Dapper lighting rant

[xavier296]

BLUF: Why do I always have to modify dapper lighting housings to fit?

I love the look and quality of their products, but not a single one has ever been remove and replace ready. The most frustrating part is that it isn't that they don't fit inside the original buckets. It is that they don't fit the same and are always cocked one way or the other (rotated). So you have trim tabs and finagle to get the beam flat.

I have installed their lights on 2 domestics and one import, and none just go in. We are not talking a 57 Peugeot. We are talking 60s American cars (one Chevy and one Ford,), and a 70s BMW. When you call, they talk about it being the cars fault and manufacturing tolerances and blah blah. But I can go buy a new bulb at autozone for 10 dollars and it will fit. Why doesn't the dapper one?

Alright, rant over. I guess I'll go get started trimming tabs.

Disclaimer: Great bright lights, and great customer service. Their engineering guys just need to compare their bulbs to OEM bulbs and make the tabs line up!!!

[FLYNAVY53]

I run them in both my '72 C20 Suburban and my '64 Corvette. In both cases, the stock buckets had to be "clearanced" but it was less than 1/16 of an inch all the way around. After a bit of very careful work with a dremel, and some flat black paint, you'd need a micrometer to tell that anything had been modified from factory, and the lights dropped right in. I never had issues with any of the mounting tabs or aiming. Regardless, I think the quality and performance of the product far outweighs the minor annoyance of having to massage the fit.

[Motobrewmaster]

I had to modify my buckets for the Dapper HID conversion on my Camaro. It required opening the bucket up a little and cutting out a slot for the LED running light option. I modified them and then had them powder coated in black. They look factory now and hopefully will not rust anytime soon.

Ps - I do really like the HID's, the light quality is excellent.

[Dapper Lighting]

Hey there!
Engineering has been having meetings about this and the findings have been fairly inconclusive. Could you tell us a little more? What vehicles, which lights? All of them? Just one side?

I'm guessing you've been installing 575s. The most issues we've had are the 5.75" tabs since they came in a bunch of different variations for high and low. A lot of customers modify and never let us know so it's hard to know if there is actually an issue or not. We know the tab layout for a high is different from a low (by a few degrees). Anything else? (We've tested about 20 buckets only finding the high beam tab issue).

We've been playing around with adapter rings to add on so you don't need to cut tabs.

As for the bucket fitment issues, I'm guessing you guys are running V1/V2s. This is why we developed the LED Seven. It has a much slimmer base eliminating the need to open buckets up. It does still run long, so depth may be an issue. We've been wanting to drop the V1/V2 but customers keep asking for them so we decided not to yet.

We love feedback so I appreciate everyone giving honest opinions. It helps us make a better product. If there's anything we can help with, please feel free to reach out. Remember, fitment modifications doesn't void your warranty!

[CamaroAJ]

Thats a '69 Camaro he posted a picture of so they would be the 7" lights.

[csouth]

Hey there!
Engineering has been having meetings about this and the findings have been fairly inconclusive. Could you tell us a little more? What vehicles, which lights? All of them? Just one side?

I'm guessing you've been installing 575s. The most issues we've had are the 5.75" tabs since they came in a bunch of different variations for high and low. A lot of customers modify and never let us know so it's hard to know if there is actually an issue or not. We know the tab layout for a high is different from a low (by a few degrees). Anything else? (We've tested about 20 buckets only finding the high beam tab issue).

We've been playing around with adapter rings to add on so you don't need to cut tabs.

As for the bucket fitment issues, I'm guessing you guys are running V1/V2s. This is why we developed the LED Seven. It has a much slimmer base eliminating the need to open buckets up. It does still run long, so depth may be an issue. We've been wanting to drop the V1/V2 but customers keep asking for them so we decided not to yet.

We love feedback so I appreciate everyone giving honest opinions. It helps us make a better product. If there's anything we can help with, please feel free to reach out. Remember, fitment modifications doesn't void your warranty!

I actually have an issue with an angled cutoff line on my 575 low beams with LED's. Can that be fixed?

[Rod]

because hotrodding

[dhutton]

The mantra of companies selling poorly engineered and designed parts that don’t fit.... :lol:

Don

[oleyeller]

I looked at lots of lights before pulling the trigger..... the Rigid Industries Truck-Lite 7" Round LED Headlamp Kit installed without a hitch, no mods required, no relays, just R & R.
They are DOT approved and put out lots of light.

[Rod]

The mantra of companies selling poorly engineered and designed parts that don’t fit.... :lol:

Don

winner 3st place ribbon for you

183887

[Dapper Lighting]

Thats a '69 Camaro he posted a picture of so they would be the 7" lights.

Ah didn't see the photo for some reason. We've never had tab alignment issues on a 7" lamp. I'd like to know which tab was off if possible. I'll definitely relay it to the engineers.


I actually have an issue with an angled cutoff line on my 575 low beams with LED's. Can that be fixed?

Shoot us an email with some photos. We can help figure out what's going on. [email protected]

The mantra of companies selling poorly engineered and designed parts that don’t fit.... :lol:

Don

Part of the problem is our cutoff is so sharp and defined, it's easy to see any angle variance. Almost all of the aftermarket headlamps are reflective based so 2-3 degrees rotated won't really be apparent.

[Gmachine1911]

X2 for the Truck-Lite 27270C. Zero issues on a non-RS Camaro.