So I pulled my tail lights to start a project and noticed that the outer drivers side was cracked on top (it felt solid). Image Unavailable, Please Login So I had bought the repair kit from eBay when I first got my car. So I spent a little time this weekend and repaired the tail light and reinforced all the rest using the kit. I followed the directions and reinstalled the lights without shims using the rubber grommets between the light mounting stems and the flat (non wavy washers) with nylon lock nuts on the mount side. Took a while to adjust each light as now you have to adjust them by tightening the bolts down and crushing the rubber in each direction. It was a giant pain. Does the rubber really prevent cracking in the future or should I switch back to the factory shims, wavy washers and OEM nuts? Thanks, Cheers, Corey Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I used the kit from eBay as well (who is a member on the chat here) to repair the cracks like your lights show and preventative repair on the remaining lights. In addition however, seeing that these things are cantilever mounted hanging out by those long plastic arms I took some epoxy putty and built up all of the underside of the screw mounts where your fracture is and it seemed to totally solidify the light structure in addition to the eBay repair. I did use the rubber grommets and standard washers in the nylon lock nuts. I just snuggled them up and did not over tighten them. They held solidly as long as I had my 430 for an additional 2 years and was solid at the time I traded it in. One item you might consider why you've had it apart is to put some aluminum heat shielding (stick-on type) around lights because I think that all the heat that comes from the headers also weakens the plastic as all of the heat streams under the side panels and then out around the taillights as well . I did a before-and-after temperature test and the results were pretty striking in how much cooler the taillights were after the aluminum shielding. Just a suggestion. I did use the rubber grommets and pre-threaded them into the existing holes before inserting the light mounting studs and then putting the washer and and the nylon locknut on the studs. I think the rubber gives some vibration isolation to the lamp structure and may prolong its life in addition to the epoxy repair. Hope that helps
Hey Corey, No brilliant insights or experience here, just my 2 cents. I suppose the rubber would insulate and offer some buffer from vibration, but can't do anything about brittling due to age, all the stress is on those 'fingers', and that plastic is going to get brittle, so cracking I'd say is unavoidable, so maybe they buy some time. When I removed mine which felt solid, I had the same cracking.
Wait…. You put the grommets in the holes and not on the studs? The instructions says to put them on the studs !!! That would makes more sense to me. Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I’ve had my taillights out several times and the last time I finally decided it was better to put the rubber grommets in the hole. I think they work better that way.
@AandSC, a few questions... Then no rush on changing how they are installed since you ran them like that a few times? Tomorrow my garage lift is getting installed so I need to be able to drive my car out of the garage to remove a wall cabinet before they arrive, so I'd rather not pull them today to change how the lights are installed. Based on your post, I just wondered if the kit changed the type of grommet and if the instructions I had were old. The last video of the kit on NGS on YouTube had smaller and thinner o ring type rubber grommets which are different than the ones now included which in the real world are actually used inside holes. When you put the grommets in the hole, did you use the OEM shims for spacing just like the tail lamps were before the repair/grommet? @colorfull, I pulled the lights so I could install the Scuding LEDs after confirming the lack of the Scuding Flasher ECU with Stef won't mess-up the light controller since I had free time this weekend. Wow, those things are bright and I do have hyper flashing without the Flasher ECU on the individual turn signals. I can see why Stef recommends also getting the center brake light LED upgrade to match. Glad I ordered that when I ordered the Flasher ECU. Oh and here is one more pic of the crack from the other side, obviously stretched so that it can be seen on camera. Image Unavailable, Please Login Cheers, Corey
So where did you put the heat shielding, on the panels or actually on the lighting area? I have CF engine panels and was going to put some wireless temp sensors behind the panels to collect some telemetry this spring to see if I needed extra heat shielding for my wireless reverse camera setup when I install it.
Heat shielding on underside of all panels including smaller tail light panels and also on exposed backs of taillights themselves. Made sort of a cone shaped wrap with wires coming out of tip of cone. Access is difficult so it wasn’t neat and slick but got job done.
Corey, there’s no worries driving with the grommets not in the hole. I drove a bunch of miles like that. I also went with the Scud Ing LEDs, including the center brake light, and consider it my favorite upgrade. MUCH more visible in the day. IIRC (it’s been a while) I used a flat washer on each side of the rubber grommet when installed. I had all the original washers plus the new ones that came with the two kits I ordered. I put the repair kits on my cracked originals and also on my new replacement taillights that I also bought from Stef.
