HID Bounce/Shake Culprit

Interesting. Now I'm going to have to really pay attention and see if mine do it. My drive home from work is in the dark every night and I've never noticed any bouncing headlight patterns.

 

I could not for the life of me figure it out either. The bounce was the worst with the Morimoto kit, i had the 35w ones. They were also the brightest. Then I tried the Xenon depot hid 4300k kit, bounce was not quite as bad. The light output was not as bright. Next I tried the opt 7 led. Complete crap output no bounce at all. The last thing I tried and what is still in the truck is the Xenon depot xtreme led lights. Output is slightly better than stock and i have no bounce. I have a feeling that they all bounce, its just that the hid's have hot spots that your eyes focus on and the led's do not. Wish I could figure it out cause the Motimoto's were great, I just could not deal with the bounce.

 

Watching. To again confirm: it's nothing to do with the brand of the bulbs.

 

I am starting to doubt that the problem is with the projector gasket outlined in the first post, because that should cause the line to bounce not the bulb itself. However, we need to eliminate it as a possibility. Mine has not yet started bouncing so I can't try it out yet. If anyone that has the bounce has some free time, just fill the gap in the gasket with some red RTV or shove an appropriately sized O-Ring in there and see if it stops the bounce.

 

It does not. I wish that they didn't because your hid kit was the nicest i have ever had. I just could not deal with the shake.

 

How exactly does the issue persist with other brands (Profile included) if it's bulb-specific?

 

I'm not sure... I tried your kit, Xenon depot kit, and a horribly cheap ebay kit. All three bounced. Now your kit was more noticeable because it was so much brighter. The Xenon depot led extremes do not bounce, however they are no where near as bright as the hid kits. Could just be that because there is no hot spots i don't see it. Again your kit is far and above the others and i wish there was a fix, because i would buy yours and reinstall it in a heart beat.

 

Has the vendor sent out new bulbs to make sure that they are not the culprit?

One way to test is install the bouncing bulbs in a different Tacoma, and install a set of known non-bouncing bulbs into the Tacoma with the bouncing issue. That will narrow things down.

 

Never noticed the new responses here. I looked back into it a bit tonight. Shake is getting worse now that it's warming up. I noticed on cold days that I got zero shake at first but after driving for 15min or so it would begin shaking. Saw this very consistently on my 30 minute drive home every night. No shake first half, lots of shake when I was almost home. Now that it's warming up I'm seeing more shake sooner in the drive.

This to me means heat getting into the gaskets is for sure part of the issue. Whether it's the big black gasket around the projector or the tiny red gasket on the bulb or both I can't definitively say.

What I do know is the big black gaskets on my truck have significantly deteriorated. There's a gap at the top and the bottom is thinner/smushed. You can see it in the original photos I took. I need to pull these off and look at them more closely but I haven't gotten around to it. Also as far as I can tell you cannot buy these gaskets individually...which sucks. I would have bought some if they were available.

I swapped the morimoto red gaskets for the oem red gaskets that were on the halogen bulbs tonight. They seemed pretty similar so I don't expect any difference but we'll see. I do admit when I was jiggling them around while installed and on it seemed like the smaller red gasket was the first to give as opposed to the big black gasket. You have to wiggle it pretty good to see give in the black gasket.

 

Update...I went out and pulled off the black gasket and I was wrong. My theory in the first post is bull shit. The black gasket is fine. Perhaps my projectors were tilted a bit from day 1 and thats why the bottom seems smushed and theres a gap at the top. Either way I rotated the gasket all the way around and its exactly the same. In fact that gasket isn't responsible for stability at all...its just a weather seal. The metal bit that the bulb goes into is the back of the projector which is bolted down within the assembly. Even with the black gasket removed the projector does not wiggle around without significant pressure.

So with all that said I think there's only one remaining culprit...the seating of the bulb and it's small red gasket. The play in the red gasket is what creates the shake. Probably every setup has a bit of shake but 3 things can make it more noticeable...hotter bulbs, brighter bulbs and hot spots in the output. The morimotos are no doubt the brightest and do have hot spots in the middle and I have the 50w kit so lose-lose-lose with respect to shake. I may try the thicker gaskets from TRS. I got my kit early and I think I got the original gaskets so.

 

Have you tried swapping OEM bulbs back in? This would be a quick easy way to see if something bulb related is causing it.

 

Although you have a 3rd gen, I had this same issue with a set I retrofitted on my 2nd gen. I determined it was the backing nut that secures the projector to the housing. I put a small amount of JB Weld on the nut to ensure it didn’t back off over time, but I hadn’t tightened the nut enough to keep the projector secure. I removed the JB Weld and torqued the nut ever-so-slightly and reinstalled the headlight. Problem solved.

Again, your scenario may be very different than mine

Max

 

No, I haven't tried that because I don't think you'd be able to see any shake even if there was some because they aren't bright enough. I have considered buying HID bulbs from other companies to test them out though. Experiences of others posting here has held me back tho. Most say they still get the shake.

 

I'm not sure where the backing nut is but I'll look for it next time I'm in there. That being said the projector felt very secure/snug when I messed around with it after taking the black gasket off so I don't think that's my issue.

 

Well, it’s worth a shot. That’s about the easiest start to troubleshooting the issue.

 

I just picked up a set of 35w Morimoto's and also have the same issue. Is it possible that it's the little glass piece inside the bulb? I might also try removing the gasket from the oem bulbs and putting them on the new bulbs to see if it helps.

 

I just installed the 35w kit in my 3rd gen, and they’re shaky/bouncy as hell on the dirt road.
I emailed TRS.

 

I just installed a 50w hid kit today...i haven't had a chance to drive at night so I don't know if mine will have the shake/bounce. BUT I am having an issue with one of the bulbs flickering. After swapping the bulbs the flickering followed. Currently waiting to hear back from seller about a replacement bulb.

 

The flicker could be the bulbs breaking in. Mine flickered and I was told to drive with my headlights on for a few days even if it was sunny out. Eventually went away. If it persists after running the lights for a few days I’d say something is defective.

Also my 2nd gen retros bounce around a bit too. Interested for a solution if there is one.

 

Mine still bounce around under certain conditions. My current conclusion is that the fitment of the red grommet that rests on the bulbs is the issue. That just isn't creating a tight enough fit to prevent the driver from seeing some shake on a bumpy road. I'm just living with it for now, it doesn't bother me much now that I know nothing is melting. I have heard mixed results from people swapping in a set of bulbs from a different manufacturer. Some said it got worse, others said it went away. If my bulbs go out I'll probably try a different brand because why not. The issue could be the tolerance on the bulb seat (metal piece that you screw the bulb into). Maybe some just produce a looser fit than others. I don't know. I think a lot of people have it but don't realize it because either 1) their lights aren't bright enough or 2) they don't drive under the right conditions to produce it.