I can't freakin believe it!!!! My factory tailights are delaminating!!!!!! I just noticed today!

Are there any vendors that you guys know of, GM included, that still has the 91-92 Trans Am/GTA tailights NOS?

Talk about the last thing I needed to **** money off on during my restoration

 

Pics?

 

Good luck Alex! You're gonna have to get a good set of used ones and do a minor polish and letter resto on them. Have not seen any nos pieces in years! And if one came up, it would probably be almost $1K!

 

That's what I was afraid of I can imagine spending $600 on an NOS set by not $1K.

Any idea what used sets go for? None of the vendors have used sets of this type, just all the others.

Looks like it's going to be a long search and wait on these forums classifieds and eBay

This totally ruined my entire day I'm soooo bummed out!! They were always the most perfect part of my car and then BAMM! out of no where both sides are delaminating in 3 or 4 places. Totally worthless now

 

There was a rash of them in the classified section over the past few months, but now them seem to have dried up.

 

Dont feel too bad my Z is doing the same thing and all I can find is the newer "grid" style tail lights, mine are solid with a matte black horizontal strip in the middle

 

THat sucks, Alex. The lights on the 91 started doing it really bad. Interested in selling the lights you have? Bet they are in better shape then mine.

 

Yeah, after I buy some non-peeling ones and I'll take pictures and sell mine. They aren't horrible honestly but I drive the car so I need 1 set before I can sell the other. I'm just so freakin **** they have to be perfect. I'm wondering if there is a way to professionally take them apart and repair them.

 

Yeah, mine look like s&%t too...but hey, they match the rest of the car

 

Post a pic

 

If its that bad can't you just remove whatever is left on it and respray with clearcoat?

 

Alex, I also have the same problem. 'Been lookin for the last 2 years for something better than mine. It progressively gets worse !

M

edit to add:

Check out this link, he has the covers (2 pieces) with a small piece of the reflector strip missing. Cost: $300.00 !!

https://www.chooseyouritem.com/parts...0/8042539.html

 

There is an outter clear lens that covers the entire taillight section and the inside portion, the colored housing, that is pressed up against the inside of this clear lens. Over time the inside portion or half of the taillights begin to pull away on the inside from the outter clear lens. I see no way to even remove the to parts let alone a way to seal them backtogether that would not affect the transparency of the outter lens.

 

I have the same situation, I was thinking sometime this summer, to dremmel away carefully the black plastic that delaminates, then using some paint that maches the black plastic directly on the transparent plastic.

I have dissassembled a pair to klean by sticking, carfully, chinese food sticks between the to parts. It did the trick nicely by ditributing the force one a long path, without braking anithing. Used highthemp silicon to put it back togheter.

 

any after pics? mine are also delaminating, and was looking for a solution.

 

This have no delamination they were just wery dirty inside, but the ones on the car do, I will try to repair them in the summer.

 

I did the same thing to the lights on my Red TA a few yrs back just to clean them and reseal them cause the weatherstrip was worn out and leaking water inside. I could see no way at that time to remove the "grid" portion from the outer lens though.

 

My left tail light suffered a direct blow from the tailshaft of a TH350 that was on an engine stand on wheels.

The peices of grid that came out of my broken tail light appeared to be attached very well to the clear plastic lense. Too bad because the car was low mileage and spent a fair bit of its life in a garage away from sunlight. I am lucky to be friends with a bonafied fbody stalker who likes to hoard GTA parts (thanks Andy )

 

That was hilarious.....

 

Your welcome.

 

I have the ones from my convert doing the same thing. I took them apart last nite and had a look see...
I think I have a idea or 2 that may or may work..
I think if a very small hole was drilled in the back side of the dark plastic and black paint was somehow forced n under a lil psi it just mite fill in the gap an look normal.
Or would a heat gun on the back side warm up the plastic and make it stick to the clear part again??

 

My originals are bad suddenly to the point of there being gap almost the entire size of a light section, like 2 or 3 of them. I have my new tails wrapped in a towel in my closet until I get my car back from the body shop then no more sun, like EVER lol.

 

Maybe instead of paint a thin adhesive like epoxy flowed between the loose plastic grid and the clear lense would work. Paint will want to run and would probably end up where you don't want it. Since the grid is close to the plastic but not touching we get the shadows. With a thin epoxy injected in place it'd bridge the gap and probably get the job done. Since it'd be clear and water thin it'd still be clear anywhere it runs. I've thought about trying it with the set I've got laying here, but they aren't bad enough that I want to risk it.

 

Are the corner lenses the red part the same for the earlier 85-90 tas?

 

Those are tailights are great looking when they are right.

 

Sorry I can't comment on that as I only opened the 91-92 taillights.

 

can I ask... how do you remove the lens from the housing?

 

OMG...I can't believe I'm asking a question on an 8 year old post. But I know Drew is still with us.

I like this ides. I wonder if it could be tested with water first, to see if it works?

 

I've never gotten around to trying it, but I still think it'd work. Something like Minwax Polycrylic or even Elmer's glue could be thinned down and flowed into the gaps, and would dry crystal clear. I think the catch would be getting it to flow completely into the tightest gaps. A few junk tail lights and some testing would be in order before trying something like this on a fairly decent set.

 

Thanks Drew.

Mine are still good at the moment. But it seems like it's only a matter of time.

If I ever have the chance to pick up some damaged ones cheap to play with, I may give this a try.

 

chill. I asked one hours before you did.