Blacking out lights

[xxsupralvrxx]

hey I want some suggetions I wanna do somthing to my small center tail light on the hatch but i wanna black out all my lights an i wanna do hids head lights and led tails

 

[Bud92gsx]

Ok ask away...http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-exterior-interior/87503-black-out-headlights.html
Anything you do to headlight like this will dim the lighting, your better of with the covers, or ebay for some sweet ricer blacked out lights..

Or check out GT Styling Covers (90-99)

Or ebay for the lights...Paint your center tail to match car or black them out with nightshade..The covers from mach v are nice cause they are removale..

 

[rock1t]

Nightshade. Trust me, it will look a whole lot better than covers.

 

[brandnew161]

+1 on the nightshade just make sure to clear the tails when finished

 

[jdavisawd]

vht nightshades? my buddy used a light mixture of clearcoat and black paint and did a few people round town....looks great and very durable.....apply coats for darkness...

 

[fuzzydoodle]

Nightshade definitely, some of the vinyl covers are cool because their super glossy/shiny, but alot of the time you can't go as dark as you want. And as stated before clear gloss them after, try and get the more expensive gloss clear, I got 'krylon' and I did 5-6 good coats and it was fair at most.

And for god sakes, whatever you do, don't get excited like me and take the masking off before it dries because the newspaper could fall in your fresh clear coat and f*ck your whole operation up, , so I have stripped and am on round two.

The first time I shaded my tails, I did not clear over and in about 2 years it was almost faded completely off the lights, so I am re-doing them I decided to go as black as my car and clear over.

 

[rush2252]

Ive experimented with Metal Cast by duplicolor. They make several colors I used the "smoke" color to do my tails. They turned out better than night shades and you dont have to sand/clear them. The stuff sticks awesome I couldnt get it off after a ticket and had to buy a new set

Its made for anodizing aluminum or chrome. Its way cheaper than N/S and can be bought at Oreillys Napa and Autozone.

 

[InfiniteGSX]

Ok ask away...http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-exterior-interior/87503-black-out-headlights.html
Anything you do to headlight like this will dim the lighting, your better of with the covers, or ebay for some sweet ricer blacked out lights..

Why do you keep telling people that doing that will dim the lighting, or effect the lighting in any way? It doesn't effect the lighting at all. If you look into the headlights, there is what I call a bowl, the section where the bulb is attatched, is the part that puts out the lighting. Its what deflects the light coming out of the bulb, onto the street. The sides of that bowl, the roof of that bowl. The floor of that bowl, only give glare. Which is why I keep saying, and I've told you, and that article even does the same thing, You mask the section that holds the bulb, and you paint the surounding area's. No light gets effected, infact you kill most of the glare and all the light is still positioned properly. I did mine this way, My headlights still rock.

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Look closely, see the actual area needed to reflect the light is still availible? Thats all the headlight needs to properly work. It needs nothing else. You will not lose any lighting this way.

Now if you VHT your headlights, it does look pretty sick also, but you will lose lighting. How much? It all depends on how much VHT you use.

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HID's will help, but will only go so far. Light doesn't do its job when you block it.

So if you want to keep the best lighting possible, but still look kick ass. Cheapest would be to go to autozone. Buy a can of Engine flat black. take your headlights off. Use the how to guides to take your headlights apart, using the oven at a low heat setting so you don't melt the headlights, or use a heat gun. Mask the far back side of the reflective surface, this is the area that has the hole for the bulb, you dont have to be 100% flawless, but you'll notice it will end up being the shape of a square/rectangle. So fastest way is to take a playing card, set it in the middle of the lens, covering the hole, and mask the rest. The floor, walls, and roof don't need to be masked cause you'll paint these. Once you get everything masked, spray away. Now this already looks good, trust me. What I did afterwards is I followed that link up above, and I masked the front of the clear lens of the headlight, allowing me to paint the sruound, which in the daylight made the headlight look really dark, and very sexy! Trust me! Take off the masking tape and your done.

When your done, heat everything back up and put the headlight back together, put the clips on and put the bulbs back in. and enjoy your work. There is alot of info in the tech articles, and just by doing a search here. If you need advice, I'm also here as well as alot of others who have done stuff like this. I'm sure alot of people will be willing to help you, as I will also.

Now if this is to much work for you, you can spend 180 bucks on headlights like mine...

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Using regular bulbs, light output isn't to great. But I have HID's and very very bad ass HID fogs so I have more lighting then you could possibly imagine. I also have amber high beams so I'm set. Cost is alot more doing it this way. But I wont complain.

 

[InfiniteGSX]

Ive experimented with Metal Cast by duplicolor. They make several colors I used the "smoke" color to do my tails. They turned out better than night shades and you dont have to sand/clear them. The stuff sticks awesome I couldnt get it off after a ticket and had to buy a new set

Its made for anodizing aluminum or chrome. Its way cheaper than N/S and can be bought at Oreillys Napa and Autozone.

I have actually used this stuff before. By accident tho. I was building a center tail for a friend with an old talon. You know saying TALON and smoked and all of that.... And he had t his paint, the can showed this nice metalic color to it.....ended up taking a billllllllion coats to actually get it to cover. And light still shines through it haha.

However right off the bat, it seemed like plastic... like a ruberized plastic coating. didn't seem like it would hold up. I don't know how its holding up, I VHT'ed over it.

If you have pictures of the smoke on the tail lights, can you PM me with pictures please. As I'm about to make another set of tails, Smoked this time.

 

[rush2252]

If I can catch my sister at home Ill take pics of the 2g N/T I did. I sold it to her they turned out really good. I threw away my Talon tails I did because I backed into a lady and smash the driver side. You right it does take a few coats to cover, but I think 4 coats on the eclipse tails is all I used. It has been there for about 2 years the only thing Ive found that helps take it off is paint stripper, but even then it doesnt just come right off. The 99GS my sis now drives has been done for about 2 years. Ill see about some pics. Fortunately I dont see the car much anymore

 

[xxsupralvrxx]

where did you got to buy those headlights? and thanks everyone so far for the ideas an thoughts

 

[Bud92gsx]

Ebay is where Josh/Infinite bought those headlights..Around 150$ weren't they? The old link probly doesnt work anymore..Or i'd post it up..

 

[xxsupralvrxx]

what should i type in an look for on ebay?

 

[Bud92gsx]

I couldnt find any black ones, but this gives you a good idea.. 92 93 94 eclipse lights, Parts Accessories - buy and sell on eBay Motors

 

[xxsupralvrxx]

ok cool thanks I lik the clear corners..

 

[Bud92gsx]

You can do kinda clear corners yourself with stock equipment..Or you can spend the 30$, and buy the clear ones.. Most of the headlight kits come with clear corners. But then again Covers, or nightshade, or like josh posted that darker talon, those lights were amazing...

 

[xxsupralvrxx]

Well i figured if i got some bright ass hids an then tinted my headlights that to cops wont #### with me as bad if you can accualy see my head lights

 

[Bud92gsx]

If you get HID on both dim and bright there going to notice, and might F with you...It's up to cops discression at that point..Modding headlight or tailight is not legal in most states..My lights look bright as hell at night, but are not quite as bright, even with sylverstar bulbs.. Never had problem with police after blackout, and have seen plenty of cops, nothing happend...But that's with my local police as well..

 

[fuzzydoodle]

I would be careful tinting your headlights, its like tinting your windows, it looks cool, but if you go too dark it becomes more of a hassle for you.

I know on my window tint I went dark and I hate it, you cant see at night, I have to roll my windows down to back up.

Just saying it would suck to get it done and not be able to see well at night, quite honestly I would look into the clip on black out covers so at night you can just clip them off, and not have to deal with any problems, but still achieve the black look during the day.

Here or here

 

[fuzzydoodle]

And Infinite, I love those headlights, my buddy has them on his 1G and they're awesome. With the lights on they look like candy corns!!!

 

[InfiniteGSX]

If you want the black lights like I have, you just have to keep searching. I got lucky when they first showed up on ebay, I grabbed a set. Thinking I was going to be the only ones around with them, I saw someone else with a set, it upset me. I know a couple people have the clear/chrome ones. I also have a set of the clear corners, that I tinted, in the first image I posted.

If you want the headlights, just keep searching. Or make them yourself with your stockers, or buy those clear/chrome ones and modify them. However if you modify those ones, you'll have to be perfect with the masking or you'll notice since the lens is clear, which is why I said you dont have to be perfect with the stockers, cause you wont notice a small imperfection.

I really hate the new Ebay Motors vs the old one.
headlight Mitsubishi, Car Truck Parts, Lighting Lamps - buy and sell on eBay Motors

I honestly can't seem to find the link to the seller of my headlights. It was soo long ago now ebay don't have record of it and I can't seem to remember which of my paypals it was on .

 

[xxsupralvrxx]

dang i have been searching for days cause i really wanna have a second set of headlights for just in case

 

[InfiniteGSX]

get those clear/chrome ones and do a little bit of modifying to them. You could atleast mask the front face of the outer lens, and paint the rest black which will darken the inside but wont kill any lighting. And you dont' have to take the headlights apart to do that.

 

[xxsupralvrxx]

ill wait till i can find the black ones... anyone wanna sell me a set?

 

[InfiniteGSX]

Goodluck, as far as I know they are pretty rare. I've only seen a total of 3 cars, including mine with them. One locally, another on here and mine.