NZConvertible

Those look dangerously dark to me. The nightime photography is deceptive, but look how much brighter the license plate lights are compared to the tinted lights. License plate lights ain't that bright...

I like tinted lenses too, but not when they're that dark. It's just far too dangerous. How effective do you think those brake lights are going to be on a sunny day? Let's see that photo.

jimmyv13

The only thing you'll get is a busted up FC along with a delightful increase in your insurance rate. Hopefully, no one will be injured in the accident.

Those are just too dark.

Elysian

here we go, some daytime pics, without lights and with brake lights only.

Elysian

if you can't see that during the day i feel for you.

don7

i think they look good, and if anybody hits you, they are either blind and should not be driving or they are following to damn close

Elysian

no kidding!

jon88se

eh, looks wrong to me...too monochromatic...and i don't like the way that looks on a black car...S5 tails, use spray tint VERY lightly on them (just a lil more tint than OEM) and wetsand.

Elysian

i like these tons better than stock S4 tails... in fact i'm starting to like them over S5 tails already, but i don't think all black would work on a non black car, unless it was like a dark blue... they almost work on that guys red fc, but still not as nice as my black

Madrx7racer

good job....now we need daytime pics.

Elysian

look 7 posts up lol, thats as good of lighting as i'll get for the next few days, sposed to rain all weekend here

Kenteth

gee that day looks like an overcasted day... take a picture during a sunny day with your car in the sunlight.. you won't see similar results...

EDIT: those actually look very dark, im wondering how long it is before you get pulled over...
Whats really funny is that when you get creamed by a big truck, the lawers will use this thread as evidence that you know of the wrongdoing. hah

NCGNETO90

iTrader: (3)

Thats looks awesome dude! Can some-one post a pic of a S5 like that?

Elysian

i doubt anyones done this to S5's... i don't think i could bring myself to do something like this to S5 taillights, especially seeing how much they can cost

STR8BALLIN - R

on the first page. those spray painted ones have suck a dull finish you can tell its a home job, the others (on the first page a all shiny and stock looking.
what happens if you tint from the inside of the lense rather than the outside. all i seem to see is it done from the outside so i figure there must be a reason but i hate the dull matte' finish it leaves you with.

Elysian

they didn't turn out that dull at all, they almost completely match the origional paint, look very good

TakumiJr

I'm goin to try this on my spare S4 tail lights, but first could I just use one of those tail light tint at the speed shop to do this???

Elysian

i'm sure u could, i just did it the only way i could find besides going to a paint shop... couldn't find any translucent black, so just used regular black

asuka42227

Go with the light tint. The spray paint version prevents too much of the light from getting out. A paint shop can mix the right amount of black in clear to give you just as dark a look with much better opacity. Go ahead and do it yourself, but go to an auto paint supply shop to get your tint mixed.

asuka42227

These look almost completely black from 10'.

Digi7ech

iTrader: (1)

IMO yours came out a bit too dark but if you like them then go for it.

To me I think you'll get pulled over since they completely black out whn no lights are on them.

I am going to lightly tint mine and want the stock reflectors to even work inside the housings.

Elysian

i have found the tails a bit too dark now, the rest of the lights have 1 coat of paint, the tails have 2, i'm going to take the molding off, sand the paint off the lights themselves, and apply one light even coat of paint on them, the pics i had in the first post of just the lights by themselves showed they weren't too dark after 1 coat, the stock reflectors still worked

Elysian

btw drove my car around plano, mesquite, garland, richardson(texas of course), highways and normal streets today, didn't get pulled over once... saw plenty of cops, lots of wrecks today, had some crazy rain, but no one pulled me over... even the stater sitting on the side of the highway radaring

VietFC

this guy's pretty elusive. ^_^

Bambam7

The comparison pic from the body shop looks a million times better, sorry!
Here's something I DON'T UNDERSTAND...
WHY are you guys painting the OUTSIDE of the lenses??? Looks much worse IMO because it's all dependant on the quality of the finish.. which, if you are just using spray cans, isn't going to be that good. It's going to flake off eventually, and all that.
They key to doing modifications like this is to make it look like it came from the factory like that.
PAINT THE INSIDE of the lenses!!!! You have to clean them VERY well inside- they have to be dry and completely clean- and paint with several VERY fine coats- otherwise it will pool up in the valleys of the diffusing/diamond pattern molded onto the light.
Trust me, I've done several of these.. always paint the inside and it'll look like a factory job.

Molotovman

iTrader: (49)

Not a big fan, I say take them to a paint shop and hand them 100 bucks after you've cleaned em. Then just polish them when you polish the car.