NathanG
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
I purchased the Ace spare tire delete kit the other day. It looked like a promising design, clean, logo free, nice goemetric shape.
Upon receipt there were oh, a half dozen things wrong with the design.
1. Metal on metal on the edges. It reuses the factory bolts to attach to the tailgate. This is fine except it uses the tailgate to secure it along the edge of the plate. Over time and vibration this will wear thru the paint creating a literal tramp stamp of rust. Unacceptable. I had to go to the hardware store and buy spacers and washers to space it with a small gap. That was fun taking it off and on four times to make it even..
2. It ruins the angle of the rear view camera. It is pointed almost level to the ground, making the parking lines comical useless. This reduces the utility of having a rear view camera for parking or backing up close to cars or curbs.
3. Attaching the rear view camera is done with three tiny screws and nuts. The nuts are too large to fit the camera flange and must be installed facing out. All the photos show the screw heads outside, but without dremeling out my camera housing this is impossible. A simple bracket with tapped holes would have prevented this.
3. The supplied third brake light is a joke. I saw this and immediately decided not to use it. I drilled three holes in the top of the camera mount and pretty easily re-used the factory third brake light. This allowed not modifying the factory harness whatsoever. It even looks pretty cool up there. By drilling these holes I was prevented from returning the plate. My mistake.
4. The supplied licence plate light is a 2$ piece of garbage and shorted out immediately upon hooking up. It had an internal short that melted the super tiny thin ass impossible to strip and crimp wires.
5. Directions? who needs directions... None supplied or on any website. Used another manufacturers youtube video to figure out the wiring.
6. The stock wiring harness is pinched by the plate. Unless you spend an hour or two messing with spacers and washers to provide clearance....
Honestly if they supplied spacers, fixed the camera angle, and allowed you the option of reusing the third brake light, this would be the best plate on the market.
Other than that is its a nice product!
Upon receipt there were oh, a half dozen things wrong with the design.
1. Metal on metal on the edges. It reuses the factory bolts to attach to the tailgate. This is fine except it uses the tailgate to secure it along the edge of the plate. Over time and vibration this will wear thru the paint creating a literal tramp stamp of rust. Unacceptable. I had to go to the hardware store and buy spacers and washers to space it with a small gap. That was fun taking it off and on four times to make it even..
2. It ruins the angle of the rear view camera. It is pointed almost level to the ground, making the parking lines comical useless. This reduces the utility of having a rear view camera for parking or backing up close to cars or curbs.
3. Attaching the rear view camera is done with three tiny screws and nuts. The nuts are too large to fit the camera flange and must be installed facing out. All the photos show the screw heads outside, but without dremeling out my camera housing this is impossible. A simple bracket with tapped holes would have prevented this.
3. The supplied third brake light is a joke. I saw this and immediately decided not to use it. I drilled three holes in the top of the camera mount and pretty easily re-used the factory third brake light. This allowed not modifying the factory harness whatsoever. It even looks pretty cool up there. By drilling these holes I was prevented from returning the plate. My mistake.
4. The supplied licence plate light is a 2$ piece of garbage and shorted out immediately upon hooking up. It had an internal short that melted the super tiny thin ass impossible to strip and crimp wires.
5. Directions? who needs directions... None supplied or on any website. Used another manufacturers youtube video to figure out the wiring.
6. The stock wiring harness is pinched by the plate. Unless you spend an hour or two messing with spacers and washers to provide clearance....
Honestly if they supplied spacers, fixed the camera angle, and allowed you the option of reusing the third brake light, this would be the best plate on the market.
Other than that is its a nice product!
Sponsored
Last edited:
