[qu1Z]

I have an 05 Elise.

Everything else on my car has been blacked out now except the diffuser and the taillights. The taillights are next. My friend has been blacking out taillights on cars for a while now - he uses VHT NightShade. What do you guys use, and do you have any tips for me before I do it? We are also going to clear them so they look shiny.

How many screws are in each of the 4 taillights?

Thanks.

 

[Demonized]

Think I read about someone having a shop use vinyl.

 

[kestrel74]

Don't inhale.

 

[shay2nak]

don't make them too dark.

 

[Exigin]

I want to do this! Post a picture of how it comes out.

 

[9and3]

Think I read about someone having a shop use vinyl.

LOTUS ELISE Smoke Tail Light Film Kit (04-06) - StickerCity.com

I think they're a forum sponsor.

 

[Mr. Know]

I'm pretty sure AgentTripleX has her's smoked with vinyl from Stickercity. Here's a pic:

 

[sleepe]

Don't

 

[Thomasio]

I remember that many moons ago, people used to use Testor's window tint spraypaint. It is supposed to be for model car windows, but it works on plastic tail lights.

The downside (or upside, depending on how you look at it) was that you could "undo" the paint job with simple rubbing alcohol - returning the tail lights to stock.

With cars as small as ours are, I'd be hesitant to darken the tail lights though... bright lights are safer.

 

[intofx]

Think I read about someone having a shop use vinyl.

Here's mine in vinyl and it's completely reversable:

 

[BobaFettm]

^ Is that also vinyl around the tail lights too? I really want to black out that area on mine. Trying to still hear opinions on how hard it is to do that area in vinyl

 

[qball]

.

 

[intofx]

^ Is that also vinyl around the tail lights too? I really want to black out that area on mine. Trying to still hear opinions on how hard it is to do that area in vinyl

Yes it's vinyl. Best part is I can remove it when I decide to go back to stock. I had a shop do it.

 

[plastique999]

I have a set of '05 tail lights smoked by SCC for sale (I switched to LED's)

 

[qu1Z]

Well, got the lights out and smoked them / cleared them. Ran into some "crackling" problems. Not sure if it's the plastic on the lights but we used adhesive to remove all germs off the lights and it still crackled - so we put a lot of clear on the lights so we can wet sand them and buff them out and hopefully the crackles will go away.

Other then that, the lights look great. I'll post pics when they are back in the car with a better camera.

 

[shay2nak]

you have to sand the lights before you spray them. The rough surface makes the tint adhere better. I did it with my reflectors & 3rd brake light ...no problems after 1 year.

 

[madden]

ya i dont think the cracks are going away with buffing, we did my room mates and had the same problem. we stripped the paint and sanded them, stuck fine after that.

BTW: how many coats did you use? They look super dark, I'd be nervous about getting rear ended and being called out for illegal lights

 

[mikester]

Don't inhale.

damn you - too late ! rotfl

 

[qu1Z]

ya i dont think the cracks are going away with buffing, we did my room mates and had the same problem. we stripped the paint and sanded them, stuck fine after that.

BTW: how many coats did you use? They look super dark, I'd be nervous about getting rear ended and being called out for illegal lights

Did 3 coats and like 5 coats of clear on each light. We plugged them into the car, light shined through perfectly fine. The cracks aren't that noticeable but we'll try the wet sanding/buffing and see how it turns out.

 

[qu1Z]

I have a set of '05 tail lights smoked by SCC for sale (I switched to LED's)

Well I got my lights in and they look identical to yours. I just don't have a good camera right now to take a picture.