DIY: Uneven Taillights on Sedans/Coupes Fix *PICS*

Ok so I've had a problem for a while that I know some of you other folks have had as well. The situation at hand is that the right/left side of peoples' trunk appears not to sit as snugly against the frame, making the interior taillight a little higher than the exterior right one.

I have found a remedy to this problem, so both sides of the trunk are at an even closure and flush with the outer taillights.

Tools required:
10mm socket and wrench



Parts required:
None

Time required:
5 minutes at most

Process:
1) Determine which side needs to fit more snug to the frame of the car. Open the trunk.


2) Use the ratchet to loosen the two bolts on the trunk loop pictured:




3) With the bolts loosened, press down on the loop to bring it to its lowest position, and retighten the bolts.


4) Close your trunk. Even with the loop set at the lowest position, the trunk does close, but a little force may be required. If you are okay with slamming your trunk then leave it. If you want a little less force to lock it, then adjust the loop just a little up (to personal preference), which is what I did. I don't need to slam the trunk now, but it doesn't close loosely upon letting go of it like it used to. I am okay with this since it fixed my problem. Just tweak around with the height of the loop until your closing preference is met.


5) You may notice that the taillights are still not exactly flush, like the problem was in my case. Now, with the trunk open, gently bend the needed side down (right side for me), while maintaining the open trunk and the opposite side in one position. There is no need to go wild, since you may warp the trunk completely and make another problem. The trunk is springy, so a few forceful bends will make it stay where you want it.




6) When you have done this, you are finished. Your trunk should now be flush. The results for me were as pictured:






7) Upon a suggestion from a fellow member, I decided to check out the rubber knobs which are attached to the trunk and found two adjustable knobs - one on each side of the trunk. I immediately adjusted them to their lowest setting. This hasn't made a visible difference to the closure of my trunk, but it adjusts the ease with which closure occurs - mine closes upon "dropping" of the trunk freely now, like it did before, and the lights are flush. See below:




Taking some time to figure this out really helped me. I guess taillights being not flush isn't that big of a deal, but it really bothered me and made my car look funny.

I hope this DIY helps out everyone else with this problem as well!

I kinda did the same to fit my CF trunk great DIY.

good write up....btw what did u use on ur tailights to black them out....i did the same with mine but used spay paint and when it lights up i dont like how it looks. i have heard of laminx etc but was just curious as to what u used.

Good DIY.

I remember doing this a few years ago when I first got Subs. Putting the loop in the lowest position got rid of a lot the rattle I was getting.

good diy.

TriNiCorD99 said:

good write up....btw what did u use on ur tailights to black them out....i did the same with mine but used spay paint and when it lights up i dont like how it looks. i have heard of laminx etc but was just curious as to what u used.

Click to expand...

Hey man, I used Pactra tint, which can be found here: http://www.ehobbies.com/pac294.html
When you order it, remember to order 2 cans of it! One will not be enough! I got them both for $12 shipped, as opposed to VHT Niteshades which costs around $21 shipped (that's what I used the first time and don't recommend it to anyone just because of the price).

When you do your tails, be sure to wetsand thoroughly, both tint and clearcoat after it is thoroughly dry. After my application of final clearcoat, i waited till it dried and applied rubbing/polishing compound (without wetsanding) for a smooth finish. Then I used Meguiar's NXT Spray Wax for a nice wax shine!

Good luck and I hope this helps!

wow nikita...you and i have different experiences i didnt sand mine at all, no clear, no polishing, and i used niteshades ($8 my cost) i had enough left over to do 3 sets of amber strips. i think mine are 1 coat darker (theyre reallllll dark )

lol such different ways of doing the same dam thing... :roy:

ryan s said:

wow nikita...you and i have different experiences i didnt sand mine at all, no clear, no polishing, and i used niteshades ($8 my cost) i had enough left over to do 3 sets of amber strips. i think mine are 1 coat darker (theyre reallllll dark )

lol such different ways of doing the same dam thing... :roy:

Click to expand...

Well Ry Ry, I'm surprised that they don't look like ****; well I can only assume they don't.. could you post up a closeup picture? I'd like to see how yours came out, because after doing what you claimed to do with niteshades, mine came out like total dog****.

To top it off, the can started jizzing everywhere when it wasn't even half way empty.

Please share your technique/procedure as to how you did it, because I wasn't able to do it the way you did.. maybe I was just a noob

whenever i paint, i follow the directions on the can to the T. niteshades takes medium (fairly thick) coats if i remember right, with lots of shaking while spraying.

lol i dont do anything special when painting...i think i used my tshirt to clean the lights before tinting not even a tack cloth

theyre not real shiny, but i can take a pic tomorrow...

Sweet man, I'd appreciate that!

If you want to shine yours up for glamour, put a layer of clearcoat on, and take some TurtleWax compound to it too, it works wonders.. Then you can't even tell it was spraypainted on at at all, even closeup.

Les see some pixxx!