For a while, I had my taillights tinted, all of them, including the entire reverse light. I realized it looks incredibly plain, and it is incredibly dangerous. As I stripped the tint off of my reverse lights, I devised a way to have your reverse lights tinted as much as you would like (the red around the clear circle), while leaving the clear part that lights up, unpainted. You can now have the best of both worlds. You have fashionable tinted lights, but are also good in the sense that they are not rendered useless. This is a very easy process, but I had a friend who needed help, so I thought I would post it here.

1. Gather the things you will need:

VHT Nite-Shades, socket wrench, 11mm short-well socket, automotive masking tape, a pen, and a razor.



2. Remove the nuts holding the reverse lights.



3. Remove the power connector.



4. Remove the light bulb so when you set the housing down for paint, they sit flat.



5. Set up your paint station.



6. Use the automotive masking tape to cover JUST the clear circle that is lit up when the car is put into reverse. I covered the entire light, then used a pen to trace around the clear, then cut it out with a razor. Cut very lightly as to not gouge the plastic lens.

7. Paint! Go lightly! I do about 10-15 LIGHT coats as to make sure it does not run or drip at all. It is better to take your time than to rush. Once you are done, and the paint is cured, peel all of the tape off.



8. Wet sanding is completely optional, I do it so I can get a gloss shine, instead of a matte finish. I recommend 600-1500 grit sandpaper. You may clear coat if you desire, I do not.



After that, viola, you're done. My finished pictures are in the next post. Enjoy!

 

Here is the finished product. Yes, I know they are still a matte finish, this is due to the paint taking 24 hours to cure. I let them fully cure before I mess with them. The pictures were taken about 30 minutes after the last coat.

 

That's how I did mine a while back, lol... looks good!

 

that looks really good man, i like the matte look...

 

not bad, looks better than I would imagine.

 

thats how mine are getting done right now! lol

a few people i told about it said i shouldnt and blah blah, but i went with it, and i'm glad i did.
that looks really good!

 

i like it

 

Thank you everyone.

I'm glad I could be of at least some help to this website.

 

Good how-to. Trust me tinted reverse lights+5%window tint=can't see **** on a dark night

 

my next visual mod. thanks

 

Hell yeah, I had them fully tinted, plus my 2.5% window tints, and in a dark parking lot I couldn't see for dick!

Welcome!

 

Well done man

 

if anyone does this on a white car with tinted windows i would like to see pics

 

I just took mine out, lightly sprayed some clear coat on, then some black, then another coat of clear and it came out pretty good.
Did this like 5 minutes ago, lol. Thanks for the idea Shadow!

With Paint

 

Looks great!

 

Thanks!

 

good write up, i will need to be doing this soon.

 

Why would you spray clear on them before the tint?

 

..Where did you get that from?

 

nice right up man, its really going to help

 

i did this and it looks sick. ur best bet to get the proper outline is to put tape across the whole reverse light area then stick a flashlight in the middle of the reverse light cut out and then trace the circle. make sure after you do the night shade to use a razor to edge off the tape and then clear coat after the tape is off. the clear part will fog up for about 30 mins then become fine

 

What i dont understand is after you paint and you wetsand it doesnt look glossy. It looks flat b/c of the sandpaper. Do you use like a polishing compound or buffer ont hem to make them look that glossy? only way I could get mine to be that glossy is with a heavy coat of clear

 

That's where I got that from. I didn't mean you, Shadow.

You can put compound on the clear part that was sanded but if you get it on the tinted part it'll screw it up. Usually just some clear coat will take away the the dullness of it.

 

I just wet-sanded the entire thing after removing the tape. The clear part will become dull, yes, but you can use a compound and a polish to get rid of the dullness. You will have to work at it for a bit, but I did not use any clear on mine at all. They look dull in the pictures because that was before I wet-sanded. Take a look at my actual taillights. That's with no clear, just some wet-sanding and polishing/compounding.

Oh, yeah, I have no clue what he was talking about.

 

i dont like glossy tails
i like simi gloss
almost matte, just like my tails