None of my clips broke. Trying to align the plastic panel on the back of the lift gate is not a good idea unless you take the whole panel piece off. If you try to force it back into place it is very easy to snap the clips.
Was there a better way to do it? I just followed the video in this thread. It was the 2 blue back clips on left and right side that I had trouble aligning.
In my opinion it makes close objects more visible, but in terms of throwing light any further away than say 10 feet, it doesn’t.
So would you say it’s worth the trouble or no?
I think it was worth swapping. I already wasn’t expecting it to make a huge performance jump. I just wanted it to match the LEDs on the rest of exterior lighting on my SXP. For aesthetics.
I purchased Sylvania bulbs from the Autostore. Probably paid a little more but I have had mixed luck with Amazon brands before just not lasting. The reverse light wasn't an issue. They don't give you much room to work with and the Sylvania bulbs have a direction they are placed. Plugged in the wrong way to wont work. Just test before reassembly. There also is a right and left assembly for the cover lens. They wont go in if reversed. For the back ups, getting the handle off was trickier than I thought. When you pull down the cover, its hard not to have all the clips not come undone. When this happens, it tips down and a cable in the top passenger's side slides up to block it going back as it was originally. If you notice all the clips are sitting below the holes, this is the problem. You also need to put the whole cover back at the same time. I was trying to visualize the clips going into the ones in the center but the process of pushing it down to see it distorts it and miss-aligns. You can see a few around the periphery and align these. Once together you can push in the center and hope to hear it set.
Nice results.
Looks like the inside of the garage is lit, and the left and right sides of the car is also lit. Not sure if it is fair to call it complete darkness.
Nice job. What was the total install time? Im thinking of replacing my read and backup because the backup camera suck right now given the lighting.
I would say an hour or so. Do it indoors with some heat and lighting if you can. It's more fidely if anything. Obviously its designed to come out since this is the only way to replace them by the dealer but Kia wasn't doing anyone a favor by not just putting a panel back there..
What is the trick to getting the cover off the handle? It's just tight enough of an area that I can't get my fingers to apply enough force anywhere that it seems like force might be necessary.
Use utility or dishwashing gloves to give yourself added gripping power. Grip the handle rotate down and away from the hatch as shown in the video.
Yeah, it looks like the video was produced after having already loosened it by removing/replacing it 10 times. But just to clarify, I shouldn't be trying to pry at the seams to disengage or otherwise loosen any clips? Just a ton of rotational force will do it?
I remember having the same problem.
It's one of those parts that once you see it off, you can understand how it works. It's just the parts you need to "squeeze" don't have a lot of give so unless you've got the Chuck Norris death grip, it takes some doing.
This was the key. I just threw on a pair of nitrile gloves and the thing came off in 3 seconds. In the end, I don't think it's all that tight, it's just slippery.
