I'll have to take one

ok this is an old thread... I want to know...

How long have these lasted? I still see them out there? are there any leaks? how is the quality? anything you don't like about them?

I'm interested cause I have to replace my lens (local police request )... met a tree on the trail. and figure I'm replacing one why not both... if I did one then they would be 'faded' differently... and I hate that. even if I went used, I'd still do both from the same vehicle.

I'd go with used factory ones myself. Look much better and are guaranteed to be legal to appease the cop that got you the first time

I just saw these and want some for my 4runner, too.

Upon reading, you can get the same taillights for $70ish-$200+.

Altezza makes them, Spyder (repackaged Altezza or the same brand?), and some spinoff companies. Honestly, the spinoff ones look identical, the sellers on Ebay have 70k feedback, and they advertise against condensation prevention. The higher dollar ones don't have anything like this.

I am ordering a cheap set, if they leak, they go back or someone risks a bad reputation. Simple choice for me after a little reading. All the distributors for Altezza aren't going to be as concerned. They come with a 30-day warranty it says on most of the fine print. The cheap stuff I've seen is 1 year plus.

do you know if it's a direct replacement? plug in your bulbs? replace the face of the stock but keep the back... I don't know... just wanted more detail of what's involved on this one...

to be honest I think it replaces the whole housing. but keep your bulbs that you plug in.

I've had the Altezza's for around 3.5 years now. I haven't had any trouble with them. Here's a copy of a post from my build thread from 2012:

I finally got a small project done that has been sitting in the garage for quite a while now. My headlights and corner lights are already black, so the tail lights were the final step to complete the blackout. I installed a set of black Altezza tail lights. I know the Altezza tail lights aren't real popular on this site, but I like them. However, I did customize them slightly.

The only thing that I wasn't too wild about on the Altezza was the light colored border around the perimeter of the lights. I don't know why they didn't make that part black also. Well, I did!

Here's how they look originally, with the weird border.


I decided to tape off the border and paint it black. Taped off:


After painting:


After taking the tape off: (looks MUCH better)


And finally installed on the truck:






Now all my lights are blacked out.

One of the bulbs was different than the OEM, but I don't remember which one it was. If I remember correctly, I had to cut and splice wires together to make mine work. Or I think you can replace the entire wire harness.

When I had my 02 4Runner I ended up going with the OEM look-alike LED tails and they were awesome. They had them in black to, but when I originally made this thread the LED style was not out yet..

Those type of taillights make me want to paint my Milk weed 4runner black ! Dope upgrade to achieve blackout mode

i either do a 01-2 crystal clear lens, or an APC all clear lens.. any other one is WAYYYYY too ricey IMO. its definitely just my love for 90's minitruck style though.