[Kaelaria]

I'm noticing that when stopped (and presumibly while moving) my HID lights jitter up and down. I'll be at a light and can see the pattern and reflection in the car ahead of me - they are jittering up and down ever so slightly, every second or so, fairly randomly. Is that normal?

[Paul]

They do self level as you drive (assuming you have Xenons on a MINI) so you will see them raise and lower, and it is sort of "jitterish" in appearance at times.

[Kaelaria]

As I said, I'm talking about sitting still at a light.

[Paul]

Yep.

They will level up as you're at the lights, because it's not instant you will see this happen. You'll probably also notice it if you have to shuffle as the light goes green then wait again.

[Kaelaria]

I'm not talking about a single leveling or when the car is moving.

I just tried to get it on video, but it didn't do it now. It may only happen when the lights are on auto.

I'm talking about - put the brake on, start the car (with the lights on) and get out - look at the lights and they jitter up and down constantly, about once a second.

I'm going to carry my camera with me to capture it I guess so it's clear.

[Paul]

Are they shacking with the motion of the car, or are they just going loopy all the time?

If they jitter around once in a while I've noticed this at lights etc. in all the Xenon equipped MINIs I've driven, it doesn't seem to happen all the time though, just randomly they'll go on a little jerky spree when they appear to be trying to level up or something.

I spent what seemed like several hours in a Portugese traffic jam at the Cooper S launch, and myself and the co-driver spent ages just watching the lights flickering and moving about from time to time on the car sat in front. Yes, we were that bored.

If they're just jittering all the time the car is still, without fail, then you might have a problem with the sensor unit I guess, as that's not normal.

[Kaelaria]

OK here's a sample movie - it's not the car obviously but it's exactly what it looks like. Picture the light beam on the car in front of you at a light - this is what I see, just sitting there sometimes.

Movie

[Paul]

Seems pretty normal to me, it's dropping down there (the centre of the beam finishes lower than it starts), if it then raises back up again, I'd say your sensors might have somehow gone a bit loopy.