Tinting tail lights

[slaughtknight]

hey
does anyone no how to tint tail light?? what do you use?? how much would it cost for a pro to do it??

[Ozzie]

The cheapest way to do it is use an exterior transparent spray paint.
You can get it from most local hardwares or hobby shops.

Mask the area you DONT want to spray and clean the area you want sprayed.

As for someone doing it for you, You would have to take the lights to a tint specialist.
Cost varies.

[slaughtknight]

would the cops be all over me for tinting them??

[80shovelead]

in wa the cops dont like it, but if you dont draw attention to yourself you should be right, unless the cops go out of there way to pull u over, or you get pulled into a major breathalyser pull over then they will more than likely get ya, happened to a mate of mine and he got yellowed

[Ozzie]

You should be fine if you don't tint them too dark.

As long as you can still see the brake/park lights during the day and the reflectors at night. (reflectors not important if you have bumper reflectors)

[VryNeat]

if someone slams into your arse ur insurance may be void coz they can say they didnt see you break lights due to the tinting

[1991_Vn2nV]

You should be fine if you don't tint them too dark.

As long as you can still see the brake/park lights during the day and the reflectors at night. (reflectors not important if you have bumper reflectors)

You can't have ANYthing over the reflectors at all. The rest need to be seen from a set distance during the day and night (like 100m or something).

[hoze78]

I just did my lights myself usign this site. Its crazy cool. My lights are bomb. I do worry about some cops at times, but they seem to leave me alone. Heres the site. Smoke Tail Lights Tutorial. It's teh best do it yourself guide I could find. To be honest.. there is not better

[Jake.VScommo]

hey guys. ive got a 96 vs exec and i tinted my lights. i bought spray tint from autobarn (cost about 17 bucks) then i took my tail lights out. only 12 nuts and 8 plugs. 8mm socket will do it. wax n grease remover on the lights then wipe dry. spray lightly evenly. SHAKE THE CAN FOR 1 MIN FIRST OR THE SPRAY WILL BE CLOGGY. lol. and yeh 2 even coats should make it look cool. 1 coat is nice but 3 coats is becoming cop bait so dont bother. look at mine. 2 coats plus pin stripeing. i like it

[Ozzie]

got a decent pic?

Im considering tinting mine on the VT

I just wanna knock the plastic look off them

[LUMPY 8]

this is my old vp. I used night shade spray. I only did 4 coats but the light isnt effected at all during the day or night

[commsirac]

but the light isnt effected at all during the day or night

how did you come to that conclusion?
In normal sunlight: Tinting reduces the light entering and leaving the lens, hence they appear darker, its as simple as that. The light emitted from the globes and reflector within the lens will also be reduced, the tint doesnt have any sophisticated properties which stop it from doing this.

Whether it keeps it within the adr requirements for colour and intensity will obviously depend on how much tint, constable plod obviously wont be equipped with a light meter to run the adr test(so you will be at the mercy of his discretion), however, if your car is involved in a costly or fatal incident such measures may be taken

. Possibly this could be counteracted by more powerful globes, whether that fixes the colour, dont know.

[LUMPY 8]

how did you come to that conclusion?
In normal sunlight: Tinting reduces the light entering and leaving the lens, hence they appear darker, its as simple as that. The light emitted from the globes and reflector within the lens will also be reduced, the tint doesnt have any sophisticated properties which stop it from doing this.

Whether it keeps it within the adr requirements for colour and intensity will obviously depend on how much tint, constable plod obviously wont be equipped with a light meter to run the adr test(so you will be at the mercy of his discretion), however, if your car is involved in a costly or fatal incident such measures may be taken

. Possibly this could be counteracted by more powerful globes, whether that fixes the colour, dont know.

If i can find the pic of wen i did 1 tail light and not the other i will show u that the brightness of the 2 tail lights r the same
it took me a couple of days 2 do it i let every coat have plenty of drying time

[VS Omega]

if someone slams into your arse ur insurance may be void coz they can say they didnt see you break lights due to the tinting

+1 on this point, I would never risk it (and lol at this threads date)

[5ivespeed]

i bought taillight tinting paint from super cheap for $20. pulled the taillights out and did it pretty dark. but once i put em back in u can still see brake lights in the day and i never got in trouble.

[Coxy_vs]

if someone slams into your arse ur insurance may be void coz they can say they didnt see you break lights due to the tinting

+1 on this point, I would never risk it (and lol at this threads date)

Ive had my lights tinted for about 3 or so years and never had any attention from the police. About 2 years ago i got hit when stopped at the lights and was pushed into another car. no one questioned my tail lights when my car was being looked at by the insurance company, assesors didnt say anything and neither did the repair shop, and the lady who hit me paid for everything through her insurance.

Do you actually know of anyone that has had their insurance claim rejected because of tinted tail lights? i dont, and i think if someone tried they would get shot down pretty quick as their is another brake light on the rear parcel shelf, and at perfect normal eye height for most people. unless that is tinted aswell or isnt working due to poor vehincle maintainance, i dont see how someone could succesfully make the "i didnt see them brake" claim...

[VS Omega]

Insurance companies don't want to have to give out money, believe it or not they're in it to make money - they have people that investigate accidents and try to find ways to get out of paying up. In your instance you were lucky, there're many stories of people who've had their claims rejected for not declaring modifications they've decided to do to their cars..

I imagine most insurance policies on road registered vehicles are under the pretense that the car is roadworthy, those tail lights aren't roadworthy despite nobody noticing or caring, in my opinion it's not worth the risk.

Then again I think they look funny, more so when the side indicators are done too... are you people trying to block the sun for the little people that live in there?

Read the second half of this thread after insurance is mentioned: Can't put rims on a crewman?

[Coxy_vs]

I had a look at the link, interesting read, but again, its filled with hearsay, maybes and possibly outcomes. The only real actually story was from nicko, his car was too low, too loud, had tint on the front windscreen and had quite a bit of damage, they agreed to fix it almost without hesitating.

all i was tryin to say in my post was that i havent actually heard of anyone gettin knocked back from repairs for tinted lights, espicially in a not at fault accident, and i know a few people who have them, just the other week my mate got t-boned in his vt, not too much damage but the whole of one side of his car had to get resprayed because of damage, scratches and colour blending. his tail lights are darker than mine and they said nothing...

It may be a different case if you had tinted lights (or any unroadworthy and possibly dangerous modification) and you caused an accident, because as you say, they gotta make money somehow, insurance companies dont like just giving out money and pay outs willy nilly...

i dunno...maybe there has been a bit of luck involved, but it seems that people get away with more stuff they shouldnt, than people getting pinged for whatever reason..

and as for the tinted side indicators..guilty also haha you do have to think about the little indicator man living inside haha but i mainly did it to blend in with the dark car colour, tail lights and the orange stuck out like...well...you know what. I did have clear ones on, they looked nice, but i gave up as they kept getting stolen.

[VS Omega]

Fair enough, I have nothing against people that do it, just wouldn't do it myself for fear (imagine if they wanted to make an example of you) and my opinion on them... a P plater driving a VS with tinted tail lights would look a bit suspicious to the police.

After all this I think my tail lights are slightly tinted LOL, they're the clear smoked ones

[Coxy_vs]

That is true about the P plater with tinted lights, add to that rims on the front and stockies on the back which is what all the "cool kids" are doing these days and youve got definate unwanted attention. I had tinted lights for about a yr on my P's, but ill chalk that up to luck i think, the same luck thats also meant ive only been pulled up randomly by the police once in five years...standard random bretho, check rego blah blah...i just hope that luck continues! altho i dont do anything do draw unwanted attention to myself in most cases.

Nice clean car mate, always good to see a neat VS! those are the tail lights you can gte on ebay arent they? you havent done anything to them right. They do look smokey/tinted tho, suit the car well...

[CANYONERO]

Fair enough, I have nothing against people that do it, just wouldn't do it myself for fear (imagine if they wanted to make an example of you) and my opinion on them... a P plater driving a VS with tinted tail lights would look a bit suspicious to the police.

After all this I think my tail lights are slightly tinted LOL, they're the clear smoked ones

i think you'll find your insurance company will be just as harsh on you with these lights as they would with tinted factory ones. Are these ADR compliant? probably not, first obvious thing why i think they wouldnt be is the reflector is not red.

[mx kid]

i was looking at doing this but seems pretty common in WA.

now im thinking bout clear tail lights with led clusters for brakes and indicators

has anyone done this or seen it done on a vs ute?

im a bit hesitant coz it has has ALOT of work done to the engine and a yellow sticker would be fatal.

[wrx884]

how did you come to that conclusion?
In normal sunlight: Tinting reduces the light entering and leaving the lens, hence they appear darker, its as simple as that. The light emitted from the globes and reflector within the lens will also be reduced, the tint doesnt have any sophisticated properties which stop it from doing this.

.

Depends if u have a glossy clear coat on top or not if u have, the gloss actually does help the light shine through better.

[VS Omega]

I have added red reflectors to the bumper (not the one pictured) but to be harsh to the same extent I doubt, there's the potential for an honest mistake from an elderly citizen because their eyes aren't good enough to see the subtle difference between pitch black and pitch black with a dab of red causing them to go up your ass versus perfectly bright red light coming out of these tail lights.

As for the LED's don't do it! Well that's my thought anyway, read my review here... most money I ever wasted on lights lol

[mx kid]

thanks Vs Omega sounds like u got shafted royally

i think i will have a look at some retails stores here in WA for some decent LED's. and ill definitely be looking for ones with a firmer structure now that ive seen ur review.

as for insurance, that wont be an issue seeing as im yet to find an insurance company willing to cover me with all the mods on my ute.