Painting center taillight [Merged 11-6]

[eclipspyderman]

I was just wondering how do you guys change the center tail light piece to match your car? Do you use paint, or a Vinyl sticker? If paint, what kinda paint is preferred, for my silver eclipse? and do i have to remove the center piece? please let me know where i can find instructions to remove it. thanks, JOE

 

[greyforestgst]

i painted / cleared it just like you would any other body part of the car

 

[herostar]

just go to napa or somewhere and get paint that matches your car... prime and paint that thing. You don't have to remove it if you don't want to go through the trouble... I just bought a center altezza light for 15 bucks so I still have my stock taillight if I don't like it, so i'm gunna have to take mine off

 

[cucumber]

Paint. Check mine out in my gallery.

 

[Airpoppoff]

i vyniled mine with black reflective vynil it looks cool as hell at night

 

[HyperGSX]

Originally posted by Airpoppoff
i vyniled mine with black reflective vynil it looks cool as hell at night

Any pics? I'd love to see how it came out.

 

[Airpoppoff]

its kinda hard to tell my car is really dirty right now ill take some tomorrow too

 

[Slow99x]

I used paint also and it looks very close to stock. You may have trouble color matching that silver with a paint from an auto store. For that color you may want to have a body shop do it for you like mhy friend did. I have a black car so it is harder to tell. I have also yet to find a vinyl to match that shade of silver. There is too much metalic blue in it.

If you do paint it just remember to use ALOT of high gloss clear coat on it or the paint will strip off.

 

[95_GST_AL]

WHAT? Man you can paint on that thing. It just has to be prepped right. Its plastic! Just need to scuff it up, primer, and paint, even some clear. The deal with the shop is it is something to little to mess with. They want $$$. I have a buddy that paints all of our custom stuff at the shop. We paint on plastic, fiberglass, metal, and it all looks good and last. That shouldnt be any more the a $50-75 job seriously.

 

[ENEVEL RACER]

Dude, prep it yourself and take it somewhere to hve it done. Maybe go back to the same place. Don't talk to that b!tch though. She's a money hungry whore. If you end up getting it done there, or they are leary about doing it, tell them that they will probably get more business from your's getting done. You know how it is. Somebody see's yours, then everybody in your town has to do it. Good luck man.

 

[Airpoppoff]

or you can just vynil it like i did and it looks perfect

 

[ENEVEL RACER]

Originally posted by Airpoppoff
or you can just vynil it like i did and it looks perfect

Yeah, but you have one of the perfect colors for your car, black. If I was going to keep my car the color it is, after my body kit of course, and wanted to put vynil on the center piece, it would almost be impossible to match. That's why it's going to to be changed. Going to black. I love the way your car looks! It is clean looking with just enough "Grab ya by the balls!" Hopefully I can pull that off as well.

 

[Airpoppoff]

ahhh, sorry man i thought your car was black

 

[Gregg]

I went to see about getting my center taillight painted today and the guy said that since it was plastic that it would prob bubble up or something like that. I was wondering if anyone who has painted theirs has had any problems with theirs bubbling up or paint falling off, etc. Thanks

 

[90LaserTurbo89k]

first off...not to be rude or anything, but check around the forums first...try the non-performance forum...there is a TON of threads about this. and no, if you do it right, it wont peel off or anything.

 

[illwill]

I painted mine back when i first got my clear taillights.. All i did was take some sand paper and sand it down. Grab some black spray paint and 45 minutes later"after drying" it was all good. It still is good now its 4 months later.

 

[Fox]

I kinda had the same idea along the lines of speed-racer 97. I was going to take the middle piece off, scuff it up real nice with some sand paper, and paint everything black except the "T-A-L-O-N." Then go back and paint the lettering white. All on a black car, with either black or gunmetal rims. Tell me what you think and any ideas you may have. Thanks.

 

[DSMhelex]

i say paint it black, then mask off the stuff you dont want to be white, then spray paint it white... i wouldnt manually paint it, it will be all streaked and just not look good....
i wouldnt just paint the center piece tho, cause it might look kinda wierd...
i used two circles in mine so they would look good and be legal....

 

[rubbersidedown]

DSMhelex... i think you have the wrong idea. by scuffing it up a little it'll let the paint adhear better to the plastic and he's using spray paint so there won't be any streaks.

 

[thehyena]

take the middle interior panel outta your hatch... unbolt screws.... pull

 

[brcewane]

Mine cost me $35 bucks... I took it off and then gave to them to paint... yeah it just takes a little muscle power to take out the back middle panel in your trunk, you'll see the nuts to take off and it will slide right out.. I went one step further and took the red piece out of the black housing, there are little clips around the sides that you can pop it out...

but be carful not to break them.

Here's what mine looks like now
Rear pic

 

[brifri81]

thats nice

do you guys know how much it is if i just take the car and ask them to paint it?

and if you don't mind asking where did you get that "turdo" emblem

thanks

 

[brcewane]

Not sure how much it would be without removing the section..

The Turbo emblem is a VW Beetle emblem... It has 3M tape on the back of it. I got mine on ebay, or you can just go down to your local VW dealership and order one.

 

[Defiant]

The cost will be in getting the paint. You may be better-off with a rattlecan of Dupli-Color and some clearcoat.

 

[myeclipseisnice]

anybody got some pics of the tail light done with that duplicolor?