Question on tail light blackouts

[HPG]

I like the look of the tail light black outs, however, I have a question. In the Eklers /Mid America catalogs, they show two types. One seems to be a plastic lense. Does this require any drilling for a bracket to install. The other is a static cling that just sticks to the light. Which is the best to use.

 

[Ken]

The static cling stuff sucks; I lost my front lens cover because it blew off somewhere.

The louvered type for the rear lenses have small wedges that accompany the lense covers and simply hold the louver in place by friction. They work fine in that I have not lost one yet after many, many miles.

I don't use the front covers; they had ninety-degree brackets that you applied to the lense cover and bumper cover with hook-and-loop fasteners. The trouble with that is that you can definitely see the brackets when your lights are on. Not good. :nono

 

[DougSilver]

I had the static cling type for a while both on the front driving lights and rear tailights. The rears stayed on fine and one of the front ones blew off one time. I changed to the black plastic ones several years ago. The tailight blackouts are press-in (held by a rubber gasket around the lens). I had no problems for quite some time but then kept losing a lens from one of the tailights. I found that the problem was the tailight housing mounts had broken so that the tailights, themselves, were loose. After replacing all the housings, the lenses again stay in fine.

 

[Vettelt193]

A couple of quick notes....

1) Make sure Blackouts are legal in your area. The rear blackouts are not legal in Florida, and if you have them and are rear ended, you can be blamed for the accident.... not good.

2) the static cling setup looks decent, but I understand they can do permanent damage to the lens.... not good.

3) the smoked plastic lenses look the best. I have a set for the front of my car. (I think they look great on the 91-96 cars because it wraps around)

4) the smoked plastic lenses can be purchased from Autozone for less than Ecklers/Mid America sells them for.


hope all of this helps

 

[DougSilver]

Hey Vettelt193--I originally had a bear of a time getting the front wraparounds to stay on. The adhesive backing on the velcro strips kept working loose. I finally got new strips from the manufacturer (GT Products?) and those have been fine. Have you had any problems with yours?

 

[HPG]

How do the plastic ones attach ?

 

[HPG]

Thanks, do the solid plastic ones attach the same w ay

 

[coolblue]

hey there i just bought the rear blackout kit too,have no idea how to install on my 84 ,it looks like they will be almost flush with the body,is that right?

 

[Ken]

How do the plastic ones attach ?

The louvered type for the rear lenses have small wedges that accompany the lense covers and simply hold the louver in place by friction. They work fine in that I have not lost one yet after many, many miles.

I don't use the front covers; they had ninety-degree brackets that you applied to the lense cover and bumper cover with hook-and-loop fasteners. The trouble with that is that you can definitely see the brackets when your lights are on. Not good. :nono

 

[coolblue]

well since instructions did not come with these,i guessed,i figure ya pretty much cant get it wrong i hope,anyway i went for it,think they look right?

 

[Ken]

Obviously I can't see the tabs, but it looks good to me.

_ken :cool

 

[coolblue]

ok thanks alot ,i hope i did it right.i hope i dont lose one going down the road