Lightbar flew off while driving on highway!!

[That Beast Mode]

For sure the surface would benefit from roughening as well as optimal solvent pre-clean…….. anyone who has built a composite aircraft or worked with fiberglass knows how important that is! It’s perhaps just an oversight or inappropriate solvent preclean as prep? Dunno. Ultimately even in dentistry, the largest issue for bond stress is variance in office e of thermal expansion, and if that is ignored, things fail. If prep and surfaces are not optimally prepared failure is guaranteed. If one could figure out the confident of thermal expansion for all materials at that interface, the cause will become more clear. Either it’s a failed prep issue or missed a large discrepancy in thermal expansion. Just my two cents worth.

As a fellow Dentist I approve of this post. Good ol' C-Factor. I don't know why they made the bottom of the light bar smooth to begin with, why not have some sort of depressions built into the housing bottom to lock the adhesive in there mechanically. (Like an Amalgam prep - you're probably the only one who will understand that)

Sponsored

 

[gooshjkc]

So far my lightbar is staying on. Unfortunately, reading all of these post makes me kind uneasy. Also, I usually go through the automated car wash. Makes me kind of wonder if the brushes is going to kick it off or loosen it.

 

[Diveflyfish]

As a fellow Dentist I approve of this post. Good ol' C-Factor. I don't know why they made the bottom of the light bar smooth to begin with, why not have some sort of depressions built into the housing bottom to lock the adhesive in there mechanically. (Like an Amalgam prep - you're probably the only one who will understand that)

Absolutely understand. Perhaps the reason why no retention form is for removal of device if needed. Also less internal strain on the polymer of the housing so the creep due to thermal variance occurs at the adhesive base interface. It’s perhaps engineered micro dampening at the molecular level. Great news my bar is installed. I hooked up the light after said power disconnect and it works great. The SC confirmed use of BOTH distinct primers on the appropriate surfaces. Cheers to a fellow tooth carpenter!!

 

[That Beast Mode]

Absolutely understand. Perhaps the reason why no retention form is for removal of device if needed. Also less internal strain on the polymer of the housing so the creep due to thermal variance occurs at the adhesive base interface. It’s perhaps engineered micro dampening at the molecular level. Great news my bar is installed. I hooked up the light after said power disconnect and it works great. The SC confirmed use of BOTH distinct primers on the appropriate surfaces. Cheers to a fellow tooth carpenter!!

Who knows their logic - I thought the light bar was considered an expendable part so if the windshield needs replacing so does the bar. Just thinking out loud, my thought was the mechanical advantage would over come any increased strain, the failure point for everyone seems to be adhesive to light bar, not the glass. Glad you got yours installed tho, it looks great once its on and updating the display graphic of the truck is a nice touch. Did the SC etch and scrub the primer into the surface with a microbrush? (Sorry I couldn't resist). I've had mine for a few months now with no issues as of yet. The SC did a good job, altho they might know me by now - hey we live our lives in Millimeters and the difference between success and failure for us can be 0.5mm.

 

[Diveflyfish]

Who knows their logic - I thought the light bar was considered an expendable part so if the windshield needs replacing so does the bar. Just thinking out loud, my thought was the mechanical advantage would over come any increased strain, the failure point for everyone seems to be adhesive to light bar, not the glass. Glad you got yours installed tho, it looks great once its on and updating the display graphic of the truck is a nice touch. Did the SC etch and scrub the primer into the surface with a microbrush? (Sorry I couldn't resist). I've had mine for a few months now with no issues as of yet. The SC did a good job, altho they might know me by now - hey we live our lives in Millimeters and the difference between success and failure for us can be 0.5mm.

Agreed, or even smaller tolerances! Cheers

 

[shocker]

I was supposed to have my lightbar installed on May 30, but the service advisor said a new primer is specified and that is backordered till July.

 

[TickTock]

<snip>
the failure point for everyone seems to be adhesive to light bar, not the glass.
<snip>

Good to know. I just got mine done on Wednesday and was not impressed to find that they didn't even attempt to clean the surface of the windshield. It was pretty filthy with dirt collected in streaks from the rain off the wiper. They just glued it in place on top of all that crud.

 

[mongo]

Good to know. I just got mine done on Wednesday and was not impressed to find that they didn't even attempt to clean the surface of the windshield. It was pretty filthy with dirt collected in streaks from the rain off the wiper. They just glued it in place on top of all that crud.

Huh, there should at least be a clean line where the tape was

 

[CyGo]

Got mine installed on 5/8. I’ve checked a few times to make sure it’s still solid and I just noticed that it’s starting to lift off the windshield on both driver and passenger side. Service appointment made.

 

[Art138]

Got mine installed on 5/8. I’ve checked a few times to make sure it’s still solid and I just noticed that it’s starting to lift off the windshield on both driver and passenger side. Service appointment made.

It would be interesting to ask if they used the new primer/adhesive.

 

[hemiarch]

The service center guy in my city told me it was actually two separate adhesives. One for the bar and one for the glass.

 

[ABILISK]

They should use that Fusor 2098 stuff that can hold an entire CT

 

[CactusPilot]

Another one bites the dust..Didn't even last a month in the Arizona heat.

This is the worst design and unacceptable.

Waiting on version 2. This light bar is crap. It looked horrible sticking to the windscreen. The ugly and un- even adhesive bead was visible due to the huge gap underneath the light bar. The wind noise was loud. It should have a molding between the glass and the frame of the light bar help with the wind noise and prevent the air from going underneath the light bar and prying it off the windshield.

Hoping new design has brackets.

 

[CWiley]

Sucks this happend to you OP. Hope Tesla comes through. I got mine installed on Thursday May 8- hope they used the latest UPDATED instructions & stays on.

To those who got it installed - do you do any car washes? Ive been using touchless but am holding off for a few days before I go in with the lightbar installed.

I took the truck through a carwash with the OEM light bar (only once so far) no problem with the light bar. However, the front driver's side wheel cover was snatched off. There was a few ding marks and stuffs caused to the cover but I was able to pop it back in place. The carwash manager filed a claim. He said " with all the car washes around here, we want to take care of you."

 

[CWiley]

I have been running off road lights on my vehicles for the last 25 years. Halogen , HIDs , LED bars and everything in between. never would I even consider mounting an off-road accessory light with adhesive. Bolt to bracket only . Not only is this incredibly strong, but it permits adjustability. Having the ability to aim your lights is fundamental. I even have an actuator on one of my trucks that help aim the light from inside. I love Tesla. But you can tell there’s a bunch of Dingus nerds that designed that OEM light bar . Booksmart type thinking. With zero real world practical off-road experience. It shows.
(this applies to that frail ass upper control arm, and the overall aluminum unibody chassis too. that simply doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for hard off-road use). Whatever. The still love the CT

My advice, go for an aftermarket LED light bar that uses brackets and bolts.

" Booksmart type thinking. With zero real world practical off-road experience. It shows."

Yes, it also shows by Tesal not installing grab handled over each door inside the Cybertruck. Zero real world truck building focus group information. Allegedly...

Sponsored