Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

Ok.....I want to start by saying I am not one to come out and openly bad mouth any company.....but **** AAC!!!

First off, the communication is a joke. After about 2 weeks with nothing after I paid, I emailed asking whats up? lol, so I get a tracking number from UPS that says *billing info* for the next week with no changes. What a ****, so I emailed them saying "the tracking number is great and all, but when is it actually going to ship out?". They got back to me saying "ohhh....we are waiting on Hella to get us the lights" Well **** guys, thanks for letting me know!! Ok whatever, I want them still....I'll wait.

UPS came today and I was like "ohh **** yes"...

M-O-T-H-E-R-F-U-C-K-E-R!!!!!

They sent me 2 left headlight buckets. Jesus christ. The business cards, decals, packaging, and box all look so great. Next time they should put more effort into putting the right **** in the box.

So I called to let them know right away I need a driver side bucket. The guy could basically give a **** less. His tone of voice was as if he was too busy fingering his vagina to care about customer service. And not once did he say "I'm sorry" or "sorry for the inconvenience".....nothing. I didn't get pissed, I just kept my cool. He told me he'll send one out, 4-5 days I should have it. I think the *********** should overnight it, but that's just me.

So now I continue to try and install the ****.....woooowwww. The directions are good enough to wipe your *** with and thats it. I had to read the **** about 10 times to under-*******-stand what it was trying to say. What they could have said in 1 sentence, they made a page out of it to look fancy and **** you up.

I'm not sure if its just my wrist being weak on me, but **** me...I cannot snap the ball end of the adjuster into the plastic mount for the life of me. The aluminum brackets are super thin and cheap, and the CF buckets look like they are going to give me big problems making them fit on both the hood side and fender side. Not to mention the way the projector modules mount to the metal brackets is garbage, almost like the hole is the wrong size.

I want to give a BIG ******* HEADS UP to anyone thinking about getting these lights. Maybe others have them and have had 100% success, but I'm just telling my story. AAC pissed me right the **** off and I might be sending these back. Almost $500 and this is the kind of service/product I get? I am VERY disappointed with Advanced Automotive Concepts.

Vash-

Zabac

iTrader: (39)

dude, that's a really cool glass you got there

I always wanted those lights but hear that the visibility sucks donkey *****, let us know once you have them installed about night driving, i am still curious about them

chriscar

iTrader: (24)

Is that drinking glass bent?

Oh yeah, sorry to hear that. Sounds like real ****. Why would you bother installing it when it looks like it's a half-rate product????? Send it back and move on.

C

RotorNutFD3S

iTrader: (33)

I had a set of AACs on my car for a total of 2 days before I removed them and went on to the Moss setup I have now. I was not impressed by them. And the passenger side developed a vibration which I was not interested in tracing down. You'd figure after following their instructions, everything would be good to go, not so much. The only thing I liked about them was the look on the car.
Now the Moss setup on the other hand is great!

Zabac

iTrader: (39)

how was visibility at night? did your cutoff point move further away?

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

I'm really not sure what to do. lol. I'm selling my pop-up's on ebay as we speak...so even if I send these back to AAC, I'd have to buy another setup.

Down at my shop complex there is a bodyshop and a welding shop right nextdoor. I might hold on installing these and let the bodyshop guys do it. Make new brackets or whatever they have to do for them to work good.

******* bullshit for $500, it really is.

Yea, the glass is bent...they come like that. Funny, alot of people love them.

Vash-

talusfan

iTrader: (1)

Visibiltiy is better than stockers, Provided you take the necessary 200 hours in getting the things aligned properly. My biggest bitch like Vash said is the aluminum brackets should have been steel. I would have paid more for them if necessary. That and you have to remove the buckets to adjust the lights. Which when you put the bucket back in, the aluminum bracket bends making you start all over again.

Vash, those ball joints iirc, I put a deep socket over them and used a mallet to drive them in. Once you get them in and finished you'll forget how pissed off you are about the whole thing, they do look effin awesome.

RotorNutFD3S

iTrader: (33)

It was so-so. The lights were definitely brighter, but I had to use my brights to see in really dark areas, even after trying to aim/adjust the housings. I think the covers were absorbing too much light, because there was a new glow at the front of the car.
At that time, I was comparing them with the Brainstorms I had taken off which I hardly ever turned on the brights. Same with the Moss setup now.

talusfan

iTrader: (1)

Oh yea, I never bothered putting the covers on, Looks better. There still in a box somewhere.

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

That sounds like a ******* great idea! You weren't afraid of breaking the plastic they snap into? And did your kit also come with 3 fasteners/adjusters per hella unit? I see 8 holes, and I got 6 per headlight bracket....I don't get it. You have to snap the metal ball joint into the plastic holder, while the metal rod is going through the holes on the Hella light correct? Then tighten the plastic lock nut and begin adjusting? Does that sound like what you did?

I definitely want them in, lol....that's why I paid that amount of money for them. I'm mostly disappointed with the customer **** service. I can understand mistakes are made, and **** happens. But this company 100% gets a F- on customer service from me.

I heard the lights get 10x better visibility without the covers. That's why I ordered a set without them, plus who wants to cover up the awesome CF weave anyway!

Just got my UPS email saying the replacement bucket went out tonight.

Vash-

talusfan

iTrader: (1)

Its been awhile since i dropped them in, there are 8 holes and 6 fasteners don't ask me why,, The bottom left hole leave empty on all four. The clip in the brackets have a tendency to break if you remove them too many times.

Now that I went and looked at them I remember the problem. Those clips that go into the Hellas are a bitch. I used needle nose and a small screwdriver to get them in and twist them. If you dont twist them all the way they will pop out when you adjust them and most likely cause you to go kill someone. they turn and kind of drop into place.

plastic in hellas,twist - plastic in brackets - screw the adjusters in - beat them in place.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

i wonder how those look painted.

mike_671

iTrader: (4)

Looking forward to the end results. I couldnt stop laughing while read your thread Vash. That **** was funny lolz.

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

Thanks for the pictures man, they show me that what I was doing was right. I talked to my bodyshop guy, he said whatever I need he'll take care of it. Hopefully I can take care of putting them in myself. I'm just having a hard time snapping the ball joint into that plastic. I think the deep socket trick should help out though.

Hustler, most of the guys that have these painted them. I think I've only seen one other set besides mine that were not painted and left CF. If I went back to popups, now having the CF hood I would paint them blue...I think. But these are to sexy for me to paint over, and the CF weave matches perfectly with the hood.

I'm definitely not as mad as I was yesterday. **** happens, but not doubt the customer service is ******* horrid. I just felt it was appropriate this time around to vent and share my experience.

Vash-

urgaynknowit

iTrader: (5)

vash, ur hands are too clean to be working on a car....

lolol

but yea, get some shots up of when u get them installed

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

That's my fragile hand....I still cant get anything in the stitches.

Shittt....working on cars isn't dirty, farmwork or construction...now that's ******* dirty work!!

I'm going outside now to give them another shot. Ex is on her way over with lunch and might stay to give me a extra set of hands. They will be on my johnson while I work!!

Vash-

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

lol

"Now that I went and looked at them I remember the problem. Those clips that go into the Hellas are a bitch. I used needle nose and a small screwdriver to get them in and twist them. If you dont twist them all the way they will pop out when you adjust them and most likely cause you to go kill someone. they turn and kind of drop into place."

I didn't get what you meant at first, seeing I wasn't that far yet. Wow...my ex just left, she didn't want to be around for this part. I definitely screamed "****" super loud about 1000 times outside!

Good news is she helped me hold the brackets and sure enough, deep well socket with a mallet and boom bitch!! That's one step closer I guess. But these triangular locking plastic garbage will not cooperate at all....at ******* all. I'm afraid I'm going to snap them in trying to turn them. Back to work

Vash-

FHS

iTrader: (2)

Yeah,

Its a damn shame that they are the only company putting out a product like this. I'm not even going into customer service issues.

As far as installation goes, they are not even close to being plug and play out of the box. Don't blame AAC for the design of the Hella light module mounting screws though. Those are on Hella.

For the AAC mounting brackets though, I made some spacers out of silicon hose to position the brackets so that the buckets slid over them instead of bouncing around on top of the brackets. That made it a lot easier to aim the lights through the buckets and seems to keep the brackets from ratting around.

Also, adjust the light modules so that they are all the way back behind the openings in the buckets. You can try to poke the fronts through the openings if you like, but I wasted hours trying to adjust the beam with the lights positioned that way. I had to bust out the Dremel to shave a couple of millimeters out of the openings so that the lowbeams could be aligned and adjusted.

The lighting harness is a piece of crap. I had to rewire the fuses because the housing pulled right off. I also tied the power right into the stock harness rather than plugging into the aux power connector.

Good luck!!!

Vashthestampede

iTrader: (17)

lol....thanks man, now I'm even more excited to finish installing them!

But really, I'm happy someone else wasn't thrilled with the experience. Could you maybe post some pictures of the spacers your talking about? I'd love to see them and maybe yank the idea if it helps me! Yea I looked at the wires and just threw them back in the box from disgust.

I am gonna make these lights work! I feel like a dick a little bit, but if I was thinking about buying them and someone retained information like this.....I'd be pissed!

Vash-

FHS

iTrader: (2)

Sure thing Vash, as soon as I get my car back from the bodyshop if you still need them. Sorry for the delay but the driver who towed my car damn near pulled my RB nose off the mounts and stretched the **** out of my driver side fender in the process.

In the meantime, the spacers are just 3/8" silicon hose slipped over a suitably sized 2"(?) bolt between the bracket and the mounting point near the fender. You'll kinda see what I mean when you try to fit the bracket. On my car at least, if I didn't use spacers, the bracket has to bent back to be flush with the mounting point.