well, a few people have PM'd me about the pic in my avatar. yes, that is one of my tail lights. 
for those of you interested in it, here's how to do it:
FIRST- ****order new tail light seals from the dealer!!! they're worth every penny. i used a thin coat of gray RTV sealer on each side of them to help them seal, and never, ever had a leak into the tail lights since i did that!****
second, remove the tail light fromt he car. (notice my blinkers are clear). i personally used a flat head screwdriver to *VERY CAREFULLY* chip out all the 'reflective' stuff on the inside. my lights are totally clear. many people dont know that the red part of the lens is actually red plastic. the orange is only the inset, so if you break it out, it becomes white, unless you put a red bulb in there. (i personally hate orange blinkers in the rear, thats why i did that)
be incredibly careful, as the pieces that break out are very brittle, and sharp as hell! my hands were bloodied up real nice after i got done doing this.
(i tried numerous solvents to remove the mold from betweent the lenses, but nothing worked, which is one of the reasons i decided to do this, as well)
believe it or not, they look WAY better now than they ever did. they looked really, really shitty before.
after all that crap is broken out, i use very fine sandpaper (600 grit if i remember correctly) to scuff up the surface. then i used blue painters tape to cover the spots of the lens where i wanted light to show through, as well as the edges of the lights.
i used a damp rag to remove all the dust from sanding, and it was pretty scuffed up looking. not very nice. but i digress.
i put 3 coats of gray primer on there, and let them fully dry. (2 hours or so)
then i put about 6-7 coats of the black spray paint on there, nice and evenly. i waited til each coat was nearly dry before i applied another. then i let it sit outside for a day in the sunshine. it got nice and hard, dried up really well.
i let it sit overnight, just to be sure that every layer was fully cured, then i proceeded to remove the tape.
next, to seal it all up nicely, i re-masked off the edges, and put 10 coats of clear on it. boy do those suckers shine in the sunlight. they look badass at night, too.
*one thing that bothers me: since i removed the reflective material inside the light, you can see the bulbs/bulb holder. i'm actually going to end up using VHT nightshade on the lenses, so that during the day, you cannot see the bulbs, and at night, it still gives the effect i'm looking for.*
when the clear was dry, i removed the masking to reveal the following:
**crap, i cant find my CD with all the tail light pics on it it's got some damn nice high resolution pics, too. and a video of me tearing up a parkinglot last winter i wish i could find it... it's gotta be somewhere, however, i'll post up some pics of the finished product tomorrow. i have the digicam, and perhaps i'll take some night pics of them, too. ** for now just look at my avatar...
-shaeff
for those of you interested in it, here's how to do it:FIRST- ****order new tail light seals from the dealer!!! they're worth every penny. i used a thin coat of gray RTV sealer on each side of them to help them seal, and never, ever had a leak into the tail lights since i did that!****
second, remove the tail light fromt he car. (notice my blinkers are clear). i personally used a flat head screwdriver to *VERY CAREFULLY* chip out all the 'reflective' stuff on the inside. my lights are totally clear. many people dont know that the red part of the lens is actually red plastic. the orange is only the inset, so if you break it out, it becomes white, unless you put a red bulb in there. (i personally hate orange blinkers in the rear, thats why i did that)
be incredibly careful, as the pieces that break out are very brittle, and sharp as hell! my hands were bloodied up real nice after i got done doing this.
(i tried numerous solvents to remove the mold from betweent the lenses, but nothing worked, which is one of the reasons i decided to do this, as well)
believe it or not, they look WAY better now than they ever did. they looked really, really shitty before.
after all that crap is broken out, i use very fine sandpaper (600 grit if i remember correctly) to scuff up the surface. then i used blue painters tape to cover the spots of the lens where i wanted light to show through, as well as the edges of the lights.
i used a damp rag to remove all the dust from sanding, and it was pretty scuffed up looking. not very nice. but i digress.
i put 3 coats of gray primer on there, and let them fully dry. (2 hours or so)
then i put about 6-7 coats of the black spray paint on there, nice and evenly. i waited til each coat was nearly dry before i applied another. then i let it sit outside for a day in the sunshine. it got nice and hard, dried up really well.
i let it sit overnight, just to be sure that every layer was fully cured, then i proceeded to remove the tape.
next, to seal it all up nicely, i re-masked off the edges, and put 10 coats of clear on it. boy do those suckers shine in the sunlight. they look badass at night, too.
*one thing that bothers me: since i removed the reflective material inside the light, you can see the bulbs/bulb holder. i'm actually going to end up using VHT nightshade on the lenses, so that during the day, you cannot see the bulbs, and at night, it still gives the effect i'm looking for.*
when the clear was dry, i removed the masking to reveal the following:
**crap, i cant find my CD with all the tail light pics on it
it's got some damn nice high resolution pics, too. and a video of me tearing up a parkinglot last winter i wish i could find it... it's gotta be somewhere, however, i'll post up some pics of the finished product tomorrow. i have the digicam, and perhaps i'll take some night pics of them, too. ** for now just look at my avatar...-shaeff
