tinting OE rear lights...just the orange bits to match

[jedi-knight83 0]

Right, just bought some spare rear lights incase it all goes tits up, gonna go to halfods tonight aswell to get the spray tin of tint spray

 

how many coats is suggested from those of you that have done this?

did you leave the reverse lights white or tint the whole lot?

has anyone played with different colour bulbs or are the standards bright enough to still shine orange?

should i laquer with anything afterwards or is the tint by itself good enough?

 

thanks.

[dr_mat 0]

Personal preference, but I think it looks stoopid with the reverse lamp tinted too... I'd leave it white.

 

And I think it's just not going to shine orange unless you leave some parts untinted, you're just going to have to make sure you never indicate when in front of a police car... :)

 

One idea I did have (pinched from Asim, among others) was to mask tiny thin strips across the indicator so you don't completely tint that part of the light. Maybe remove the masking strips before the final coat of tint, so they are very lightly tinted. That would help..

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I left the reverse lights white on mine, they look sh1t covered with red spray imo.

 

I just did 2 thick coats on mine which keeps the fuzz happy and it's made them a very dark orange, which I'm happy enough with.

 

3 to 4 coats will give you a deeper red which matches the bottom half, but you do run the risk of getting pulled over for it as the light *does* come through red.

 

Haven't tried the green bulb trick so can't comment on that, but the theory behind it sounds good.

 

K

[jedi-knight83 0]

agreed with the white bits left as they are....thats the way i was leaning anyhow

 

i think it fails the MOT if it doesnt shine orange so you can avoid all the fuzz you like but your still gonna have probs every year.

 

i'll try a green bulb before i do it (i'll try a green bulb in the brake section throught the red lens to see what it looks like.

 

not sure about leaving strips un tinted or less tinted...think that would look worse than all orrange to be honest.

 

do you have a pic of yours kev?

[dr_mat 0]

Take a look at the pics of Asim's car - the untinted stripes thing doesn't look bad at all.

Green bulb through red won't help..

As for the MOT, you've got a spanner right? Stick the normal lamps back on then!! :)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I'll take a pic when I get home Jedi.....

[jedi-knight83 0]

who is asim?

you mean green through the brake lights wont work so its no good to test it that way or green bulbs wont work full stop?

was gonna sell the spare set on providing the tints went ok but i guess its an option

 

cheers

[dr_mat 0]

Asim = MoonlightVR.

Yeah green through the brake lights will tell you nothing about how green through tinted orange lights looks, PLUS I don't believe green bulbs will work full stop. But I've not tried it, so go ahead.

[pablo_vr6 0]

 

reverse lights done the lot :oops:

 

cheap mod and look 100 times better than std. I only did a few coats with foliatec spray from halfords and they came up a dark orange. indicators are 100% orange which is good.

[dr_mat 0]

My local Halfords is sooo crap they don't actually HAVE foliatec tint. Mine are fading... Need to re-do it I think. But it's a long way down the list...

[jedi-knight83 0]

thanks for that pic pablo... they look pretty good and i reckon you could get away with another coat if you say there still shining through orange.

 

definately think i should leave the white bits now though..... no offence :)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah mine a little lighter than Pablos but as he said, just a few coats..... no need to laquer as the foliatec is shiney enough.

 

It's a good idea to laquer the bottom halves afterwards though to match the sheen of the freshly painted upper halves.

[jedi-knight83 0]

could only find this pic of his lights

 

 

not bad from a distance but i wonder what they look like close up?

[dr_mat 0]

They look stripey close-up... But that's better than having to worry all the time about getting pulled for too heavy tints..

[jedi-knight83 0]

ive just had a stupid idea and doubt i'll go ahead with it.

 

what if i make up a template of the vw logo to fit on the indicator section and then spray the tint over that and then take it off and do one more coat so its not left completely orange...so then when it flashes the VW badge will show orange ??? :roll: :lol: what do you think?

[dr_mat 0]

I'd say you'll make it straight to page 1 of Max Power ....

[Kevin Bacon 5]

LOL, that will be harder to do than you think.....when you peel any masking tape or template off the plastic, you either need to remove it straight after painting or allow to dry and trim round the tape/template with a craft knife, otherwise it yanks the paint off with it. Can you do that with a VW template??

 

That aside, it would look naff and people will laugh at you :lol:

[Blue_Joe 0]

Definatly don't do that. IMHO will look like something a saxo or corsa chav might do

[pablo_vr6 0]

please form an orderly SLAP queue ;)

[Andy Brookes 0]

Here's a close up of asims lights. very nice job.

[jedi-knight83 0]

i'll get my coat :lol:

 

i was only kidding...honest... :lol:

[jedi-knight83 0]

cool, thanks for that andy....that does look very classy actually!!! did he just use thin bits of masking tape then?? as kev says surely it would bring the tint up with it when its peel'd off!!!

 

think thats how i'll do mine then but without the stripes over the reverse lights

[dr_mat 0]

As stated you have to peel it while the tint is still wet..

And yeah, from what Asim said it was just bits of masking tape.

[ben16v 0]

i posted about this before and there`s a post about it somewhere(help) IIRC 3 or 5mm tape from a model shop is the best to use???

[Guest]

Here's a close up of asims lights. very nice job.

 

they look excellent :)

 

I still prefere my FKs though 8)