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Rating: Cool and unique product but the quality could have been better for the price.

Car: 1997 GTI VR6

Cost: $359.99 from Strictly Foreign, $20 for shipping, $250 for painting and installation.

Required Tools: Although I did not do the initial install, I did have to 're-install' the lights do to a poor initial installation. Recommended tools would include: wire cutter/crimper, metric socket set, drill, pneumatic grinding tool, large side-cutter, & caulk (optional.)

Time: It took Ernie Von Schledorn (a local body shop) 1.5 hours to do a poor install of the lights, and that does not include the painting. I later had to spend several hours 're-installing' the lights to get them to fit correctly.

Impressions:

The Good: I must commend Strictly Foreign for trying to duplicate the dual round taillight design as seen in Performance VW Magazine. Once I saw them, I knew I MUST have them. Now that the lights are installed, I think they look pretty good, however, I am somewhat of a perfectionist and I was quite disappointed with the overall fit and finish of the taillights... especially since I now have almost $650 invested in them.

The Bad: For starters, it took several weeks to get the lights due to some difficulties that SF was having with getting the actual lenses. The lenses are made by Fiat, and I can understand how it may have been difficult to get an order in a timely manner since the lights are from Europe. After making several phone calls, the lights finally arrived. The finish of the fiberglass housing for each light was relatively rough with obvious sanding marks, rough spots, and 'pockets' caused by the air bubbles in the fiberglass. I took the lights to Ernie Von Scheldorn in Menomonee Falls to install the lights since they had recently installed the same lights for Venom member Chad Nowak. After nearly having a heart attack once I found out they wanted $250 to paint and install the lights, I decided to proceed anyway (A fool with his money soon will part!) I had requested that the body shop do their best to fill-in the rough spots on the housings before painting, but it is pretty obvious to me that they did not. Also, my trunk no longer shut once the lights were installed, the light housings were already missing paint due to the hatch of the car rubbing on them, the lights didn't appear to be mounted 'evenly' (The left light didn't stick-out as much as the right.), and the left brake light was in crooked (there is a horizontal line on the lens that was tilted about 30 degrees.)

Rather than waste another morning by going back to EvS to have them attempt to fix my lights, I opted to try to fix the problems myself. I took the lights off of my car and first attempted to straighten the crooked brake light. The mechanic who installed the lights had obviously cross-threaded the nut/bolt that hold the left brake light, so it was a real challenge to remove the light. There were holes holes drilled for the brake lights to mount (it only needs two to mount), and it was obvious that the mechanic chose the wrong two, hence making the light crooked and I'm assuming he found out he couldn't remove the light since he cross-threaded the bolt. I had to cut away some of the fiberglass in order to get a socket on the bolt once it was in the correct hole. With the brake light problem corrected, I proceeded to try and remount the taillights so that they looked 'even'. This involved drilling new holes in my car next to the intended mounting holes. It is my guess that the nuts in the taillights are somewhat off, thus I had to compensate by basterdizing my car! It also seems as though the dual round lights don't fit well with the factory water-seals installed. I removed the seal to see if the lights fit better and they did. I may try to use some caulk instead so I don't end-up with a pool in my trunk!

I was able to get the lights mounted evenly and they also no longer rub on the trunk when it is closed. I still can't seem to get my trunk to shut correctly, but I'm assuming that the latch may be out of adjustment since the lights no longer seem to be interfering with the hatch.

Additional Install Note: When I had the taillights removed, I noticed that the mechanic had to grind off some of the metal from my car to allow room for the back of the taillight lenses. When I reinstalled the lights, I opted to shave some plastic off of the lights to get them to fit correctly as opposed to grinding more metal.

Overall, I think the lights look pretty good, but they definitely weren't worth the price nor the hassle. If you really MUST HAVE these lights (as I thought I did,) I would recommend going to a body shop you know well and have them paint and/or finish the light housings. Then, install the lights yourself to save money and to make sure the job is done right. Although the sales manager at EvS was very helpful and curteous, it was pretty obvious to me that the mechanic at EvS didn't care as much about my car as I do... I spent a half an hour buffing scratches out of my bumper caused by his air-hose that he had draped over my bumper while he worked on the lights ;(

Todd Taylor
'97 GTI VR6