Rear lights: all the same?
Discussion
This raises a few questions. As you can see I've been in the exact same situation very recently, and I hate to say its not great.
To answer your questions:
1. There are two types of light, the standard red ones, and the clear ones found on the Legende GT (and could be optioned onto some cars). So you need to choose the one that matches your car.
2. I found no way to DIY it, especially because my temporary solution with sticky tape was short lived when the broken bit flew off while driving. After contacting many places they almost all refused saying it was not doable. But my lens was cracked off, so maybe your situation isn't quite as bad. Also I tried very hard to source just the lens from breakers and Alpine themselves, but all just said it had to be sold as the entire unit.
3. With VAT, a new one from Alpine was about £650, which is extremely steep, but is the only solution I found after about a week of searching. At least for me it was readily available so they had it at the dealer next day. If you can find one used absolutely go for it! I was unlucky as I needed a drivers side, and all of the used ones were passenger which was just annoying.
Such a pain in the backside as it was only a bit of plastic that broke.
I am still trying to find anyone who wants my old cracked one to make at least some of the amount back from it.
To answer your questions:
1. There are two types of light, the standard red ones, and the clear ones found on the Legende GT (and could be optioned onto some cars). So you need to choose the one that matches your car.
2. I found no way to DIY it, especially because my temporary solution with sticky tape was short lived when the broken bit flew off while driving. After contacting many places they almost all refused saying it was not doable. But my lens was cracked off, so maybe your situation isn't quite as bad. Also I tried very hard to source just the lens from breakers and Alpine themselves, but all just said it had to be sold as the entire unit.
3. With VAT, a new one from Alpine was about £650, which is extremely steep, but is the only solution I found after about a week of searching. At least for me it was readily available so they had it at the dealer next day. If you can find one used absolutely go for it! I was unlucky as I needed a drivers side, and all of the used ones were passenger which was just annoying.
Such a pain in the backside as it was only a bit of plastic that broke.
I am still trying to find anyone who wants my old cracked one to make at least some of the amount back from it.
Thanks for all this: the lens has splintered into several pieces, but I believe I have them all. By DIY, I really meant whether swapping units was possible at home. I'm handy enough, so I'm hoping so. Did you get yours fitted by the dealership?
There is a s/h one available, from a GT, and mine's a Legende, so it should be correct...
There is a s/h one available, from a GT, and mine's a Legende, so it should be correct...
As long as yours doesn't look like this when off (clear not red) then you're all good.
I had the body shop who dealt with the dent/paint in mine fit it. They already had to take off the bumper and bits to get everything back to factory, so I don't think they even charged specifically for fitting, just the whole job.
By what they told me, the mounting points are accessed by removing the rear bumper, and it's quite fiddly to get right as you have to set it in place, then see if it's positioned exactly right only once the bumper is back on. But electrics is just plug and play so no trouble there. I don't doubt you could do it at home, I only didn't as needed the other work doing at the same time ha.
Edited by samcole28 on Monday 24th March 17:37
Having ummed and ahhhed about secondhand parts etc. I called in at St Albans. Fitting is £345+VAT (which seems reasonable, given what servicing cosyts) and the light cluster £615, so the whole thing will be just north of £1k; but it will be done, and hopefully all aligned correctly...
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