My "New" Tail Lights
 

Tell me what you think of them!

The difference between S4 and S5 tails is that the S5 had 2 circle's that lit up for the braking instead of the S4's whole lamp lighting up. Someone a while back wanted to have S5-esk tail lights on the 1st gens. I was thinking about it at work a few days back and came up with my own design.


Left is modified, right is stock.

http://i28.tinypic.com/29foyhg.jpg

Here is the same set up but I am using the flash:

http://i27.tinypic.com/2n7fvwg.jpg

And last, here is a shot to show the difference between the originals and modified lens's.

http://i31.tinypic.com/2u422bt.jpg

Tomorrow I will take the left back out and trim it a little (the bottom lit-line is a little curvy, but not as bad as the picture makes it out to be) and start on the other side.


What do you guys think?

looks good but you should lose the exhaust tip. looks tacky

Mazdaspeed Muffler :)

And it says MAZDASPEED engraved on to the side.

tinted S5 style FB lights > all others

looks odd thats for sure:)

Looks like the start to something good man. Don't worry you'll tinker with it and make it into something awesome. It took a good while to develop my S5 style tails for the FB but the final product came out quite well. aws140 bought my first set and can attest to the quality.

wow, i want a set of those..^

:AA:

looks hot

PM me if you want more details

sweet. How'd you do it?
Been thinking about my tails for a while now... And I don't like the S5 style ones on FBs at ALL (My opinion only!)

Thats a pretty cool look. Try to get more pics up!

Finished :)

http://i32.tinypic.com/53nv35.jpg

i cant believe that's a mazdaspeed muff..tail's look good tho..

:AA:

its different thats for sure not sure how i like it yet might grow on me who knows

Yeah Acid that's a Mazdaspeed Protege` muffler. You need a picture of them without the flash on and some day light pictures. Looks very interesting though

am I missing something all the pics the tails look the same ?

I wanted to keep my exhaust all Borla. The Round tip is Borla made, with the later years oval tip being Racing Beat made.

Have anymore information on what you are trying to achieve?

Nothing really. Just a different look.

looks cool :)

nice look. but, you never told us how you did it....

Oh man, my bad. I didn't think there was any interest in it, since most people like the S5 style better. I tried to cut come circles, and they just looked more oval or egg shaped than anything :tonque:

Ok, this was all done on less than $2. 8 10mm nuts behind each light, and 2 behind the center panel all removed. I had to get a hammer and tap the metal screws in the back of the light housing to get it to come out. Remove the outer molding around each light, it should only cover the top, around the blinker, and the bottom of the light. Remember to take the bulbs out, and unclip the wiring connector in the back! Took the lights, put some tin foil to line the bottom of the oven and set the oven to 250*. Put the lights in when you have it warming up, and take them out when the light for the oven (saying it has reached temp) turns off. Next step is removing the cover from the lens.

DO NOT USE ANYTHING TO PRY IT APART LIKE A SCREW DRIVER, BOX CUTTER, ETC as you will fracture/crack the cover. I started from the reverse light and gently pulled. It will start to sound like someone making sucking noises and the cover will begin to come off. Work your way around it slowly as not to snap off the cover. The hardest part is removing it from the blinker side, as you have a small tab to work with. Both times I did this the tab broke off, but it does not affect the lights in any way. When that is done, let the lights sit for about 2-3 minutes to cool down, and then take out the lens.

On the back side (light side) the lens have this grid like concave structure to capture the light and disperse. Obviously this side would not work, as you can't really mask where you want without the paint seeping through between the grid. I used the outside since it was smooth. Took some masking tape and cut it to the pattern I wanted, and stuck it on. Grabbed some generic black spray paint (it does not have to be outdoor proof or anything, since the lights will be sealed back) and lightly spray layers of it. This part took me about an hour and a half with about 7-10 coats. After that dried, put the lens back in the housing, then put some epoxy around the edge of the light where the vally is. This valley is where the lip on the covers seat. You may need to take off some of the glue, but the glue just cracks right off with little pressure. Epoxy it, stick it back together, and reinsert into the car.

Obviously you will need to measure where you want the masking to go before you start painting away. It took me about 15 minutes for this part, as I wanted it to be symmetrical to the reflector in the back.

Also, I am thinking that the bottom light on the left, I did not follow the grid stuff on the back when I laid it down, which is maybe why it has a little curve. I know that the mask I used was straight.

The trick to something like this is if spraying lenses to block light, use heavy coats, allow 20-25 minutes to dry and repeat. Only takes 3 or 4 coats usually. The circles are extremely difficult to duplicate but some patience works wonders. I still have a couple of ideas I want to try out and see how they come out

I was afraid of getting drip with making heavy coats. Making circles sucks, I can't even make a stick man look right.

What are your ideas? I was thinking of 2 rotor triangles (nothing fancy, just rotor shaped triangles with a "hole" in the middle) but... Yeah. Horrible at artwork.

I've thought of the rotors a few times but I think ultimately it might look tacky so if anyone else wants to give it a shot be my guest. Some of my ideas include blacked out clear lights(basically removing all the colored lenses, spraying all surfaces that aren't reflective black, put in colored bulbs, and black out the outer cover), Clear S5 style lights(basically instead of leaving the circles unpainted, cut them out all together and put in colored bulbs, smoked and not smoked),Clear S5 IoTus style. Things of that nature. I have other ideas that involve plastic work, creating flat outer lenses with and without the reflector, stock outer lenses without the reflector, clear red and amber lenses for a modern look without the built in diffuser of the stock lenses, shit like that. I have a very creative mind when it comes to shit like that LOL