you can pick that up at any auto zone.

Rad!! Im so down with this. Do you have a diy for this?

dude, came out awesome well done.:thumbup:

Thanks man, thanks for showing me that sick ass clear! I ordered some other stuff and plan on using a can to clear them lol.

I second this. Happened to me

Any recommendations when masking off the turn signal portion? Did you have a pattern etc?

nothing to recommend, it's really just eyeballing it up. you could make yourself a template and mirror it for the other side. i would just tape the outline first, measure on both tails to make sure a certain corner is the same height and angle as the other light. then fill in the middle.

Has anyone tried the black the brake reflectors yet? I am seriously considering trying it but if anyone else has tried it i would appriciate any tips.
I went to the dealer and they said tey should be sealed same as the headlamps but im still skeptical.

I tried to take the brake light apart and paint the reflector. Mission was a failure...
After attempting it and failing i have come to the conclusion that the lens portion of the brake light was sunk into the black portion. I do not believe there is any adhesive on the light at all.

maybe the Heat is not able to escape which causes the crack?? idk

It is plastic welded and not glued like the headlight.
This has been done by many people on the board. search DCW Doggy's build in the journals for example.

you need to cut open the tail lights

Okay i will search that!!

I wanna do this but a friend recommended that i spray the red inside the lens to prevent cracking. Imo thats a pain in the ass job just for red clears. I would take the time for wet sanding. Anybody know what grit to sand with and how many coats of clear to put. Also redding out the turn signals is not illegal in cali right?

That makes no sense. Why would spraying the inside prevent cracking!?! It's the same material inside and outside. If anything, you would cause more damage taking the lights apart to paint the inside!

Red or amber turn signals are legal in all 50 states. You won't get a ticket as long as they look stock. Take note, ANY modification to your lighting system is technically illegal as far as DOT goes, but they shouldn't hassle you as long as you can still clearly see the lights.

I'm getting my tails replaced under warranty (for condensation) before I tint them red. The service manager said that Toyota recommends new gaskets on the tails for every install. What do you guys think about this? Is it necessary? I really don't want to tint them red and then get condensation buildup again and have to strip them to get them replaced.

looks like they aqre not shipping this paint anywere:/ Anyone kind enough to buy and ship private?:)

Now that you guys have had this done for a while, have you noticed any issues with scratching, peeling or other types of wear on the tint? Do you go through drive-through car washes or only wash by hand?

Scott

Are there any "legal" issues with blackening the rear lights?

Painted my tails yesterday. Duplicolor metal cast, spraymax 2k.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psc724ff28.jpg

Mid paint pic

Couple more

Brake lights

Here is mine, 3 layers VHT Red nightshade + 4 layers of duplicolor acrylic clear. Need a polish to be perfect!

http://imageshack.us/a/img842/7322/cam00117.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img69/774/cam00139.jpg

Painted mine today, used duplicolor metalcast and the clear coat from automotivetouchup.com. Did three light coats of the metalcast, followed by wet sanding with 2000 grit, then two coats of the clear. In a few days I will cut and buff it but it came out great so far. Very happy with the results.

Supplies:
Attachment 29649
Attachment 29651
Attachment 29652

Results:
Attachment 29653
Attachment 29654

Did this today. The color turned out great however the paint did not. It's textured. Now I didn't sand because I forgot to buy some. Can I just try sanding it down good tomorrow and then clear or should I strip all of the paint off and start over?

I LOVE the red tails! I'm a chicken, though. I will probably spend the money and get them professionally painted, although that clear coat from automotivetouchup.com is looking promising.

I used the same clear coat paint and had issues with it coming out very blurry. I tried buffing it out and still no luck. I'm going to strip mine down and do them again this week, do you have any recommendations for how to use the clear coat? I did 3 light coats with it last time.

You can't sand down the last layer of red, or it will show through the clearcoat. Mine came out shiny as hell... I didn't even have to wetsand the clear.

I only did on a few spots that had tiny bumps, but other than that, it came out perfect.

For anyone using the 2k spraymax urethane clear from automotive touchup, just be aware it only has a shelf life of 24 hours. I learned the hard way by "testing" it on a different headlight first and then it turned solid on me and had to buy another one.

I buffed the last layer of red to a nice shine before applying the clear and it was really blurry afterward. I'll try to post pics later. It even came out blurry over the section that I taped off to leave clear turn signals. Did you apply the clear in several light coats or a couple of heavier coats?

Mine came out with a little bit of a matte look even after clear coating and wet sanding. Any suggestions on how to get rid of the matte look. Cant really tell from this picture but from like a side angle you can tell. Ill try to post another photo from the side when I get off from work.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8237/8...db61b406_z.jpg

Maybe whatever you used to buff it messed with the clear... but i wetsanded each layer up until my last coat of red, then left it alone and let it dry, then hit it with the clear and it was perfect. That is weird that the taped part came out blurry. I applied it in light coats. I actually had a slight run in one spot because it was really cold when I painted them and I thought it had enough dry time and it didn't. I applied a bunch of coats though, I figured if this stuff was going to go to waste I might as well clearcoat the hell out of them :lol:

What clear did you use?

after you wetsand, you have to polish it out with a compound to bring back the shine. They look awesome in that photo lol. Maybe you didn't clear it enough?

I used this duplicolor perfect match clear. What I did was put about 6 layers of red and went with about 6 layers of clear, 2000 wetsand and then polished with some meguiars by hand because I dont have an orbital :(
Should I add some more clear coats, wetsand and then polish again maybe?

love this... but i may have to go with the red film, as I worry about opening up the factory tail lights...

This doesn't require opening the factory tail lights...

That looks good! Now I'm pretty convinced to do this to my Asphalt.


So what I'm getting from here is this..
-Planning to use the Dupicolor Metal cast red since it looks so nice with Spraymax 2k
-Wet sand each layer of red until the last one
-clear coat and wet sand. then polish at the very end. Would I need to do every layer of clear? Or does that just depend on how each turns out?
-enjoy

Thanks for this DIY! Here's mine, Thought I went a little dark but due to these being LEDs the brake lights are clear as day. Probably gonna wet sand recoat and clear them today, as well as do my reverse lights. Debating on leaving the reverse lights clear and just tinting the triangle.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...43042901_n.jpg

Haha shit thats dark dude.

Right? Lol we'll see if I get pulled over. Its CA so *knock on wood*

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

might be tackling this ..this weekend.. :) thanks for all the tips.. going to leave the backup part Clear..:)


Bill