I did this a few weeks ago and my car isnt currently in my garage. Its on the other side of the state so I havent had a chance to see how these would look. Has anyone else done this or have pics of anyone who has? Im sure Im not the first but I havent seen it before. I also modified the insides a little but nothing crazy or a 99 conversion.

 

even some feedback about what you guys think. I might have been caught up too much in whether I can actually do it to consider whether or not it looks good or ghetto...

 

Hm. I'd like to see it on the car.

 

I might have a friend come over this weekend so i can see what it would look like on an fd

 

interesting.......... im intrigued since the"black" is known to fade and become more purpleish. im curious how it looks up close though, because its originally painted on the inside and now you painted it on the outside, so im wondering through the thickness of the housing do you see double seams........

 

I painted it everywhere there is gloss black so you cant really tell the thickness or that it WAS gloss black originally. The black you see around the clear of the lens is a natural line on the inside but doesnt interfere with the look really

 

me too....

 

sorry I didnt update this. Took a pic when I pushed the shell out to wash it. Theres some water drops on the taillights but you get the general idea. Id like to see it with the spoiler on because FD's without it just look weird to me. What do you guys think? Im still undecided.

 

Doesnt look to bad, would look good if we could see it with a black rear diffuser as well.

 

alright, Ill take a pic of it test fitted up

 

Why not just remove the entire tail light and put a carbon fiber filler panel in its place? You could atleast save a few grams by removing the bulbs. I guarantee you won't be able to see them in direct sunlight.

 

Huh? Elaborate please. I only matted the OUTSIDE of the tail lights where the factory black was and no light shows through....... If youre talking about the actual areas that are for the lights INSIDE the tail lights they are being replaced with Lumiled superfluxes...

 

I'll be doing this to mine soon, since the shiny plastic area has faded a purplish gloss sort of color (and since I have a black car, the purple-ish plastic tint is more noticeable next to the black paint on the surrounding panels)

Only question is whether to paint them matte like yours, or gloss black- which would look better with a Brilliant Black FD???

Edit: How did you get the masking lines so smooth?

 

im curious about how you masked the lines so well too lol. very clean. although idk how i feel about the "matte" on a gloss car.. i think they might look cool on my matte white car tho

 

It would be up to you whether they would look good or not. ive received some love and hate both ways so its definitely up to the individual. I used Plastidip so its not permanent and I can peel it off if I dont like it overall. I just followed the lines with some masking tape. It actually is easier than I thought it would be since the curves arent that hard to follow. I laid the tape, sprayed a couple coats and before they dried too much I pulled the tape. Turned out very well considering I never lined anything before. Just give it a try and youll surprise yourself
You can try it. Im still undecided whether Ill keep them like that or not. Im carbon fibering my feed front and rear fenders and and a part that connects them unter the door not covered by the fenders and not painting them so Ill have to see how it looks with those on.

 

I did go ahead with gloss black on the lights, to match the gloss black car.

Looks good to me, but my only gripe is that the black I used (which was supposed to be the same mixed color as the car) is not the same.

When they mixed it, they must've made a mistake, because the black on the lights looks brown compared to the paint on the car (when viewed in direct sunlight)

In the shade its fine. Might have to try it again, and get the paint mixed properly this time..

 

I smoked my tails with vht night shades and cleared them when i painted my car. They shine plenty of light through when the lights are on.

 

I actually tried the VHT nightshades stuff (had done it to mostly every other car I owned) but on the FD lights, it just didnt like it. No matter how much prep and cleaning with wax & grease remover, the nightshades just spiderwebbed on the plastic.

Besides which, the local police here dont allow nightshades on lights- they slap on a defect sticker, and fine you a few hundred, and require the car to go for a full pit/roadworthy inspection. I didnt want that for the FD.

 

The tails should take it fine its the bumper lights that didn't accept mine. The paint would map on those lenses. It must be the material the lenses were made of. I just wetsanded my tails with 1500 and I think it was about 3 coats of the vht then two full wet coats of clear. I used DuPont nasons clear. Stuff is excellent for the price.

 

Btw for your black on your car, this is coming from a body guy. There are usually two standard blacks that come on today's autos it usually brown black, and blue black. Its a primary color so you can't mix it. They use the blacks for tints in other colors. You most likely used the brown black and the car had blue black. Blue black is more common in my days of body work.

 

For cars that had straight black that came to the garage I worked for, we had two pre made paint chips one of each black to match it properly. Cars today have so many variants based on where the car came from and so on. It was always a pain in the *** choosing the right variant. Some could be way off some could be on the money. Sometimes there is one standard and no variants. Just all depends.