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-   -   Toucan Tail lights (https://www.mazda3club.com/exterior-interior-audio-4/toucan-tail-lights-10879/)

eltonr August-15th-2002 09:46 PM

Toucan Tail lights
 
Just to let everyone know that Toucan (Ractive) makes crappy tail lights...you have to rewire them to get them to work correctly for the 3rd generation sedan. That's the last time i buy any of their stuff.....I would say you get what you pay for but i payed good money for that verus getting an APC light assembly.

njaremka August-16th-2002 07:44 AM

:confused:

which ones are the toucan ones? the ones that are advertised as 2nd gen altezza's? (conversely, the apc ones being 1st gen altezza's) right?

what kind of rewiring needs to be done?

eltonr August-16th-2002 08:11 AM

I'm sorry but i really don't know i think they are second generation.......it doesn't matter they suck......Please keep this in mind, since I do live in Canada i'm not sure if the wiring is slightly different then in the U.S but the reverse light socket does not fit in the housing, and one of the break lights and another socket does not fit in either but i didn't bother to find out which one. I paid quite a bit more for the Reactive ones thinking that they would be a higher quality then the APC but i was wrong.......the quality is terrible....I work at a thermoforming (and rotomolding) and if we sent out stuff with the workmanship that i have seen in the aftermarket stuff from APC and Toucan, we wouldn't have any more customers.....it amazes me that they are two of the largest aftermarket companies that deal with the line that they do and the quality is so bad.......anyways just thought i would vent

eltonr August-16th-2002 08:13 AM

WOW i have to start proof reading this stuff.....my back ground is engineering so i guess it's all good

njaremka August-16th-2002 09:05 AM


Originally posted by eltonr
....I work at a thermoforming (and rotomolding) and if we sent out stuff with the workmanship that i have seen in the aftermarket stuff from APC and Toucan, we wouldn't have any more customers.....
off topic: who do you work for? my father used to rep for plastics manufacturing equipment manufacturer's.

anyway, i was thinking of getting the apc ones, cracking them open, and painting the chrome to flat black. one of these days maybe. with this in mind, i'll probably get them from a local shop, so if i have problems i can return them.

eltonr August-16th-2002 10:26 AM

if you do open them up let me know what you used......i'm thinking of using ketone.......but i don't know if that will melt the lens.....I"m still not sure what the lenses are made of.....i can't be polycarbonate.......it has to be acrylic.......which would explain why they got they deformed so much in the oven

Gaspo August-16th-2002 01:24 PM

Not on the topic of tail lights, but I got a set of Ractive sport pedals and the gas pedal was a btich to get on. The instructions give talked about, and gave diagrams of a pedal that looked nothing like mine. I got so frustrated that I had to bring it to the dealer to get them to install the stupid thing. They did, but they said the first step was to throw away the instructions, then have about 100 people come with the same problem, and then you'll just learn how to get them on.

In defense of Ractive though, now my pedals look and feel great, and there is a Pro at the dealer in the showroom that has the Ractive tails and it looks terrific.


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