seal them in with silicone or something similar....i didn't and look what happened:



i was driving home from texas (~500mi.) and i made it home on one tank...as soon as i stepped out of my car, i saw my sidemarker hanging down low, and my bumper was scratched to hell

here's a pic after i buffed the scratches out...there are some grooves not pictured (couldn't really capture it) and this cluster of freaking chips to add to the collection on my front bumper

 

what if you have to replace a bulb?
the tabs just need to be bent a little bit so they stay in place. DO NOT seal them to the body of the car. if you have to remove them to change bulbs it will damage your paint.

 

yeah i was thinking about that, too, but i though if it ever came to that, i'll just take the bumper off and punch it out from the other side

 

I agree with bending or shimming the tabs. Silicone is for sealing the seams so they don't get moisture inside them.

Are you sure they were installed securely?

 

yeah, but even when i installed them, i noticed how loosely they fit in...i can go and touch them and they move a good centimeter inward they're so loose....maybe i should try bending the tab first to see how they fit then, but i definitely don't want this happening again....it looks like azz now

 

yeah, i just tried adjusting the metal tabs and it didn't help any....any more suggestions before i make it perminent?

 

dude that freakin sux....what are your plans on fixing the scratches?

 

i'm going to just have the entire front bumper re-painted if our freaking house ever sells (7 months on the market and still going )

 

Ic..good luck with that Colin

btw, why are the scratches above the clear corner? if it was dangling out of the bumper, wouldn't the scratches be below the slot where the clear corner goes into? Am I missing something here?

 

it was hanging out by the 4 inch long wires, so the wind constantly was hitting it up against my car...

 

That happened to my rear passanger one when I had the stock ones in. I went through a car wash and it came out and beat the hell out of the paint on the rear bumper. Car wash was supposed to pay for it but they went out of business after they said I would be getting the check

 

Mine passenger side front did that. I didn't get an scratches (thank god) it only did it once tho. I put it back in and it hasn't done it since

 

I had that problem as well on both my rear ones about 4 months ago, the plastic tabs actually broke, so i just wedged some duck tape in there (can't see the tape) and put some on the plastic tabs, Works great.

 

I got hit by a blown truck tire and got one knocked out... Unfortunitely the wiring on mine was quite long and it scratched the crap out of my wheel. I still haven't gotten them all out. And needless to say the damn sidemarker was destroyed.

When I re-installed I cut the wires pretty short, so if it does pop out again it barely hangs out at all.

 

I'm feeling ya there! I've been trying to dump a condo for 5 months now with exactly the same luck. I hope you weren't as dumb as I was: I went and bought another place before the first one sold. At the time, the market was red-hot, so it seemed OK to get a bridge loan and roll with it. Now I'm paying 4k a month in mortgages. Kinda slowed the modding to a screeching halt! When I sell the condo, I'll pay off my maxima, buy a civic or 4 cyl. Accord to drive for work and start playing with the max a bit more.

A little O/T, but had to let you know you're not the only one out there!

 

oh trust me, i feel you on that one...a $1200 mortgage and $1200 rent is not nice at all....our stupid @$$ realitor switched the contract after we signed it to a year...she even told us that it was a 6 month contract before we signed the papers....she's shown the house ONCE in 7 months!!! the number on the sign doesn't even connect you to the actual real estate company! complete BS....

but yeah, once that sells, i'm definitely going to re-paint my front and MAYBE my rear bumper...my rear doesn't need it as much, but for some reason, there are these weird marks all over it that look like grains of sand that i can't get out, and it's bugging the crap outta me!

 

Wow that's bad, never thought that could happen. So need to repaint the whole bumper for those?
Well I still have a question, how did you get 500 miles on one tank by going from TX? The most I could is barely 400 with 26 mpg, by doing 560 miles trip.

 

There's gotta be a way to get out of it. Threaten a lawsuit and see if she moves a bit.

 

I think it's cause of the manual tranny he's got (grrr i wish i had one lol)

This happened to me on the driver's side and as soon as i heard it i knew what it was so i pulled over to the side of the road and fixed the sidemarker. Thank God nothing was scratched, never got loose and hope it doesn't again.

 

Ohhh yeah it gotta be the manual tranny.