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Recently purchased an RX-8 and after the first day it rained the left tail light became an aquarium, halfway full with water. I've decided I want to get a third party replacement as the original light always looked pretty ugly to me. (In the words of Jeremy Clarkson: "Busier than a bishops hat")
I spent some time looking into threads about tail lights but a lot of the links were broken and info out of date. What are some of the best options these days?
From my research I've found ebay has XTune series 2 style for older model, but they seemed to be sourced from Taiwan and quality isn't exactly guaranteed. I found what appears to be the same type here, but maybe they're a better quality since they come with warranty? https://marsperformance.com.au/FE-2-...Series-1-04-08
Then there's these great looking ones from Car Shop Glow, but the price make my eyes water and I haven't seen any posts of people who have actually bought them. https://www.carshopglow.com/parts/csg-se-005/?lg=en
Are there any other options I'm missing here? I want to make sure I'm making a fully informed decision.
its the gasket behind the light that leaks not the tail light (unless its broken or cracked) you can just pull the lights and use a sealant instead of the gasket
I still want to switch out the old lights with something a bit more pleasing to the eye. But thanks for the tip, I'll keep it in mind when putting the new light in.
I believe Series 1 OEM taillight has an updated gasket, so if you buy a replacement it should be the updated version that seals better.
If you want to be safe, clean off the mating surface on the car body, then apply a generous amount of silicone sealant on the gasket before you install the OEM taillight.
I have those S2 rear tail lights on my auto RX8. Couple issues:
1. Doesn't fit flush like OEM and pops out just a bit at the edges.
2. Those LED's, if they go out can't easily be replaced. I have like 3 small ones out on one side and have no idea how those are replaced.
Just thought I'd drop back in with a follow up post. I ended up going for the mars performance lights. They came with a new rubber seal which looks like it'll do a better job than the previous one. When installing the new lights it's really important to make sure the screws holding the light in place are done up super tight as that's what creates the seal. As far as installation went, it was super straight forward, just plug and play. My only concern is that the orange LEDs for the indicators that I ordered at the same time seem very bright compared to the old ones and I'm worried they might actually dazzle the people behind me a bit too much. Gonna drive with them for a bit and just see how I feel about it.
06-03-2020, 09:05 PM
