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Cheap Taillight Mod

S

Skibum12189

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Cleveland
I was google-ing taillights the other day and came across a guy who custom painted his stock 97-01 taillight where he painted over the yellow part with red hobby paint so it was just red and white and looked really, really cool. The only taillight mods I could find when i searched on here were LEDs or the euro style which I'm not a fan of.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about or where i might find the right up?
 
Nope. Don't worry about the bulb. Legally speaking, you're fine. Aesthetically speaking, well, you're also ok. Orange and red are so close to each other on the color spectrum, that if you filter one through the other, it will only produce the darker of the colors. So if you put an amber bulb behind a red lense, the light output will be red. If you put a red bulb behind an amber lense, the light output will be, yup, red.
 
anyone done this on an first gen? just wondering if you can use the exact same color as fitch did and if there are any other differences.

i am all about red-out tails, i would actually love to red out the little white reverse light too but i am pretty sure that would be illegal
 
I just did this mod.. 3 weeks ago! It was very easy.. I did take the extra step and scuffed ONE whole lamp and then masked to spray red.. once i matched it with the other side.. i went ahead and took the extra step to clear the whole lamp and I'm glad i did. It looks much better on a red vehicle when finished! good luck and prep prep prep!
 
I acutally used vinyl on mine. Bough a 1x2' roll for like $7, and was super easy to apply. No need to color match or clearcoat and sand, just throw on and go. Looks excellent.

1.jpg
 
If you use light coats of paint.. it will match the red part of the lense perfectly.. I used the testors paint listed in the ad, with a small can of clear i bought from the same hobby shop... 8 bucks i think for paint...
 
I gave it a try yesterday and results were not so good It looks more of a matte finish then the high gloss. It looks a little better then the orange. Think I may have gone one to many coats 2 would have been good.:tears:
 
did you wet sand it after is cured? Did you put on a final wet coat, or lots of dusting/dry coats? Did you shake it like a salt shaker before using?
 
I am not the best painter and no i did not wetsand if i should what grit and how much do you sand off. and I did a good acouple light coats of the clear.:dunno:
 
Well here's what you should do. Put some decent wet coats on. The farther you hold the paint can back, or the faster stokes you do, the more "matte" the finish will be. Either slow down or hold the can closer, but make sure there are no runs or sags.

Once you have a decent amount of clear on, let it all dry overnight. Then wetsand it with 1000, followed by 1500, followed by 2000, then use scratch remover on it and wax them up. When you're dealing with paper grits that high, you don't remove much at all. When the surface feels uniform, and the paper glides freely across the surface with little friction, move to a higher grit.
 
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