Smoked Taillights?

[Crab Walker]

Anyone know how or where I can smoke my taillights? Its all i want to know.... Thanks

[SilviaDriver]

u can buy transparent paint..or use tint

[dct223]

U can get this thing called "night shades" Or something like that.. all it is, is pretty much tint in a bottle. you just spray it on..

Just gotta have a steady hand and put on a even coat

[nocomedown]

if you have kouki 180sx lights, you can buy a tinted cover thing from c-west i think for an outrageous amount of money

[ryan hagen]

i just got a can of that night shades from vht, i m gonna try it, i l post pics when i m done for yah

[RoYaL FLuSH]

I tinted my front bumper lights, sidemarkers, and rear turn signals using the same vht nite shades. It came out great... for pics just click the link in my sig...

[twitchy]

how much light does that block?

[ryan hagen]

suposedly not much, there are a couple other people who did it to theirs also on here, but check out a gen3 rx7 tail light, look how dark they look

[ZenkiSE]

its a very popular mod for the ATL group and it looks real nice

www.240sx.org/atlanta.com
they might have some pics of it

[Steeles]

Dirty as chit in this pic but here since ZenkiSE is so lazy!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid83/p71c02188e75c801478af8798b7cdd57b/fae4e78c.jpg

[RoYaL FLuSH]

i tested the nite shades on a spare taillight that i had lying around and found that it looked better if i put numerous coats on to make it really dark. with my lights off the turn signals look like a solid plastic cover but when ther on the lights are still clearly visible.

[ryan hagen]

can u take the s13 tail lights apart? on the back of mine i found numerous little screws, but when i took them all out i couldnt get the light housing to pull it apart, i thought maybe i could paint the individual lenses. i ll take pics of the lights gettin painted but it will be alot cleaner looking if i can pull the lenses out so i ll wait for some one else to reply on it. old s13 does the clear corners right? maybe hge would know?

[ZenkiSE]

Steeles i hate you..........lol

[Wei240]

i have mine painted quite a while ago (just covered the rear backing lights so it doesn't get painted) and put tons of clear coat on top of it.. it's slightly faded from what it was couple years back, but it doesn't look as ghey as the red faded ones...

[ryan hagen]

i took some while i sprayed today

[RoYaL FLuSH]

cant wait to see em on the car... wut color is it?

[ryan hagen]

its that silver/blue color, i m gonna paint the car this summer, either black, or dark or light silver

[russian]

looks sexxxy. where can you get those cans? what brand as well would be nice

[ryan hagen]

they are vht, i couldnt find them in my town, but i was on ebay and found them one day.

[RoYaL FLuSH]

ther's also another brand called "foli-color" which is supposedly even better but is almost double the price of vht "nite shades" for a smaller can!!!

[pruto]

steeles, that looks bad ass man, i've always wanted to do that,

[gogeeta13]

did it a long time ago...
http://www.240sxforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11910&highlight=%5Bpics%5D

I got new wheels, 5zigen exhaust, no spoiler..some other stuffs.

[Steeles]

Pruto - the stuff we use is Krylon Stained Glass color. got it at a mitchel's craft store, its like 5 bucks a can clean the surface spray let dry and repeat untill desired color is acheived :) for better pics check out Russ's ccar on the 240s over atlanta site

[old_s13]

man you guys just like messin up tail lights i guess...

...those tints do nothing more than REDUCE light output.. for what, styling? there's much better ways to make your car look good, without spraying crap-quality paints over your tail lights. if anything, pay to have it done right at a body shop and professionally clear coated -- not done with some 5 or 10 dollar can of hobby paint or over-priced JDM "tail light covers."

[ryan hagen]

ehh i ll get some brighter bulbs, not too worried right now, there is always the ebay trailer light hybrid kit lol, i saw some one bid on one :wtf:

[pruto]

yeah, the appeal of this i think is that you can spend $5 and do it yourself. Yes, doing it correctly will look better and have better lighting, but it costs $$.

On the other hand, the one thing holding me back is that i don't want my car too be too dark, for safety reasons. I've heard too many horror stories of black cars at night. If you notice, with the correct lighting in the surrounding, the zenki s14 tailights reflects light very well, enough that sometimes it gives the illusion that the lights are still on when you're parked. I would hate to lose that. Black on black looks awesome, but can have some nasty negative effects when there isn't much light.

[ryan hagen]

lol, the guy who started this thread hasnt posted since he started it, but its going pretty strong. but yah, i m currently priming my car flat black, in the pics i too u cant see it as good but my tail light reflectors still work pretty good......kinda suprisd

[twitchy]

how durable is that stuff? I mean if i wash my car and so on will I have to touch it up or will it peel and stuff?

[mastaflash05]

i was kind of wondering the same thing. is it durable enough to withstand washing and weather?

also if i do it and dont like it, can it be taken off with some paint thinner or acetone?

[Wei240]

hmm, i've had it on my car for couple of years, at least 4yrs, but i put alot of clear coat to make it shiny as well as to make it last, don't ever plan on taking it off since i did it to hide a crack to begin with, but since replacements are much cheaper these days, if it ever fades real bad/peel, i'll just head over to a junkyard...
it's not as shiny or dark as it used to be, but still noticeably darker than stock and since it's not red, it doesn't fade to a pinkish look...

[Steeles]

the stuff I used I put about three coats on. the pic I took is about a year worth of fade. yes you can wash the car. it'd be better with some clear coat ovre it.. to make the shine last longer but I just clean it and spray another coat every year or so.

removal.. I dunno

[Crab Walker]

Ok, so if i use the vht "nite shades", do i have to spray both sides or just the outside of the tail light?

[RoYaL FLuSH]

u can't take the lens off without breaking it. just take ur taillight off and spary it.

[gogeeta13]

I put about a can's worth of polyurthane clear coat over mine...they havent worn off one bit...

In the pictures i posted, I hadn't wet sanded them yet, so they look shitty.

[old_s13]

unless you have a body shop paint them with good quality paint, the effort you guys are putting into changing the look of the light is kinda pointless. i am not saying its bad, i am just saying if you want your lights to look TITS, or in normal terms.. PRO.. then you should pay a body shop to do it once and do it RIGHT.

go ahead and use harsh chemicals on plexiglass... you'll love the new FADED look to your lights. ;)

- Mike / ClearCorners.Com

[ryan hagen]

any one witha s13 fastback try to make there center light up? i was thinking shave my 3rd eye brake light and go with a light up center. but i ll have to pick up a set to start palying with it. i m bored in wisconsin, lol, it still another month before the snow and ice is gone form the north.

s13 tail lights are pretty cheap, if they fade, i ll get new ones :cry:

[Torso]

Here is a link to a thread I started about smoking my tails, it has pics of my car when I smoked my tails showing them off and on..difernt views..ect. might be of use.

http://northwestnissans.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10858

Torso

[ryan hagen]

i ll have pics of mine up tomorrow, i gotta wet sand and clear coat still, i m gonna see if i can find some clear coat thats uv resistant or stable, might help reduce fade, i might wire my reverse lights to be red and come on with the third brake light, i used 2 coats on mine but if i ahve light issues i ll wire them red and then wire a some ebay ricer fog/running lights next or under the plate. i might switch to led bulbs too

cops around here see a s13 fast back about as much as a gen 3 rx7 so i doubt i d get pulled over. i think there are 3 fast backs within 50 miles, maybe further. like 5 coupes, our dealer only sold convertables, like 3 of em, lol

[Crab Walker]

So, can you buy a can of the vht night shades from a autozone or a murrarys? I do know where to get it?

[kay_arsen]

what kind of paint do you guys suggest for headlights?

i want to paint the background of my front headlights.

any ideas

[nocomedown]

what kind of paint do you guys suggest for headlights?

i want to paint the background of my front headlights.

any ideas
id suggest not doing that...if you want to be able to see at night, that is

[ProjectSlideways]

On my da integra I took my JDM one pieces apart in the oven and seperated the lense from the housing. I taped off the reflective parts and painted the rest black.

[twitchy]

can someone post one pic of one smoked taillight and one not, with the lights on?? I wantt o see if it stops a lot of light from escaping

i would like to do this but i drive in a lot of blizzards...

[old_s13]

twitchy, thats like asking people to take pics of their cars with "tint" and say "i want to see if its darker nad less light comes in the car" -- of COURSE, anytime you tint a light housing the paint will interfere and result in LESS light to reflect out of the assembly.

- Mike

[twitchy]

ever see smoked headlights on a newer mustang GT? They are noticeably darker plastic but just as bright at night (or maybe marginally darker, almost unnoticeable) THAT I wouldnt mind- if this stuff only blocks a little light.

[Wei240]

yes, there is less light output overall, the thing with mine is, at night, it's clearly easy to see, it's during the day (or during sunset to be more precise) that makes it hard to see, it's hard to see as it is with the glare and this makes it worse...

[ryan hagen]

heres some test fit pics, every thing doesnt fit quite right cause i only put like 4 nuts to hold the lights and lower panel on. i only used 2 coats, still gotta clear coat.

[kay_arsen]

did it come out good?

[kay_arsen]

On my da integra I took my JDM one pieces apart in the oven and seperated the lense from the housing. I taped off the reflective parts and painted the rest black.
did it come out good? :ughd:

[ryan hagen]

i have to clear coat still, i still have my reverse lights taped

[stealthj]

hey man that looks pretty good, you should make a do-it-yourself thread about it i want to do that on e day when my car is black

[oneviaman]

dunno how old this post is but heres mine on a coupe. done with that night shades stuff.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/oneviaman/HPIM0222.jpg

[theicecreamdan]

if you look RIGHT above people's names you will see the date they made the post.
in this case

3/31/2004
stealthJ blah blah blah


11/11/2005
NOOB blah blah blah old threads

[Nan Desu Ka?!]

oneviaman, you are quite the necromancer.

[Irukandji]

hey not bad... i kinda like that black/red scheme on the coupe taill lights, i just might have to do this.