Improved Trunk lighting - Is there demand?

[sigurdi]

Movie of the removal of the carpet cover right side to get to the cables behind.

I think this is a better solution than to bend the carpet and riscing that it gets deformed.

sigurdi

 

[Gizmotoy]

Movie of the removal of the carpet cover right side to get to the cables behind.

I think this is a better solution than to bend the carpet and riscing that it gets deformed.
sigurdi

Thanks for the video, that seems like a good guide.

Those who have already installed: Has anyone actually deformed their carpet by just yanking it out? Do you think it's worth the trouble of getting a trim puller and removing the panels?

 

[sigurdi]

Have seen videos where carpet is just bent down. Can't be good with the type of carpet used.

I use less than 5min to remove trim, connect led and reconect trim.

I also remove thrim when I remove carpet to install exstra subwoffer or mount exstra sound isolation.
It is on customer cars and easy to remove trim and worst can be replace a plastic plug or two.
Replace carpet because I damage it, is more exspensive.

The side trim is easy on newcars, some P85 with white plugs with black is hardere to loosen.

 

[pete8314]

I think a lot of this depends if you're comfortable, or used to, popping trim off. It's certainly easy enough, but for the inexperienced it can appear daunting and/or quite brutal! When I installed my NVX sub I removed the top trim (the bit that supports the parcel shelf, but not the trim piece that runs along the trunk load area....I bent my carpet around quite a lot with no apparent side-effects, this is on a 'vintage' S85.

 

[tomp]

I received mind today - and quickly installed several. They are a definite improvement. My input to the discussion:

- I don't see a problem with pushing back the carpet. I've moved mine around a good bit and can see no problem with that approach. To me, it seems easier than removing the trim.
- I did not find the rear hatchback light to be as hard as others have described. I just wedged a spudger in there and pried it out. I probably got lucky in where I happened to place the spudger/apply force.
- I found the door puddle light the hardest (I only put in teh driver's side so far). I think I partly damaged the OEM light in removing it.
- I found, with the driver's footwell, the door puddle light and the frunk light, that it helped to insert a sharp knife and gently pry the light out just enough to wedge the spudger in. Then shove the spudger in and pry.
- I found it a bit tricky to get the wire harness out of the OEM lights. I wound up pushing down on the tab and then using a spudger to wedge out the connector.
- Compared to other 'projects', this is simple. I put in 6 of them in no time, even with some little helpers.

I am not sure yet on the driver's footwell and door puddle lights - honestly I never even noticed those lights before - i guess because they are so weak. But I also never noticed a lack of lighting there. I only installed those lights on the driver's side so that I can compare to the passenger side.

When all is said and done, this is an extraordinarily simple upgrade. The frunk and trunk are huge differences. I would highly recommend the lights.

Huge thanks to Pete for this simple and easy way to improve the lighting!!

 

[PeterK]

I did the trunk and frunk this evening. Two trunk sides were incredibly easy to pop out, getting the first cable clip off was harder.

Hatch and frunk in hard plastic were much harder. I couldn't get purchase with the spudger until I popped out the hatch release cap and reached through, and pulled up the plastic piece in the frunk, so that I could push from behind. I highly recommend both approaches.

Lights work great - so much brighter. Thanks!

 

[Gizmotoy]

I didn't really want to wait to order a trim puller or risk making the fasteners looser and creating more rattles than I already have, so I just pulled the carpet back. I had zero trouble with the charge port side, but the passenger side was really difficult. The connector on the charge port side was directly behind the light's cutout, but on the passenger side is was further back in the car and wrapped really tightly around another cable. I had trouble unwrapping the tape, so I had to cut it.

The hatch lid was pretty difficult. The hardest of all the locations. I broke the light getting it out, but eventually got it with little or no damage to the panel using the suggestions in this thread.

The bottom of my driver's seat kind of exploded when installing the rear seat light. When I put it all the way up and forward I clearly heard something break. There's some kind of strap under there to keep the carpet up. It wasn't broken, fortunately, so I was able to reattach it. Had a little scare, though.

The front door puddle lights were the easiest. The flexibility of the panel allows them to pop right out with minimal force. I really want the rear puddles, but I don't have premium lighting so I'd have to drill and modify, which doesn't sound fun.


So... after all the fun, I'm extremely impressed. Everything is nice and bright. Really happy with the purchase, and installation was straightforward. Thanks so much for this, Pete! I park in dark underground garages both at home and work. Finally being able to see into the trunk has us pretty excited.

 

[Cyclone]

Given the reports of people without rear door puddles, perhaps you could consider a 2-pack once you get past the initial order wave from this thread. Or perhaps we just order two of the single SKUs you had been considering.

I ended up caving and ordered another set tonight. I will probably end up changing all 4 remaining lights, even though I was only interested in two of them. But I can use them. I can imagine someone without rear puddles being a bit annoyed.

 

[bmah]

I had my lights sitting around waiting for the weekend, until my 8-year-old son wanted to try them out tonight. This started as a joint project but he ended up doing most of the work. He's just old enough to follow directions and just small enough that he can wedge into tight spaces (front footwells, I'm looking at you) and work his fingers into places that might be harder for grown-ups. Oh yeah, and he's not presbyopic like his old man. So we did (with my supervision) the frunk, trunk hatch, and front passenger footwell...mostly I got to hand him tools and occasionally help pry out one of the OEM bulbs. (Then we had to knock off so he could finish his homework.) We were both amazed at how much better the inside looks with the new lights.

I figure he can handle the front driver footwell and the puddle lights (we only have the fronts). I'm planning on adding the other two trunk lights, but intending to take a much more active role in installing those. Not sure about the rear footwells...that would be nice but I'll need to buy some more bulbs and the brackets first.

Pete, my son says, "Abstract Ocean is great" and he wants to know if there's a replacement planned for the emergency (edge of the doors) lights. I guess he wants more stuff to work on!

 

[Ingineer]

If you really wanted the red lights brighter, you could simply re-use Tesla's red lens. Just unsnap Pete's black back part with the LED's and snap into the original red lens.

 

[bmah]

If you really wanted the red lights brighter, you could simply re-use Tesla's red lens. Just unsnap Pete's black back part with the LED's and snap into the original red lens.

Hrm, interesting thought, although the idea of retrofitting the red lights was more my son's idea than mine! This will be (yet another) one of the times where I tell him "When you're old enough to drive, and you can afford your own Tesla, you can do it to *your* car."

 

[Ingineer]

I don't see the impetus for making those red ones brighter. They are adequately visible to approaching cars at night, which is all they are for.

 

[sigurdi]

I think a lot of this depends if you're comfortable, or used to, popping trim off. It's certainly easy enough, but for the inexperienced it can appear daunting and/or quite brutal! When I installed my NVX sub I removed the top trim (the bit that supports the parcel shelf, but not the trim piece that runs along the trunk load area....I bent my carpet around quite a lot with no apparent side-effects, this is on a 'vintage' S85.

The trim piece that runs along the trunk load area is not recommended to try to remove.
This is very tight, have a lot of plugs and is not easy to get back into place without damaging the plugs.

The regular trim on both sides is easy if you have blue plastic plugs, have removed around 40-50 and none have been damaged.
If they are white or white and black they are not as easy to remove.

People should do what they feel like.

On the carport side on 90% of the D cars you do not need to remove anything else than the smal cover for the charge port.
The cables is wrapped up and taped with a white tampe (normal) on the front or bottom side.

Like I wrote, some cars the drivers side cable is tucked away on the same location as on the passanger side.

The installation have been only on customer cars and I have plugs in spear not needed to use any on this locations).

It is fast and easy, but everyting is that when you have done it alot.

Have recommended some to return to Tesla and get their carpet changed because of realy bad fit.
They got new carpets from Tesla, since they have been badly cut and fitted.

On a few cars the cutouts for the leds have been cut to wide and they have used perforated strips on the bakside of the carpet to keep it in place. ;-(

And of course people can push and drag around their carpet as they feel like it on their own cars. ;-)

sigurdi

 

[bmah]

I don't see the impetus for making those red ones brighter. They are adequately visible to approaching cars at night, which is all they are for.

Sorry I should have put some smileys in somewhere. I completely agree there's no need to make the red lights brighter.

Remember I said this was my son's idea. When you're 8 years old, and you've just learned you can upgrade the lights on your old man's Tesla, you want to change as many of them as you can. Don't take him *too* seriously, OK?

PS.

 

[Ingineer]

Sorry I should have put some smileys in somewhere. I completely agree there's no need to make the red lights brighter.

Remember I said this was my son's idea. When you're 8 years old, and you've just learned you can upgrade the lights on your old man's Tesla, you want to change as many of them as you can. Don't take him *too* seriously, OK?

PS.

Gotcha! Just tell him you ordered the 1.21 Gigawatt flux capacitor upgrade kit and you'll need his help when it comes in. =)

 

[pete8314]

Given the reports of people without rear door puddles, perhaps you could consider a 2-pack once you get past the initial order wave from this thread. Or perhaps we just order two of the single SKUs you had been considering.

I ended up caving and ordered another set tonight. I will probably end up changing all 4 remaining lights, even though I was only interested in two of them. But I can use them. I can imagine someone without rear puddles being a bit annoyed.

That's definitely the plan...from this first production run, there's only about 25% of the stock left, so the plan is still to fulfill the most popular quantities first, but as we get more it, I'll create separate SKUs for a single and double set...I'll need additional packaging for those too.

- - - Updated - - -

I had my lights sitting around waiting for the weekend, until my 8-year-old son wanted to try them out tonight. This started as a joint project but he ended up doing most of the work. He's just old enough to follow directions and just small enough that he can wedge into tight spaces (front footwells, I'm looking at you) and work his fingers into places that might be harder for grown-ups. Oh yeah, and he's not presbyopic like his old man. So we did (with my supervision) the frunk, trunk hatch, and front passenger footwell...mostly I got to hand him tools and occasionally help pry out one of the OEM bulbs. (Then we had to knock off so he could finish his homework.) We were both amazed at how much better the inside looks with the new lights.

I figure he can handle the front driver footwell and the puddle lights (we only have the fronts). I'm planning on adding the other two trunk lights, but intending to take a much more active role in installing those. Not sure about the rear footwells...that would be nice but I'll need to buy some more bulbs and the brackets first.

Pete, my son says, "Abstract Ocean is great" and he wants to know if there's a replacement planned for the emergency (edge of the doors) lights. I guess he wants more stuff to work on!

I like your son's style, plus you might be able to hire him out

 

[pedriscoll]

Installed the trunk and frunk lights this afternoon. It was very easy as advertised. The hatch light popped right out. I did just pull the carpet out to do the rear ones. Thanks for the photos in your instructions. I am not sure I would have found the driver's side wiring without it. The hardest thing for me was to punch out the spaces for the rear lights. Great product!!

 

[brooklynrab]

Thanks Pete. Great product, easier to do than i thought on my March 2014 P85 classic (vin 36,xxx), once I had the guts to pull away the carpeted side walls in my trunk to fish out the wires for the trunk lights (hint: use carpet knife to help punch out the spaces for rear lights). Only skinned one knuckle. Best value-added simple retrofit. Now if someone could come up with a do-it-yourself sound attenuation kit for my Tesla, I'd be thrilled, but that might be beyond my skills. Looking forward to more good stuff from Pete.

 

[Madartist]

I just installed all the replacement lights from Abstract Ocean yesterday. Overall, it wasn't difficult. Start with Pete's excellent installation guide. Here are some additional hints which might help.

Trunk and Frunk Lights:
These are the easiest as everyone has said. However, the first time I tried to disconnect the OEM light, it was not as easy as I thought. Pushing down on the clip did not immediately release the light. The simplest way I found which worked every time was to insert a small flat head screw driver into the center of the light (see vertical arrow below). This effectively pushes down on the entire clip and releases the connector completely.

As swegman said above, removing the trunk lid light was very difficult. I found it easiest to insert a larger screw driver underneath the notch (see horizontal arrow above) on one side of the OEM light and prying it off. The spudger was too thick to get underneath the light. If you are concerned about scratching the plastic next to it, then I would suggest using a piece of painter's tape first before inserting the screw driver. I did not use any tape and the scratch was minimal and hardly noticeable.

Door Puddle Lights:
Same technique as above. Again, it's easier with a screw driver than the spudger. I'm even less worried about scratches here since no one will ever see it. By the way, a large cardboard box worked very well as a floor mat during the installation.

Footwell Lights:
The driver footwell light was hardest to get to. The foot pedals were definitely in the way. The large screw driver gave me the most leverage to pry it out. Again, I was not concerned about scratches here since no one, including me, will ever see it.

The rear foot well lights were not difficult, once I found the right method. The easiest way by far is to follow Pete's installation guide and pull off the bracket from the bar. This way, you don't have to work a small confined space. Once done, the light did not come out easily from the bracket even with a screw driver because the bracket is made of a soft plastic. It provided no leverage. Since I do not intend to ever reinstall the OEM lights and I was lying in a very awkward position on the floor, it was easiest to simply insert a small screw driver into both holding tabs (left arrow below) on one side of the light and break it off. The right arrow below shows the light where I've done just that. The light will then come out of the bracket very easily. All that's left is to snap the bracket with the new light back in place.

 

[liuping]

The rear foot well lights were not difficult, once I found the right method. The easiest way by far is to follow Pete's installation guide and pull off the bracket from the bar. This way, you don't have to work a small confined space. Once done, the light did not come out easily from the bracket even with a screw driver because the bracket is made of a soft plastic. It provided no leverage. Since I do not intend to ever reinstall the OEM lights and I was lying in a very awkward position on the floor, it was easiest to simply insert a small screw driver into both holding tabs (left arrow below) on one side of the light and break it off. The right arrow below shows the light where I've done just that. The light will then come out of the bracket very easily. All that's left is to snap the bracket with the new light back in place.

I did not want to break the original lights, so I used a pair of large pipe pliers to squeeze the tabs wile pushing the light through the opening. That worked well, and the lights could be reused if I ever need to put them back (not sure why I would, but just in case).