Thinking of buying tail light "Covers" ?

[jgainesia]

Ok so I wanted to have the tinted (smoked) look to my tail lights and thought the covers would look more "professional" as have the easy option of removing them if I were to get pulled over by our city's finest. I spent the $100+ on the covers and after following the instructions exactly I wasn't pleased.

As you can see in the pictures.. they are kind of a pain to line up correctly. Even after you get them lined up there are gaps where you can clearly see the RED of the tail light poking through. (key hole area for one)

Long story short.. They are attached with little velcrow tabs.. Strong ones I guess you could say. Once you get them pushed in you even hear a little click. After attaching to the tabs I hit the brake lights. My wife laughed because you can see the little velcrow circles showing through. So braking looks ridiculous. And FYI, there is too much of a gap in the covers to straight glue them with any adhesive to your tail lights and expect them to hold.

So braking was an appearance fail. Then the test drive. As you can see the first few small bumps I hit knocked the left cover off completely.(my car sits low and I take bumps SUPER slow to note) I didn't know it until my wife came home 5 minutes later from the store with it. She said she saw a cover laying in the street and thought it looked like mine. It was.

The only good things I will say about these covers are :
-Brake lights shine through very well
-The cover that fell off my car was run over (look at marks) and it is still intact

So choose what you wish, I'm sure other people have the covers and they fit and worked out just fine, just telling you my experience. These are the GTS branded covers.

 

[AK Maniak]

Why not just use some VHT or even rattle can it. I've done both and both looks good

 

[jgainesia]

Yeah going for the VHT next time around. I was just looking for the remove quick to please the cops option.

 

[4Lurker4]

Yeah going for the VHT next time around. I was just looking for the remove quick to please the cops option.

Just get a second set, that's what I have. VHT works beautifully, just make sure to take your time doing it and prep it correctly.

 

[AK Maniak]

Just get a second set, that's what I have. VHT works beautifully, just make sure to take your time doing it and prep it correctly.

Ya that's what I did. But in Alaska nearly every car has blacked out tail lights and the cops don't care at all.

 

[4Lurker4]

Ya that's what I did. But in Alaska nearly every car has blacked out tail lights and the cops don't care at all.

You should grab one of those completely clear pairs (not the cheapo euro ones on ebay, but the real clear ones), blend with the snow, camouflage specially with a white car.

 

[AK Maniak]

You should grab one of those completely clear pairs (not the cheapo euro ones on ebay, but the real clear ones), blend with the snow, camouflage specially with a white car.

Lol it's funny you say that ### Nemezis lives in anchorage and he has a white 2gb with the legit clear tail lights that your talking about.

 

[Blurred Talon]

VHT works great with proper prep and using professional quality clear shot from a HVLP gun.

 

[99OZDSM]

+1 on the nightshades. you could also find a tint shop that could tint em for you. my vote would be to paint that centerpiece black and call it a day

 

[AK Maniak]

+1 on the nightshades. you could also find a tint shop that could tint em for you. my vote would be to paint that centerpiece black and call it a day

That's what I was planning on doing but all the tint shops I asked just told me to go to a body shop and to get them painted

 

[other whitcomb]

if i remember correctly my brother uses clear coat mixed with a little bit of black paint to tint tails and it looks beautiful...better than vht rattle can job ive ever seen. glass smooth and goes on evenly.

 

[Boostinsideways]

VHT Goes on glass smooth unless your retarded.

 

[Paching]

Clear and a little bit of black comes out a million times better and you can vary on the darkness by adding more or less black to the clear. If you use very little black in your mix, you can even paint your headlights without affecting visibility too much. I wouldn't do it but if that's what you like..go for it!

 

[Boostinsideways]

And you can vary the darkness of vht by how many coats you do. 1-2 coats for that dark cherry look, 3-4 coats nearly black still a bit of red, 5+ for the completly black out look.

 

[King_Milo]

I bought a set of smoked LED tails for my ram and then had a body shop spray them. It has a very professional look to it and because the tails were already somewhat dark, it didn't need many coats to match the truck and the light shines through like they were never sprayed. Could be an option.

 

[Blurred Talon]

Proper prep with when using VHT and then using a quality clear coat shot from a gun looks awesome. I'll get pictures up when I clear my new tails this week.

 

[King_Milo]

Just some pics to clarify what I was talking about.

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This is with just running lights, it's much brighter when the brakes are pressed.

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[spyderdrifter]

I thought about tinting my rear lights, but then put the stock lens on aftermarket tail lights that were black inside. One side affect was that the lens look slightly darker than usual from the black parts inside. Just giving you another option.

 

[Paching]

There is also a smoked vinyl that can be applied to the tails and is easy to remove if that interests you, check ebay..then again it wouldn't work on your center if it still has the lettering.

 

[Boostinsideways]

Just remove the lettering, then reapply with some gorilla glue or epoxy. VHT is all about the prep. Whenever I did mine, they were just as shiny as the oem paint. Lots of wet standing between coats, and good clears is the key.

 

[TSi Kid]

Those covers look really cheap and trashy.

 

[jgainesia]

Ok ... took the covers off.. cleaned the lights up... Re-did the lights, primered, painted, and clear coated the top.. VHT and cleared the bottom half..

I stole the idea from another members taillights.. I like it. The lights are brighter at night obviously..

Tell me your thoughts. First pic is no lights, second pic is running lights.

 

[Sandman817]

I have used rustoleum lense tint on many vehicles. I really comes down to prep work. I sand with 800 wet untill you get all the shine removed and then spray as many coats as you want untill you reach the desired darkness. Then i sand the tint lightlight with 1500-2000 wet to make it nice and smooth. I have personally never clearcoated any of the taillights i've tinted since it has a "flatter" look to it compared to the shine you get with clear coat and a buff. I haven't sprayed my eclipse taillights but i did paint the center section with plastidip so it would match the rest of the car. You can see in my avatar what i am talking about.

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here are 2 cars that i have done. The truck is mine and the rsx-s is my buddies.

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[AK Maniak]

Ok ... took the covers off.. cleaned the lights up... Re-did the lights, primered, painted, and clear coated the top.. VHT and cleared the bottom half..

I stole the idea from another members taillights.. I like it. The lights are brighter at night obviously..

Tell me your thoughts. First pic is no lights, second pic is running lights.

That looks awesome man!

 

[TSi Kid]

I think the "eyes" look ricey. IMO