Diode Dynamics Fog Lights Fading

[notfast]

I typically love DD products but I’m not surprised, considering those bezels are made in China. Diode outsourced that portion of the kit which led to all of the initial delays.

I'd put this on DD first since Chinese OEMs will basically make anything you want to your specifications. There are thousands of types of plastics to choose from. If DD specified the cheapest ABS plastic and not something more UV-resistant, or ABS with UV inhibitors, I'd put that on DD.

Not a whole lot can be done about faded molded-in-color plastic. A permanent solution would be to paint it, but that is a process since polyolefin materials don't have great surface energy, so paint has a hard time adhering without proper prep work.

Any trim restorer product would be temporary at best. I've had good luck with Ceracote on my Nissan Frontier's molded-in-color trim (which are notorious for turning chalky-white). It's by far the longest lasting (maybe 6 months) but it will also eventually wear off.

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[Christato71]

TBH this is my mistake from when I worked at DD and designed these. In retrospect, I wish I would have specified ASA instead of ABS, for better UV resistance.

It is completely normal for ABS to fade in the sun. Since these use 2015 F150 fog lamp assemblies, I based the bezel design on the corresponding OEM Ford 2015 F150 bezel, which originally was ABS and appears to age the same way. FWIW, it looks like Ford made the same mistake and later model Ford bezels are often made with ASA instead (like the 2020-2022 Superduty halogen fog bezels).

However, this is purely cosmetic and any UV oxidation can be cleaned up in a few minutes using trim restorer. @lm126027 is correct, Mother's Back To Black does a great job restoring the finish. I just treated mine last week after ~21 months of UV damage. Sorry for the inconvenience @Christato71.

Thats rather unfortunate, but thanks for the clarification @Sticks. Its too bad that they won't stand behind the product and warranty it though (even if the same issue might occur again down the road). I will try some of the suggested methods here to try and restore it to original.

 

[jorl]

I use SOLUTION FINISH and more than happy with it-oil based,so its a little work but good for about 1-1.5 year

 

[gjallen3]

I use SOLUTION FINISH and more than happy with it-oil based,so its a little work but good for about 1-1.5 year

I viewed a demonstration video on this product and was impressed. If DD won't stand behind their warranty, at the very least they should buy the one ounce bottle that Solution Finish manufactures and ship it to each and every purchaser of these fog lights. The lights are not cheap. They look great, but if they start to look cheap in a few months I would not recommend anyone to purchase them. I installed them and was very happy. Not so much now.

 

[Toddman45]

Yeah that's pretty bad, 4 months in the Chinese plastic is already fading.

 

[Diode Dynamics]

I installed the Diode Dynamics Fog Lights back in May (of this year). They look great, however they are starting to fade. Has anyone else experienced this? I reached out to DD about this and they told me that this is not covered under their warranty and is considered normal. Very unfortunate as they are only a few months old.

@Diode Dynamics

Thank you for sharing your experience and the photo. We're sorry to hear about the fading you’ve noticed on your fog lights—that’s definitely not the kind of experience we want.

Our Customer Service team follows set guidelines when reviewing warranty coverage, which is why they provided the response you received. That said, we always take feedback like yours seriously. We'll make sure your comments are relayed to the team so they can review and consider improvements to both our products and warranty policies moving forward.

We truly appreciate you being part of the Diode Dynamics community.

 

[CNJFF]

So far mine have held up well after a year. Outdoors all the time but not usually direct sunlight (trees, parked facing away from the sun, etc).

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Reminds me of the Plastics they used on the Chevy Avalanche.
I wonder if these were made in China?

 

[Jackovalltrades]

Thank you for sharing your experience and the photo. We're sorry to hear about the fading you’ve noticed on your fog lights—that’s definitely not the kind of experience we want for our customers.

Our Customer Service team follows set guidelines when reviewing warranty coverage, which is why they provided the response you received. That said, we always take feedback like yours seriously. I’ll make sure your comments are relayed to our executive team so they can review and consider improvements to both our products and warranty policies moving forward.

We truly appreciate you being part of the Diode Dynamics community and bringing this to our attention.

As a consumer who has seriously considered purchasing these exact Fog Lights, I appreciate your response to the OP's post about the fading of fog light bezels, noting that their feedback will be shared with your executive team for future improvements. However, this does not address the issue for customers who have already purchased your current product line.
If future enhancements involve brighter or longer-lasting light specifications, consumers expect transparency about such improvements. The rapid fading of the bezels after only four months suggests a clear failure in the original product’s material quality. No reasonable consumer would expect such significant cosmetic degradation in such a short time, especially when installed properly and alongside a vehicle bumper that remains unaffected. Your company response and stance that this fading is "considered normal" is particularly concerning and undermines confidence in your brand’s quality and warranty policies.
Based on this response and the experience of the OP, I am no longer considering Diode Dynamics products for purchase.

 

[DavesMav]

As a consumer who has seriously considered purchasing these exact Fog Lights, I appreciate your response to the OP's post about the fading of fog light bezels, noting that their feedback will be shared with your executive team for future improvements. However, this does not address the issue for customers who have already purchased your current product line.
If future enhancements involve brighter or longer-lasting light specifications, consumers expect transparency about such improvements. The rapid fading of the bezels after only four months suggests a clear failure in the original product’s material quality. No reasonable consumer would expect such significant cosmetic degradation in such a short time, especially when installed properly and alongside a vehicle bumper that remains unaffected. Your company response and stance that this fading is "considered normal" is particularly concerning and undermines confidence in your brand’s quality and warranty policies.
Based on this response and the experience of the OP, I am no longer considering Diode Dynamics products for purchase.

Unfortunately, this once great American company appears to be bleeding more and more as of late. They've jacked prices considerably and are more publicly refusing to stand behind their products by denying obvious warranty issues. I could honestly see them not surviving this economy.

 

[DavesMav]

Unfortunately, this once great company appears to be bleeding more and more as of late. They've jacked prices considerably and are more publicly refusing to stand behind their products by denying obvious warranty issues. I could honestly see them not surviving this economy.

It's a bit ironic, though, because quite a few of their employees openly support the cause of what might be their own demise. Or at least they were pretending to for engagement.

 

[DavesMav]

I'd put this on DD first since Chinese OEMs will basically make anything you want to your specifications. There are thousands of types of plastics to choose from. If DD specified the cheapest ABS plastic and not something more UV-resistant, or ABS with UV inhibitors, I'd put that on DD.

Not a whole lot can be done about faded molded-in-color plastic. A permanent solution would be to paint it, but that is a process since polyolefin materials don't have great surface energy, so paint has a hard time adhering without proper prep work.

Any trim restorer product would be temporary at best. I've had good luck with Ceracote on my Nissan Frontier's molded-in-color trim (which are notorious for turning chalky-white). It's by far the longest lasting (maybe 6 months) but it will also eventually wear off.

That's a very good point. Our leader has gotten to me so bad that even I'm blaming China when it was in fact Diode Dynamics who spec'd the wrong material, oops!

China is not to blame; Diode Dynamics is. Will they fix it? Probably not, and I'll tell you why I think this. This portion of the product is made in China. When this product was first designed, there wasn't a massive tax on it like there is today. The tax on new, replacement products in the proper material is so massive, Diode probably can't just eat it without the whole project being a loss. If they give a replacement set of the housings in the proper material to one, they'd have to offer it to all, $$$ yikes. Not feasible in today's world. Far easier to just upset a few and say, too bad, so sad.

 

[gjallen3]

As a consumer who has seriously considered purchasing these exact Fog Lights, I appreciate your response to the OP's post about the fading of fog light bezels, noting that their feedback will be shared with your executive team for future improvements. However, this does not address the issue for customers who have already purchased your current product line.
If future enhancements involve brighter or longer-lasting light specifications, consumers expect transparency about such improvements. The rapid fading of the bezels after only four months suggests a clear failure in the original product’s material quality. No reasonable consumer would expect such significant cosmetic degradation in such a short time, especially when installed properly and alongside a vehicle bumper that remains unaffected. Your company response and stance that this fading is "considered normal" is particularly concerning and undermines confidence in your brand’s quality and warranty policies.
Based on this response and the experience of the OP, I am no longer considering Diode Dynamics products for purchase.

Very true. Particularly so because the Designer of these light/bezels noted in a previous post in this forum, that it was he, while employed with Diode Dynamics, who made the mistake of not going initially with the better grade of plastic and specified ABS. So Diode Dynamics has known for sometime that these bezels would fade prematurely and it was really just a matter of time before customers would start complaining. In the mean time, they continued to sell and market a product that was known to be inferior to unsuspecting customers. Including me. They really need to step up to the plate and make this right

 

[gjallen3]

That's a very good point. Our leader has gotten to me so bad that even I'm blaming China when it was in fact Diode Dynamics who spec'd the wrong material, oops!

China is not to blame; Diode Dynamics is. Will they fix it? Probably not, and I'll tell you why I think this. This portion of the product is made in China. When this product was first designed, there wasn't a massive tax on it like there is today. The tax on new, replacement products in the proper material is so massive, Diode probably can't just eat it without the whole project being a loss. If they give a replacement set of the housings in the proper material to one, they'd have to offer it to all, $$$ yikes. Not feasible in today's world. Far easier to just upset a few and say, too bad, so sad.

But they could offer a refund of a percentage of the purchase price or at the very least, provide a voucher for one of the high quality restoration/ UV protector products. They have a lot at stake here. I would not have even known about these fog lights had it not been for others on this forum raving about the product and the company's reputation. DD depends on this forum. Not only for sales but also to help expand their brand. Bad reviews travel much more quickly than good reviews and they cannot put a price on their otherwise good will and reputation. They will know the price when they lose it though.

 

[gjallen3]

Thank you for sharing your experience and the photo. We're sorry to hear about the fading you’ve noticed on your fog lights—that’s definitely not the kind of experience we want.

Our Customer Service team follows set guidelines when reviewing warranty coverage, which is why they provided the response you received. That said, we always take feedback like yours seriously. We'll make sure your comments are relayed to the team so they can review and consider improvements to both our products and warranty policies moving forward.

We truly appreciate you being part of the Diode Dynamics community.

In your original post from last night you said your executive team would also be put on notice. I see now that your post has been edited removing any mention of the company's executives. Are they not aware of the problem or have they elected to ignore it?

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