DIY: Black Housing Tail Lights

[Ch3cho86]

Originally Posted by sw20kosh

Hello,

***UPDATE: Housings are still intact - Silicone sealant worked perfectly
***UPDATE: No condensation/fogging at all after rain, fog and wash with pressurized water stream!

Here is a simple guide on how to black out your tail light housings.

It is not for a feint of heart as dremel'ing (cutting) up your tail light is some serious business. Hopefully it pays off in the end.

This is a 5-7 hr job depending on how good you are with a dremel and how comfortable you are with cutting up tail lights. I was very nervous and took things really slow especially on the first light. You also need to let the new sealant set over night so this is a long process.

You need:

1. screw driver
2. wrenches or metric sockets (deep sockets)
3. dremel with a cutting tool
4. paint (i used semi gloss black spray paint)
5. tint (optional - for those who want to make the red a darker red and to retain some functionality of the turn signals)
6. painters tape
7. sealant adhesive

(used some of Darrendriven's pics for the removal of tail lights - Darren let me know if you don't want me doing that for this guide and I will get my own pics)

1. Pop the plastic rivets out on either side of the trunk near the tail lights and fold the carpet back


2. Using a small tool (like a pick, or even a nail) you can lift the plastic catch inside of the zip tie. Pull the harness out and remove that plastic piece from the stud.


3. Remove 4 nuts from the studs. They are 8 mm or smaller (def not 10 mm)


4. After cleaning the lights up with mineral spirits and towel, take your dremel and cut this piece off of the lights.


5. It will look like this. You need to do this in order to get to the housing underneath it.


6. Start cutting around the housing. Cut the black plastic but never cut the clear plastic. It is really hard to describe where to cut so you have to look at it and see/imagine where the housing is fused with the clear lense. Cut "behind" where they are fused - so that when you are done cutting the two pieces fall apart and the clear lens has a border of black plastic. It is probably best to just look at the pics.


7. More cutting


8. More


9. And more


10. Tada!!! The two halves separate and the chrome garbage falls out


11. Optional: I sprayed a layer of Lens Tint on this circular area to make it darker red.


12. Mask off the side marker (Looks like it is glued in so I didn't want to risk breaking something by prying it out)


13. Optional: mask off the turn signal area where the yellow bulb sits. You may want to keep this chrome so that it stays max reflective. I, however, sprayed Lense Tint in there AFTER I painted the housing black.

(you can see that area is lighter than the rest - still retaining some semblance of reflectivity)

14. Paint the chrome bezel now. I used 3 coats with at least 20 mins in between coats. Here is what it looks like after painting with Black paint. Let it dry for a few hours.


15. Install the bezel back into the housing when paint is dry.


16. Before installing the bezel I decided I wanted the red pieces to be darker so I sprayed them with a layer of Lens Tint.


17. Install the lense and apply the silicone sealant to the interface between the two halves. Let it sit overnight.


18. Tools etc


19. Dremel bits used (I used the small one)


20. Celebrate and treat yourself to a tasty beverage!!!


Lights off.






Lights on!





Hazards/turn signals functional!


Best shot


Installed pics coming in the morning!

Cheerz

Pictures are down!

[GT2Be]

can you please re-upload the pictures?

[Ch3cho86]

my frs have drops of water inside The taillights. I want to open them and paint them with plastidip

[Xdragonxb0i]

is it just me? but there are pictures missing

[6-Shift]

Add pics back!

[ph0en1xtk]

Im not entirely sure what i did wrong in my mod, but after cutting them open, painting them and putting them back together, i got tons of water in them every time it rained or when i washed the car. I tried resealing them on 3 separate occasions, using different kinds of silicone sealant, window weld and everything. One time i took a very strong flash light and shined it around the seal everywhere i could just to be sure no light was visible and still had the same issue. Now after time the water that keeps resting in my tail lights (and eventually disappearing after a day or 2) has caused tons of small micro fractures all over the clear lens. My tail lights are practically ruined in my eyes Shame too, cause i absolutely loved the way they looked when i was done with them, just not the water part.

[jwjknorr]

Originally Posted by ph0en1xtk

Im not entirely sure what i did wrong in my mod, but after cutting them open, painting them and putting them back together, i got tons of water in them every time it rained or when i washed the car. I tried resealing them on 3 separate occasions, using different kinds of silicone sealant, window weld and everything. One time i took a very strong flash light and shined it around the seal everywhere i could just to be sure no light was visible and still had the same issue. Now after time the water that keeps resting in my tail lights (and eventually disappearing after a day or 2) has caused tons of small micro fractures all over the clear lens. My tail lights are practically ruined in my eyes Shame too, cause i absolutely loved the way they looked when i was done with them, just not the water part.

Make a new gasket , the factory one sucks thats probably your problem.

[AceNiNe]

yes pls add the pics back!

[636]

Pictures are broken

[sw20kosh]

So sorry guys! I will add them back. I had no idea they were broken.

As far as water getting in. USE COPIOUS AMOUNTS of silicon sealant the first time you re-seal it (after you are done re-assembling it). If there is even the slightest hole...you will get water vapor condensing in there.

[aqua8701]

bump, they still aren't back yet

[sw20kosh]

pics are back @FOO-GT86

[FOO-GT86]

Thank you! its a huge help!

[hmong337]

I wanna do this but I'm way too chickenshit to cut the lights apart. I guess I'm just gonna stick to redding my out...