least. he even said mine was the best job he ever did.. and it looks great.. sigh....
I FEEL U PARAGON!!!!
Ed Lin
I FEEL U PARAGON!!!!
Ed Lin
man that sucks guys, i feel your pain somewhat. when i first got into retros i paid some dude to do mine. it was horrible, the foreground light was not even on the ground! bazel was ugly. he use so many black tape. but he did offer to refund the labor money so i just lost out on time n shipping money. now i just do it myself, the g is the 3rd retrofit ive done and is the hardest one so far. ill probaly would never do it again due to the amount of space to work with.
even with that said, i would expect the retrofitter u guys paid to, do a professional job on it because the amount of money you guys paid for and the amount of time you gave them. i would suggest talkin to paypal( if thats the source u guys use to pay the company or you bank) and try to get something back.
sad to hear stories like this, i jus finish reading g35lin story. looks like you guys went through hell. i would of went nuts if i paid this guy that much money and the work was not done properly. good luck
even with that said, i would expect the retrofitter u guys paid to, do a professional job on it because the amount of money you guys paid for and the amount of time you gave them. i would suggest talkin to paypal( if thats the source u guys use to pay the company or you bank) and try to get something back.
sad to hear stories like this, i jus finish reading g35lin story. looks like you guys went through hell. i would of went nuts if i paid this guy that much money and the work was not done properly. good luck
AAC sucks and it seems that aac is not getting a good rep. that is not good when half their customers will be from is300's and g35's. the black and stuff looks REALLY clean.and they could have done better with the shroud around the bezel.
A. They should not have left that hugh opening. it doesn't affect output but does make glare for oncoming lights since that part of the light is not directed down. and no you can not use plastic. it might melt and you will have a bigger problem.
b. with room i heard there isn't that much room. but to seal up the rear look up www.hidplanet.com . if you don't seal it up u will get condensation
c. the CCFL int he turn signal is really up to your opinion.
A. They should not have left that hugh opening. it doesn't affect output but does make glare for oncoming lights since that part of the light is not directed down. and no you can not use plastic. it might melt and you will have a bigger problem.
b. with room i heard there isn't that much room. but to seal up the rear look up www.hidplanet.com . if you don't seal it up u will get condensation
c. the CCFL int he turn signal is really up to your opinion.
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Registered User
iTrader: (15)
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,846
Likes: 9
From: Toh-rensa,Ahteesia,Ahcadia,Montree Pak, Longa Beacha
Your headlights actually look like they came out better than Ed's. Maybe it's because I examined his headlights in person for a long time.
Like others said, the output isn't affected by the shroud. Once the light goes past the cutoff shield, the intensity of the beam is unaffected. But stray light can cause glare.
In your first pic, it looks like the clear reflector is mounted at an angle. I'm not sure though.
I think you will have clearance issues with the fenderliner in the back of the E55 projector, especially once you install the bulb, the bulb plug, and possibly a dust cap.
Are the high beam solenoids hooked up yet? Post some beam pattern pics if you have em.
Like others said, the output isn't affected by the shroud. Once the light goes past the cutoff shield, the intensity of the beam is unaffected. But stray light can cause glare.
In your first pic, it looks like the clear reflector is mounted at an angle. I'm not sure though.
I think you will have clearance issues with the fenderliner in the back of the E55 projector, especially once you install the bulb, the bulb plug, and possibly a dust cap.
Are the high beam solenoids hooked up yet? Post some beam pattern pics if you have em.
Cause they lack the professionalism, workmanship skill, and knowledge of service. They just know how to talk the talk, but to do the work and back it up, well that just = CRAPOLA!!
This just sucks for you guys, I hope you get this resolved and find someone who can actually do it and get it right the first time, cause that's how it should be. It's shocking to hear the outcome of this and that its still not resolved.
This just sucks for you guys, I hope you get this resolved and find someone who can actually do it and get it right the first time, cause that's how it should be. It's shocking to hear the outcome of this and that its still not resolved.
Thanks for the replies and support guys.
EK...yes, the clear lens was mounted at an angle and was one of the things that made it look so bad. I don't think I'll be hooking up the high-beam solenoids...(didn't want to mess with them). I'm just planning to stick with the regular fog high beams. That was actually another surprise as a single xenon, not a bi-xenon was what was agreed to. No beam pattern pics yet, but will post 'em when I do. Yeah, it seems mine turned out better than Ed's. Then again, Ed's work was alot more complex. Perhaps AAC's quality of work is negatively correlated to the complexity of the job.
OK, so I decided to open up the clearance strips as the tubes were rattling. This is what it looked like:
The tube was not secured and the wire from the bottom of the tube ran back up the strip, which would have blocked light from part of the tube. I re-routed the lower wire through the bottom part of the reflector and followed PeteNJ's DIY to secure things correctly. I found the lower mounting bracket for one of the clearance strips was also broken off.
I spent some time sanding down and buffing the clearance strips as well per the DIY. This is what the trimmed area resting against the ccfl tube looked like - not a good surface for passing light through!
No attention to detail whatsoever that you'd expect from someone who's advertising and charging for professional level work. Thanks for a great start to my New Year AAC.
EK...yes, the clear lens was mounted at an angle and was one of the things that made it look so bad. I don't think I'll be hooking up the high-beam solenoids...(didn't want to mess with them). I'm just planning to stick with the regular fog high beams. That was actually another surprise as a single xenon, not a bi-xenon was what was agreed to. No beam pattern pics yet, but will post 'em when I do. Yeah, it seems mine turned out better than Ed's. Then again, Ed's work was alot more complex. Perhaps AAC's quality of work is negatively correlated to the complexity of the job.
OK, so I decided to open up the clearance strips as the tubes were rattling. This is what it looked like:
The tube was not secured and the wire from the bottom of the tube ran back up the strip, which would have blocked light from part of the tube. I re-routed the lower wire through the bottom part of the reflector and followed PeteNJ's DIY to secure things correctly. I found the lower mounting bracket for one of the clearance strips was also broken off.
I spent some time sanding down and buffing the clearance strips as well per the DIY. This is what the trimmed area resting against the ccfl tube looked like - not a good surface for passing light through!
No attention to detail whatsoever that you'd expect from someone who's advertising and charging for professional level work. Thanks for a great start to my New Year AAC.
So how many people from this forum sent their headlights to AAC that is not satisfied with the work or Cancelled the their order after shipping their headlights?
the two unsatisfied customers had a projector retrofit order, Did anyone order the demon eyes installed by itself and clearance strip? How many are satisfied?
the two unsatisfied customers had a projector retrofit order, Did anyone order the demon eyes installed by itself and clearance strip? How many are satisfied?
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,339
Likes: 0
From: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Originally Posted by meatbag
I just sent my headlights for the demon eyes, clearence strip and having the housing painted. So ill let everyone know as soon as i get them back.
BTW i can tell the clear lens wich is normally orange looks like crap. looks like the ring aound it doesnt complete the whole lens. and the clearance strip, what is that? looks like ****! cheap **** at that. RX
