So i decided the clean my car real good and wax it the other day, so i took out my tail lights to clean around that area and when screwing them in unknowingly broke both top half screws holding them in. (can we say cheaply made ) The question is should i just buy stock ones or go with the led? I like the leds but have some questions like....what do you do if a led bulb burns out, can you replace that bulb, and do they leak water. EVERY after market light i ever bought leaks water. I dont want to waste me mmoney if they are just gonna leak water and fog up all the time...PLEASE help. Thanks.

 

Wow, I took my 05 tails out a bunch of times and never broke off anything. When I had my DEPO LED tails mine never fogged up. I'm not sure what to do if the LEDs burnt out. You can't really crack open the case and replace them.

 

I haven't had any issues with my LED tails. Sometimes there will be a slight fogging to them if I wash them on a hot day with cold water, but I haven't noticed anything during rain.

If a light blows I'll probably have to crack them open and replace it, but I won't worry about that road until it comes. I believe there is an area that has a sticker saying do not remove or you void your warranty, and you can access the internals through there.

 

If you are ONLY looking to replace the tail lights because the studs came off, I wonder if you could epoxy them back together. $10 or less at the hard ware store my be better then $100-$200 for tails you didn't want.

BUT, if you wanted LED tails, I think you now have a good justification for them

 

well i like the led lights, and was thinking about getting them before my mishap. I just dont want to spend the money to have them leak. i bought $400 projector lights for my 91 acura and they did nothing but leak water and fog so bad on the inside causing them to also turn yellow. So just making sure if i buy the leds that they will not fail me lol.

 

I read this and maybe this would settle my ease.

How To: Sealing headlights/taillights to prevent condensation/moisture buildup.

May 26, 2009 at 3:31pm Posted in Tech

Sometimes, regardless of the manufacturer of headlights/taillights you buy, condensation or moisture can leak into your new lights.
With installation usually requiring 45 mins - 2 hours for headlights or taillights, its pretty frustrating to have a leak develop in your new lights. This procedure will take about an extra 20-30 minutes to do, but will guarantee you wont have to remove the lights due to fogging/condensation buildup.
So, to properly demonstrate the procedure of how to seal the taillights/headlights, we decided to demonstrate on a set of 08+ Dodge Caliber headlights.
First off, heres the headlight we’ll be working with.

This headlight has a clear plastic outer shell on the front, and a black plastic basket surround. The two are sealed together with a heavy duty industrial glue/sealer. However, sometimes with extreme heat, the glue/sealer can come loose, and holes can form that will allow water to enter.
This is the sealer we are using. This is GE Silicone 2, a premium grade silicone sealant. This is a great all purpose silicone that can be used indoors/outdoors and it will never crack, and is permanently flexible so it will seal, but yet flex with heat/cold expansion/contraction. You can buy this in small tubes for about $4 at your local hardware store.

Heres what the initial bead of silicone looks like that we used to go around the headlight. We made sure to apply a consistent bead of silicone across the entire headlight.

The last step of sealing a headlight or taillight, is to make sure that the silicone has a good seal against the two surfaces its sealing. So, with our pointer finger, we ran our finger along the bead, pushing the silicone into the crack, and sealing the silicone to both the inner and outer casings. Notice how there are no globs, and how the silicone nicely fills the void.

Most silicone sealers will take about 1 hour to cure, and about 12-14 hours to fully cure, so be sure to allocate enough time for the silicone to fully dry and seal.

 

SO HERES THE BIG QUESTION!!!!!

Led's or Stock????? What do you guys think.

 

You know my preference

 

I think it's time to put a poll on this thread and MCF can vote "LEDs or STOCKERS".

I don't mind the stock tails on the 6th gens. The LEDs I think it depends on the color of your Monte (Chibi's being black is a PERFECT, that LED housing works great). But I don't think they'd look right on my blue Monte.

 

Good idea about the Poll. Hope you don't mind, I added it for you