Paintin' & Smokin' Tail lights

[LynchburgCSI]

Look what i won on ebay for just a hiar over $30. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250376626924&sspagenam e=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&viewitem i'm super excited...love the way the DX/SE panel looks.

anyways, i wanna try to match the panel a little better since the contour on the gen3.0 panels are slightly different than the gen 3.5 panels. i already have clear breaklights. yes the illegal ones w/o any red reflectors molded off the gen 3.0 lights.

since i really don't think there's a market for selling them at the price I got them, I think i'm going to paint them (leaving the turn signals clear) and then possibly smoke them. my question is how should i go about painting the lights red? i've found a few products claiming to do this, but would regular translucent red paint work just as well? and yes, of course i'll clear coat them. want them to look like this before smoking them:

since i'm leaving the turn signals clear, is it going to look terrible if i smoke them? or should i just smoke the parts I paint red? and what product is best for smoking tail lights? is it legal? thanks again guys!

[JCamry94]

Smoking tail light is illegal. Doing it very dark is also stupid!

Just do it lightly if at all, and there's a few different brands you can find online. Good find on the DX panel!

The clear lights are iffy, I would paint them red at least on the brake light to avoid any mishaps/

[bigbird]

what you may want to consider since you already have the clear ones is pullin off the lenses and painting them from the inside. the advantages to this are that it will be protected from scratching and that youll have a nice finish outside even if its not perfect inside. personally, i LOVE the look of all red tails. i wouldnt even leave the the turn signals clear. just paint them totally red. that looks awesome.

infact, i think you shoudl just sell me the lights for 50 bucks and ill do that.

easy way to make them legal...or at least look legal is to just get refector tape and put some on the lights.

[Simpler=Better]

Smoking tail lights isn't illegal if done right. You can coat the smoked light in a reflective clearcoat, and increase the brightness of the bulb so that it is as bright as it was before. Trouble is not melting the housing.

[roy7777]

Maybe you could just smoke them. Don't paint them red.
And use some red 1157 led lamp, then you will have pure red light.
I think the color will be more beautiful than painting red.

[LynchburgCSI]

Originally Posted by bigbird

what you may want to consider since you already have the clear ones is pullin off the lenses and painting them from the inside. the advantages to this are that it will be protected from scratching and that youll have a nice finish outside even if its not perfect inside. personally, i LOVE the look of all red tails. i wouldn't even leave the the turn signals clear. just paint them totally red. that looks awesome.

i actually just took my old headlights that were cracked and leaking and ripped the lenses ff those last weekend, so i know how to remove them. that epoxy is messy as hell once it heats up though. i'd be afraid of messing them up trying to get them back together. guess i just need more info on how to do that. i may just paint them all red. i dunno yet.

Originally Posted by bigbird

infact, i think you should just sell me the lights for 50 bucks and ill do that

haha they're literally new in there box the shipped in. i put them on for 5 minutes and decided i didn't like them.

and we can just forget the smoking the lights for now. thanks though.