how long did it take you roughly??

 

Here are mine

 

I personally use Permatex black adhesive sealant. The sealant is actually visible on the "inside" of the now clear lenses, so I like to minimize it by making sure that it matches the inside of the 'black' housings. I've used clear adhesive sealant many times before as well, but it's just a little more visible.

Also, I would highly recommend that you find a way to make your taillight fit in the over with the door *SHUT*. The problem with most ovens is that they have a built-in thermometer that will continue raising the temperature of the exposed heating-elements, as a lot of the heat is escaping out the open door... This is bad because it puts your plastic tails directly next to a *bright orange*, exposed heating element struggling to reach the "set" temperature.

This mod can take between 3-5 hours depending on what you do exactly. It will (of course) take longer if you desire to black out the lower reflector during the modernizing-procedure.

I used to clear-coat my tails which would make the project a two-day ordeal as I waited for the clear to dry... Now I have the original lenses wet-sanded and machine polished.

 

Over 25,000 views!

 

they look great

 

i want some! how much?

 

do you 'black out' the lower reflector by actually removing it or just painting it with some decent quality spray paint??

 

The paint that I've found works the best (for cheap) is Duplicolor gloss-black Acrylic Enamel. It has a very "plastic" look to it when it's dried, and it has excellent coverage and durability. That's after a lot of trial and error using different brands and paint types.

 

this is sick glad i found this via search..

anyone do this with truck/trailer LEDs yet?
http://forum.teamfc3s.org/attachment...2&d=1138196806

imma do it..i think it will look great on my fc

 

I want it, it looks great!!! someone knows where to buy??

thanks
olli

 

Nice job.

 

i think it would look cool to use 2 rows of LED in the tails and the turn signalls on modernized tails then get the sequental blinker system from a old cougar spo when you turn on the turn signal the lights blink in sequence from the inside out.

 

search "4 round led tail"
http://motors.search.ebay.com/search...trypage=search

 

those tails are sick!

 

Heres my before and after shot!

 

I actually disagree completely.

Also Erik your point is almost nullified by the fact that the whole flat black theme is basically one of the most popular right now, and monochromatic has been a theme for a long time, a very succesful one used by MANY auto manufacturers with cars much more expensive than Mazda. The red looks good on the back end of that car, and IMO the emblems are poop in the first place paint to match or get rid of them, the "contrast" you speak of here is actually IN the tails themselves, they are the contrast.

Sorry to revive

 

OYE good Idea !!! i like the look !!! but listen I have some more imput for your idea

the 300 degrees was too hot for 20 mins
My area near the license plate light got warpped but NO biggie it the lens it cracked and broken in some places. thats why i used my s5 lens..

BUT at 285 degrees after about 7 mins it was moderately plyable AND the lens still held shape.. I took off the brake lite first then put it back in for the turn signal lens... FOR another 4 mins then it came out with steady moderate force..

A very good tip is NOT to pry it from the side where the license plate is but rather WORK your way accross the top of the whole brake lens. then knock out the bottom of it.... then back into the oven for 4 mins then do the signal lens.
hope to benefit the thread

mike

 

steady heat from a heat gun or hair dryer really helps to keep the sealant in a separate able form.

 

Very nice on seeing the difference and I'd say that the MOD makes the car look very clean.

 

Of course 300 degrees is way too hot... I do all of my taillights at around 210F. Make sure that none of the "face" plastic is touching bare-metal, because it WILL melt. If I ever said 300 degrees, that was wrong. Closer to 200 is much, much better.

Since this thread has been revived, I'll add a couple more recent pics of *modernized* tails I've done to my RX-7's.

A little glimpse:

 

With my new method, it takes about an hour to get both taillights apart, cleaned, modified and back together. The first few tries took a LOT longer.

 

God they look so ******* good. You still charging like 40 bucks total for all? 15 for the items and 25 for labor?


EDIT: Reading back, I might be confused but it said you can't do it on S4?

 

i dont like the way they look on stock cars, if the car is stock id perfer stock looking tails otherwise for some reason it makes the overal car look janky.

 

the red looks great against the black. the s5 lights look so much nicer than the s4's.

 

I had been doing them for $80 the past two years, although I'm too busy right now with other work to take on any taillights.