BMW style tail lights installed, uneven gap

Hey everyone, I installed a set of BMW, Aurora Wings, Eagle Eye, style tail lights and they are sick. Only one issue I need to address is the gap between the light on the body and hatch is largely different. Anyone else experience the same thing when installing theirs? Any advice? I'm going to loosen the screws and pull it closer to the hatch and re tighen but they are both pushed as close to the front as possible which should have resulted in even gaps but this is after market so nothing is fit as good as OEM. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

MindlessTeesCX5 said:

Hey everyone, I installed a set of BMW, Aurora Wings, Eagle Eye, style tail lights and they are sick. Only one issue I need to address is the gap between the light on the body and hatch is largely different. Anyone else experience the same thing when installing theirs? Any advice? I'm going to loosen the screws and pull it closer to the hatch and re tighen but they are both pushed as close to the front as possible which should have resulted in even gaps but this is after market so nothing is fit as good as OEM. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

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I bought the same taillights and installed the larger units yesterday. Am installing the smaller lift gate lights today.
Did you ever get the lights to fit tighter? I'll know after the install is complete if they look as good as OEM.

I just loosen up the light on the body and pushed it closer to the light on the hatch until the gap was even and tighten everything down. I love these lights they are sick. Tapping into the 3rd brake light wasnt that hard either. Getting the lights off the hatch here the hardest part, those plastic clips on the side were troublesome.

with the picture provided, they look even with the tail gate gap. At most the driver's side is off by 1-2mm too far apart.

our '16 had uneven tail lights where the inner part was close enough to the outer light that you could not get a piece of paper in the gap, but they did not hit. The dealer mentioned that the "wrong clip" was used in the light and now our lights have similar gaps btwn the inner/outer on both sides.

As long as things are sealed and work, does this extra 1-2mm really make that much difference? Again, each side seems to be in line with the tailgate gap.

Your stock tail lights were that off oh hell no that not acceptable, I wasn’t happy with my “1-2mm” gap until I fixed it

It could be that the rear hatch isn't aligned properly. I had an issue where the bolts that hold the hinges on for the rear hatch where actually stripped out and caused the hatch to fall out of alignment.

MindlessTeesCX5 said:

Your stock tail lights were that off oh hell no that not acceptable, I wasn’t happy with my “1-2mm” gap until I fixed it

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it was one of those things one really doesn't look at when looking at the car. plus, the car is soul red and the tail lights are red and it really didn't scream look at me. it wasn't until (hand) washing the car did I notice the glaring discrepancy.

We took the car in two months after purchase to have a recall addressed and I mentioned the tail light unevenness. When asked what caused that to happen, it was explained to me the "wrong clip" was used on the inner light.

Then I got to thinking, how the "wrong clip" could have been used on the rear light. Was the car in an accident? Did someone take the housing off to change the bulb? I tried to think of all of the reasons why someone would have to remove a tail light and then use the "wrong clip".

"Accident" was the only logical explanation I could think of, but the rear of the car looks clean, there is no seem sealer that looks off, paint matches, nothing really stands out. Car was a CPO w/less than 10k, and needless to say, I was stumped...still am.