BRZ Taillights - What do you think about tinting them ?

[ShoGun]

I was thinking of tinting my taillights Red to look more like the BRZ STI/Concept Taillights. heres a quick mockup photoshop. What do you think?

(Opposite light was left alone for comparison)

[Mr.Jay]

terrible chop no offence but yeah I plan to red out my tails as well.

We actually have some really good chops of red tails in the photoshop thread

[Subie]

Personally I think doing anything to your taillights that will decrease their light output is stupid, tinting them included. I've been in some bad storms in my life where no matter how bright your taillights were, they weren't bright enough. If you simultaneously wire up the rear reflector into a rear foglight and turn it on in bad weather that would change my mind, but otherwise, my vote is no.

[NYC BRZ]

Red tint with the clear reverse portion is high up on my list of first mods. I hate the clear tails. I was hoping we'd at least get the black housing like some of the pre-production cars had.

[Kimsey47]

Originally Posted by NYC BRZ

Red tint with the clear reverse portion is high up on my list of first mods. I hate the clear tails. I was hoping we'd at least get the black housing like some of the pre-production cars had.

I'd rather had the red and amber tails but to each his own!

[NYC BRZ]

Originally Posted by Kimsey47

I'd rather had the red and amber tails but to each his own!

Amber anything in a tailight is a whole lot of Meh? for me lol not a fan but like you said to each his own.

[Jayde]

I kinda like how the stock taillights look, but I'm sure they'll look great with some red tint on them. Kinda like how the WRX 5 door taillights looks better with tint, but to each their own.

[Subaruwrxfan]

Originally Posted by NYC BRZ

Red tint with the clear reverse portion is high up on my list of first mods. I hate the clear tails. I was hoping we'd at least get the black housing like some of the pre-production cars had.

I thought the reverse lights for down on either side of the red fog triangle?

[Lonewolf]

The oem taillights would look 10X better if they were red instead of clear.

That's why Spyder Auto is looking to make some new variations for us, check out the R&D thread here:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5520

[Bristecom]

That would look pretty good probably. But I don't care enough to change mine.

[MmmHamSandwich]

While I do think all red would look good, I have a personal vendetta against red turn signals. I firmly believe all turn signals should be amber in the rear of the car and have no intention of backing down now.

Maybe some red and amber tint, hmm?

[serialk11r]

Tinting the whole clear housing is easy but I imagine that would affect light output for both the brake lamps and the turn signals. My idea is to partially paint the turn signal reflectors the same red, which preserves the intensity of the brake lamps and kills less of the output of the turn signals. Where the reflector is painted red the amber will be weakened but the light that wasn't bouncing off the reflector won't be affected, and leaving the areas of the reflector closer to the bulb unpainted should keep the turn signal behaving mostly as it was originally.

Maybe add some amber LEDs just for safety.

[Subie]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Tinting the whole clear housing is easy but I imagine that would affect light output for both the brake lamps and the turn signals. My idea is to partially paint the turn signal reflectors the same red, which preserves the intensity of the brake lamps and kills less of the output of the turn signals. Where the reflector is painted red the amber will be weakened but the light that wasn't bouncing off the reflector won't be affected, and leaving the areas of the reflector closer to the bulb unpainted should keep the turn signal behaving mostly as it was originally.

Maybe add some amber LEDs just for safety.

If you tint the entire housing but replace all the LEDs with white ones the light output may not change much at all. That'd be the best course of action I think.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Subie

If you tint the entire housing but replace all the LEDs with white ones the light output may not change much at all. That'd be the best course of action I think.

If you tint the outside red and use white LEDs you won't get much light through. The red will filter all colors but red. LEDs are more pure color light than standard bulbs. If you tint red, you'll want red LEDs.

[M-17]

I'm either going to tint the taillights for the smokey look or go red as well. Or I'll wait to see what the aftermarket will have to offer for different taillights or go for the custom route.

[Subie]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

If you tint the outside red and use white LEDs you won't get much light through. The red will filter all colors but red. LEDs are more pure color light than standard bulbs. If you tint red, you'll want red LEDs.

Yes, I realized my brain fart afterward. A red LED may very well have more intensity in the red regime than a white LED.

[Sportsguy83]

What do I think? Ricer.

[serialk11r]

My line of reasoning is that amber lights are considered more safe and visible, so it's best to keep the amber. Tinting the outside would completely kill the light output.

Tinting the reflector would reduce the intensity of the reflected light significantly but at least you can still sorta see it. I think it might be a good idea to perhaps replace the amber bulb (looks to be a normal incandescent) with an array of amber LEDs aimed in slightly different directions for visibility, or to keep the amber bulb and add amber LEDs around it.

[jonnyquest]

Ive been thinking about that myself I think it looks way better. Im not a fan of the altezza look

[ShoGun]

Yea sorry it was just a quick photoshop so ppl can get an idea.

So what are your thoughts on the Spray Tint vs the Film Tint? Anyone have experience with both?

[Ryephile]

I'd like to see "Joey Mod" style with the taillights' chrome stripped and painted flat black or body color....obviously leaving the bulb reflector portions intact for light functionality. The chrome isn't doing it for me.

[Snoopyalien24]

Yeah this is just beating a dead horse. I've shopped this so many times lol