Altis 2nd Gen LED taillight problem

[Veloist]

Hi everyone, I got the Altis 2nd Gen LED's on ZestJDM from my dad as a Christmas gift. We installed them as best as we could, and we had a few gaps but the screws and clips were all in.

That being said, the day after Christmas I washed my car then left it in the garage for until yesterday because I was on vacation.

Today after driving it, I noticed that there was some condensation in both the left and right housings (the ones with the LED brakelights and turn signals). The left one wasn't as bad as the right one, the whole side of the right taillight has condensation.

When my dad and I installed it, we made sure that the rubber adhesive seal was closed completely, so I'm sure that can't be the problem. What else can I do to see what's wrong? I don't know if ZestJDM will accept a return, and the dealership might not deal with it since it's aftermarket.

Thanks for the help.

[MasterTecInSTL]

Defective product.. don't know what else to say. Most of this stuff is made by eight year olds in china...

[gold94corolla]

It sounds like you got the usual cheap lights from Ebay. These lights usually leak and fit poorly. Genuine OEM lights will fit and not leak

[mikered30]

I thought ZestJDM was legit?

[MasterTecInSTL]

Originally Posted by mikered30

I thought ZestJDM was legit?

Depends on what you mean by legit? If they came with a warranty and the company warranties their products then as far as I'm concerned they are in fact legit.

That doesn't necessarily mean that their products are of good quality. There are plenty of legitimate companies that sell inferior products.

Walmart is (reasonably) legit yet they still sell natty light...

[Veloist]

Originally Posted by gold94corolla

It sounds like you got the usual cheap lights from Ebay. These lights usually leak and fit poorly. Genuine OEM lights will fit and not leak

Originally Posted by mikered30

I thought ZestJDM was legit?

My dad got them from ZestJDM, right off the website. (The package return address said it came from Diamond Bar, CA which is where they're based) I also thought that ZestJDM was legit, legit meaning that ZestJDM's products were OEM coming right from the Toyota Factory in Taiwan, or from DEPO. However when I was installing them with my dad, he told me they were aftermarket since they didn't fit right, and the cheap price explained that.

[gold94corolla]

exactly, the cheap price, and honestly the name "ZestJDM" definitely sounds like aftermarket parts with minimum quality. Many different places sell the same exact product, even if they charge different prices or make you think otherwise.

[Veloist]

I wouldn't say that the taillights are of minimum quality, they were just priced really well ($165) but I think Genuine Toyota Taillights for Corollas would probably be 2x more expensive. And the only most convincing place I could find these taillights were Ebay, only one vendor had them, and charged an additional $60 for shipping. I didn't doubt ZestJDM because ZestJDM sponsors this website and 9thGenCorolla (before it shut down). That said, when I asked people where they got their taillights, they referred me to ZestJDM.

Now to follow up on my problem, even though ZestJDM doesn't handle certain areas of Customer Service they still sold me a part I'm happy with, and the problem isn't even a major one. After asking different people who have had the same problem, even on OEM taillights, I've agreed that I'm just going to use clear sealant where the lens and the housing are joined , and use some PTFE tape on the turn signal bulb threads

[hardtopte72]

You are absolutely right. This happens all the time on OEM headlight and tailights. I would go ahead and bake the tailight to pry it apart and seal it properly or simply seal the outside of it. This happened to my OEM drivers side tailight on my 05. It was replaced under warranty but it was only after I noticed the 5 oz of water pooled in the bottom that the technician could not figure out how it got in there.