Ok, so last night I go out for a drive, and as normal turn on the underbody LEDs (varad hls48)... and the right side bar isn't working. No biggie, I'll take a look at it tomorrow. So I just got out from underneath my Box, and the right bar still doesn't work, but I did discover something that puzzled me greatly. If you look underneath your xB bumpers, you should see two arms that extend out on the left and right sides, which in turn are fastened to a metal piece. I'm guessing the purpose of these arms is to prevent the skirts from moving around while driving, due to the wind and what not...as well as to secure the lower half of the skirt. Well when CarToys installed my front and rear bars, they cut notches in these arms so the lights could shine through uninterrupted. Yes, they made V cuts in the arms, and then SCREWED my lights on to the them. Why the screws? The kit comes with brackets for mounting the lights! The person that installed my lights notched my skirt arms, screwed through them, and then screwed INTO the lights to secure them... wtf!? Upon closer inspection, the front bar has condensation all over the inside because the left side screw is no longer in its whole... it's just gone! So for I don't know how long, my front bar has been secured by one screw, on the right, and subjected to the rain that has come in the past few weeks. Ah yes, and when I checked out all the other LED bars (left, right, and rear) I discovered that they, too, are mounted with screws IN the lights. WTF? I know the kit came with brackets to mount the lights, I saw them when I opened the freaking package. So why in the hell did the CarToys peeps use such a crap technique? Basically I want to know if anyone else has had a similar trouble, both with CarToys in general and with the Varad kit (just curious if the right side bar just died or the crappy install has something to do with it... the bar itself is clean and free of moisture on the inside). I paid $231 for these damn lights to be installed, and I was expecting it to be a quality job - not something I could have done myself in about 2 hours. That's why I took it to CarToys... expensive yes, but I was expecting it to be professionally done. So any advice and tips you guys can send my way would be greatly appreciated, for I intend to get either a new light kit, the replacement cost of my skirts covered, or both... thanks for any help you kind people can offer. I am truly ____ed at this half-assed install and the unnecessary damages made to my first brand new car.

*edit : Lights were installed on July 17th... got them on for my b-day, so they should still be under warranty. I've tried contacting Varad's support and tech line numerous times, as well as emailing and have received no responses thus far.

That's why I do all my own work.

On another note, do yu have pics of it(the functioning ones)? I've been wondering how they look.

Yeah I've got a few pics... lemme upload them. The kit I have is the HLS48 (in orange), which has 4 glow intensities, 11 scan (patterns), 2 breathe, 2 strobe, and music reaction to frequencies 40, 80, and 120hZ. The scan and strobe settings have three different speeds too.... good stuff. My camera doesn't like pictures taken at night, so the lights are much brighter in person than they appear in the pictures.

here's a pic of the lights... I'll get some pics of the skirt brackets up later.
http://xs.to/pics/04102/IMGA0632_edited.JPG


Still need some help on the CarToys front please...

C'mon now...62 views and one reply? where's the love? :oops: ( :wink: )

just take them back to car toys and tell them to fix the problem. :wink:

Honestly that's all you'd have to do. Be nice at first, if they aren't cooperating, wait for a few customers to come in, then start making a scene. That should help them in their decision making process.

Are you lowered at all? I always hear that LEDs are spotty and those really don't look spotty at all. What's your take on it? I know shelled out the cash for em, but honestly, are you happy?

First up, don't bother contacting varad. As you said, your kit came with brackets for installation. The cartoys people didn't use them, so the car toys people didn't install them right. it's cartoys' fault that they broke.

Now, I would take them right back to cartoys, explain the problem, show them the car, and tell them that you want a new light set and your installation money back. They're the ones that are responsible for your current problem, so they should make it right.

After you do that, bring your car to me and I'll install it for LED money. :)

Yeah, just gotta go talk to them. Be polite and keep your temper, it'll get you farther.

They probably figure that people that will pay to have them installed won't get down and check the install. I hate when people do a crap job, especially at a well known and high priced place. Lame people suck!

After you do that, bring your car to me and I'll install it for LED money. :)

If you happen to live close to Houston Texas, no problem :wink:

I'm heading over as soon as they open to see what they'll do... I called Varad to get their take on it and they did indeed say that CarToys screwed it up so they replace it. Only problem here is that I had three receipts from them, and I can only find two. The guys KNOW that they installed the lights on my Box, they ask me about them every time I walk in the door. Problem with the receipts is that the one showing I paid for install is missing :oops: I've turned my place upside down and gone over my Box four times and I can't find it, and I know that's going to screw me over. I do have 4 friends that were with me at the time of payment though, would that help anything?

As far as the LEDs being spotty, I had them on at stock height and they were fine, looked just like neons but brighter, and I recently dropped it with some DF210's (2"), and the LEDs are still fine - no spots, you can't even tell they aren't neons until I change the setting to a pattern or something. Plus the drop moved the lights closer to the ground, so they're even brighter :D

our place has all the customer info stored in our computers... I am thinking cartoys is a medium to larger chain so I would think they would have a similar setup...

like thescionicman said, make sure you keep cool... when you let them know about the problem... they'll take care of you

Also, if you paid with a credit card there will be records.

Just to let ya'll know, everything worked out great today. I took it in and to my great pleasure, the district manager was in the store. I asked him if they had any Varad kits in stock, and he told me to let him look it up in the computer. So they have a basic kit, just glow but the exact same set up and mine (control modules differ per kit, unless it's the color-changing one then the LEDs are diff. too), and he pulls everything out of the box. I pick up the brackets in the plastic and ask if they come with all of the kits, to which he answers an affirmative. So I then make my move and ask him why, then, was MY installed kit devoid of any such brackets and screwed onto my car. He asked where I got it installed, and when I told him at this store and point out the guy that did the install, he looked like he wanted to insert one of the LED tubes sideways in the guy. The manager (Rick I think he said was his name) then asked me what I'd like done, and I told him that I would like either a replacement kit and my install money refunded, or that they can foot the damages made to my front bumper arm thingies and supply me with another kit, which I will install myself. He chose the first option, which works for me since I've ordered one of those oh-so-sexy TRF kits :wink:

Anyhow, just wanted to thank everyone that replied and gave me the helpful tips that got me what I wanted!

Oh, and here's a few pics of the "modifications" they made to fit my lights... :?
http://xs.to/pics/04104/IMGA0644.JPG
http://xs.to/pics/04104/IMGA0643.JPG

again, thanks everyone :mrgreen:

You should have gotten him to replace the damaged parts of the bumper anyways. The rear ones have broken on a few xB's, I'd imagine the fronts are prone too, especially after having been drilled into.

You can bet I would damn sure be wanting to beat someone!
That install is very shamefull and definatly not acceptable.
I guess as long as you are happy in the end.
Im glad he helped you.