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I rolled my own Carbon Fibre taillights
- Thread starter hcsharp
- Start date
Story
Member
Hsujonn
Member
Hey Henry, Count me in for both tailights and doorsills as well! Do you know approximately how much they'd be?
Amazing work!
Amazing work!
Dave and Hsujonn I've added you both to my list. The taillights are turning out to be incredibly labor intensive, but also quite striking on the car. I've sold 2 pairs, kept 1 and gave one pair away. I'm still working on the molds for the door sills. They will be easier to make. Not sure about prices but I figured out if I charge $1,400 for taillights I make less than $30/hr.
chadconway
'08 Roadster 1.5 - VIN 323, '19 M3 SR, '22 MY LR
smorgasbord
Active Member
I just received and installed these - they're great! Here's some photos and tips:
0) Set yourself up with good lighting since it can be hard to see inside the all black trunk. The thing on top of the PEM is a bluetooth speaker - can't do work without tunes.
1) Here's where the rubber covers are:
Don't use a screwdriver to remove them - use something plastic without sharp edges. I bought a trim removal kit on Amazon for ~ $18 but you don't need that, especially if it's warm.
Here's a view of the stud through the holes:
You can also see the studs from the top:
Heed the warnings on dropping washers and nuts. I found that a 8mm hex socket was able to hold the nut inside it as long as I tilted the handle down (socket up) as it came off, then used needle nose pliers on the washers. The latter can be a bit tricky, though. I did drop one washer and one nut - the nut came out under the car and the washer landed where I could easily get at it once the taillight was removed. But, don't count on being lucky.
3) Here's the unit dangling by the wires:
Here's a view of the "button" you press, which makes lever pop out so you can disconnect the wiring plug from the socket:
Do not confuse it with the two tabs you squeeze together to separate the socket from the taillight assembly:
Remember which way the socket attaches to the taillights so you re-install it correctly (or use the above photo as reference).
4) Wire cutting and splicing is pretty straight-forward. The deal here is that the lenses are on one side of the taillight housing and the wires are connected on the other. The plug doesn't seem setup to have the wires easily removed from it, so we cut the wires and install waterproof connectors so that any change later doesn't need to recut wires:
Note that you do NOT cut the wires to the largest light/lens unit since the wires can remain attached to that one and just pass through the opening.
Now, I first thought about making sure the removable connectors for each of the two smaller lights were oriented the same way, but then realized that if I oriented them differently there'd be almost no way to mess it up later. In any case, the small (backup) light has a brown wire and the middle light has a green. So, when reconnecting be sure to connect green to green and brown to brown.
Here's what mine looked like:
You can see in the above picture that one has a female and one has a male end. So, even without checking colors I couldn't reconnect incorrectly. Others may not wish to do this.
In retrospect, I wish I had bought and used waterproof butt splices. Soldering the wires is easy enough, but dealing with the liquid tape is a pain.I ended up doing both liquid tape and real tape. If you solder, remember to heat the wires with the iron and have the wires melt the solder, nor the iron melting the solder.
More in the next message
0) Set yourself up with good lighting since it can be hard to see inside the all black trunk. The thing on top of the PEM is a bluetooth speaker - can't do work without tunes.
1) Here's where the rubber covers are:
Don't use a screwdriver to remove them - use something plastic without sharp edges. I bought a trim removal kit on Amazon for ~ $18 but you don't need that, especially if it's warm.
Here's a view of the stud through the holes:
You can also see the studs from the top:
Heed the warnings on dropping washers and nuts. I found that a 8mm hex socket was able to hold the nut inside it as long as I tilted the handle down (socket up) as it came off, then used needle nose pliers on the washers. The latter can be a bit tricky, though. I did drop one washer and one nut - the nut came out under the car and the washer landed where I could easily get at it once the taillight was removed. But, don't count on being lucky.
3) Here's the unit dangling by the wires:
Here's a view of the "button" you press, which makes lever pop out so you can disconnect the wiring plug from the socket:
Do not confuse it with the two tabs you squeeze together to separate the socket from the taillight assembly:
Remember which way the socket attaches to the taillights so you re-install it correctly (or use the above photo as reference).
4) Wire cutting and splicing is pretty straight-forward. The deal here is that the lenses are on one side of the taillight housing and the wires are connected on the other. The plug doesn't seem setup to have the wires easily removed from it, so we cut the wires and install waterproof connectors so that any change later doesn't need to recut wires:
Note that you do NOT cut the wires to the largest light/lens unit since the wires can remain attached to that one and just pass through the opening.
Now, I first thought about making sure the removable connectors for each of the two smaller lights were oriented the same way, but then realized that if I oriented them differently there'd be almost no way to mess it up later. In any case, the small (backup) light has a brown wire and the middle light has a green. So, when reconnecting be sure to connect green to green and brown to brown.
Here's what mine looked like:
You can see in the above picture that one has a female and one has a male end. So, even without checking colors I couldn't reconnect incorrectly. Others may not wish to do this.
In retrospect, I wish I had bought and used waterproof butt splices. Soldering the wires is easy enough, but dealing with the liquid tape is a pain.I ended up doing both liquid tape and real tape. If you solder, remember to heat the wires with the iron and have the wires melt the solder, nor the iron melting the solder.
More in the next message
smorgasbord
Active Member
Next is dealing with the trunk lock. First you have to remove the thin metal "holding thingie," which looks like this:
Next, you have to remove the connecting rod (note which end connects to the lock - I used a piece of blue tape), which means pushing the lock straight out, then rotating it until the red arm is pointed up, like this:
Installing the lock into the CF Taillight housing is the reverse. I found the new hole was tighter and so had a tough time of it, but got it done.
Before re-installing the new CF housings, I recommend cleaning and waxing the car area where they go. I also put a coat of synthetic wax on the CF before installing the lights/lenses.
When putting the lenses into the CF housing, note that the small lens can't be installed with the label up - it has to be on one side or the other due to how the locking tabs orient. The heat sink and wires make it a bit of a pain to re-install, so I made sure to have the wires come out the side nearest the middle lens. I think that means the two small lights are oriented differently from one another (since the side the wires comes out is different for the two housings), but I couldn't tell any difference when I put the car in reverse.
That's pretty much it. Here is the final result:
Note the CF pattern on the taillights nicely matches the original Tesla CF pattern above the rear window - Great job, Henry!
Here are some close-ups:
Next, you have to remove the connecting rod (note which end connects to the lock - I used a piece of blue tape), which means pushing the lock straight out, then rotating it until the red arm is pointed up, like this:
Installing the lock into the CF Taillight housing is the reverse. I found the new hole was tighter and so had a tough time of it, but got it done.
Before re-installing the new CF housings, I recommend cleaning and waxing the car area where they go. I also put a coat of synthetic wax on the CF before installing the lights/lenses.
When putting the lenses into the CF housing, note that the small lens can't be installed with the label up - it has to be on one side or the other due to how the locking tabs orient. The heat sink and wires make it a bit of a pain to re-install, so I made sure to have the wires come out the side nearest the middle lens. I think that means the two small lights are oriented differently from one another (since the side the wires comes out is different for the two housings), but I couldn't tell any difference when I put the car in reverse.
That's pretty much it. Here is the final result:
Note the CF pattern on the taillights nicely matches the original Tesla CF pattern above the rear window - Great job, Henry!
Here are some close-ups:
Last edited:
Roadrunner13
Member
@smorgasbord, thanks, this is a great walk through, I'd (almost) feel comfortable doing it myself now! ;-)
@hcsharp, beautiful work (again)!
@hcsharp, beautiful work (again)!
Nice write-up @smorgasbord! Thank you! Your pics are much better than mine. The CF looks especially nice next to the red letters.
I DID go insane trying to keep the weave intact. I have a stack of some 40+ rejects just so I don't forget. I'm still making one pair of rejects for every two pairs that I keep. I have such a stupid amount of time into development that I try not to think about it. But when I see pics like these it starts to make it worth it.
The good news is you don't have to do it yourself. I offered to transfer his lenses myself, including all the soldering, so all he had to do was replace the old taillights with the new ones. He elected to do the lens transfer himself in exchange for a discount. That also gave him the benefit of no down time while his old taillights were shipped to me and then back again.
Those look awesome!!
My has all the exterior CF bits. I feel obligated to do this because the plastic surrounds just look out of place!
My has all the exterior CF bits. I feel obligated to do this because the plastic surrounds just look out of place!
Bunnak
Member
That's easy. Charge more. It's a unique item, is there a limit to what people who want it will pay?
I imagine there's a limit, but it's probably much higher than what I'm charging. Perhaps you're right. I was hesitant because I already increased the price once. If I don't raise the price I will lose ALL customers because I'll quit doing it. Then everybody will lose. So far three other vendors have attempted this project and failed. OK, thanks for the hint.
smorgasbord
Active Member
Ouch - so now I feel bad. They're easily worth more than I paid. For such a small item, it's amazing how many people at work noticed the change and really liked them, too.
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