So while waiting on my K2 tails to arrive (sometime Monday according to UPS), I decided to install my IPCWs even though they do stick out...

Since the rest of my car is blacked out, I wanted to smoke them, but just lightly, so I can see the brake lights. Smoking is harder to achieve if you don't have a spray gun and a compressor than blacking out with VHT Niteshade or Rustoleum lens tint.. Vinyl tint sounds like a PITA to install over our tails, so I decided to try something else...

I wanted truly translucent look, so I started looking around and came across Dupli-Color Shadow Chrome blackout. (the link below is amazon, but I got it from AutoZone... most auto places carry it.)

Dupli-Color SHD1000 Shadow Chrome Black-out Coating Kit : Amazon.com : Automotive

My thinking behind it was, if I can see the chrome through the paint, I should be able to see the tail lights through the smoked lens. Plus shouldn't get any grief from police since the reflector is still visible. Googled it to see if it's been done before, didn't see anything, so figured it's worth trying out for $17 bucks.

Since I got the IPCWs for cheap, and original plan was to gut them and install the internals into the K2 tails, I figured I'd practice on them, since, if it got completely FUBAR, I'd just cut out the internals anyways and install them into K2's or stockers and then smoke those...

Anyways, on with the pictures and the crappy phone videos. Night output is pretty much the same. In the day vid I showed the third brake light closer with a couple of coats of rustoleum lens tint... it didn't come out anywhere close to the smoked look. But the two SMD LED strips still shine right through.

NOTE: reverse lights were masked off until the last coat of the chrome blackout spray and were shot with clear also... That's about 4 coats of the smoke stuff on the tails, one coat on reverse and 3 coats of clear over that...

On the picture, the top of both lights looks hazy, that's only the angle of the picture. You can clearly see the inside of the whole tail light...


IPCW smoked taillights, Morimoto Mini H1 retrofit - YouTube

IPCW taillights (night) - YouTube

 

good job on the smoking out. turned out good

i use to have the same tails. but got rid of them because i hate how they stick out.

 

Nice job

 

Thanks. Once they're matched in color, they seem to blend in better... Even though they do stick out. I got them to get their leds out and retro them into K2s when they arrive out stockers if that won't work. For now I'm keeping them on. They're killer when lit up.

 

Sick car!! Got a black sc sooooo its giving me some ideas for later But get a shorty antenna haha!

 

Thanks microgab, glad it inspired you. about the antenna, I would but I kind of like the reception. If I ever get a power amplified antenna that gets routed to the body of the car like some of the integra boys do, I might get rid of it completely.