Hey guys, so my dad just passed down his '99 4runner to me last week and I'm trying to fix it up and modify it.
I Plasti Dip spray painted my rims and grille but I'm not done yet. I want to black out or 'smoke out' my tail lights.

Here's a picture of my 4runner right now-




Here's a picture of how I want my tail lights to look (found on google)-




If you have done it to your lights, please tell me your method and where you got your supplies from.
If you know a way to do it, please let me know.

Thank you guys.

It's a pretty simple concept, really. All you'll need is some painters tape and "night shades" spray paint, or something similar. Available at any autoparts store.

A downside to this is that it'll make your tail lights (see also BRAKE lights) more difficult to see.

To get his look you'll simply tape off the white section, scuff up the section you want to paint, and paint it with enough coats to get your desired result. After that you can clear coat it if you don't want it to fade out to a matte black kinda look.

Thanks I'm going to buy a can tonight and do it tomorrow after school. Appreciate it

Make sure to get a full insurance coverage too!

yup did it to mine, make sure u pull them off the car, much easier to do with them off. ask more questions if u need them.

yeah really really simple mine look exactly like that picture i just took em out cleaned them with windex taped and painted, i know some people scuff them, i never have and never had them fade and done this on about 10 seperate vehicles, good luck and any other specific questions or anything post up

What do you mean by that?

Just a quick question, did you use any specific tools to take out the lights?

That's great to hear. I want to ask you too, did you use any tools to take out the lights?

Also guys, about how long does it take on average? Including prep work (cleaning and taking out lights)

Phillips screw driver, 2 screws on inside of back hatch, then the light should pull out. they might be stubern but they do pull off once those two screws are out. expect to take a little over an hour to do the job, let the paint dry.

as with full insurance, if you get in an accident, you may be liable because the driver behind you couldn't clearly see you tinted or darked out tail lights.

Do you know the purpose of tail lights?

I'd calm down on the plasti dip man, that thing is gonna look like a rice bucket.

Just gonna toss my .02 in here. I noticed that you are also from Cali. I don't know about aother states, but in Cali tinting your back lights is illegal.

Cali is a bit screwy in its ways imho. You can coat your back window with black spray paint as long as you have side mounted rear view mirrors but you can't tint your lights.

I'd advise you google it a bit. They're picky about tinting as well as how much of your front windshield can have stuff (sticker, GPS, etc...) on it.

Ask around and I'm sure you will hear horror stories of local police pulling people over for all sorts of reasons. Tinted windows and tinted lights are two of the most common (aside from speeding and running stop signs) in Santa Rosa. Got that little tid bit from the cop two doors down.

A little more info on removing the tail lights. You'll need a large phillips screwdriver OR a 10mm ratchet. Once you have the 2 bolts removed push the housings AWAY from the vehicle, in the direction to which side it's one. (If it's on the driver side, push it to the driver side, if it's the pass side, push it to the pass side.) The reason you do that is because there are a couple little tabs that help align the light/hold it in.

From there it's pretty simple... You'll see where the wires go into the back of the housing. Just turn the connectors counterclockwise and they should pop right out!

Installation is exactly the same, just backward obviously.

Yeah it is illegal but the thing is everybody does it, honestly I see a different car with tinted tail lights daily on the streets. My two best friends both own cars with tinted tail lights (2011 Mistang GT and 2012 Mercedes c250). Both of them have been stopped for tinted windows and only one was given a fix it ticket twice. Just today about an hour ago my friend got a ticket for not having his front lisence plate on his mustang but wasn't told anything about his tail lights. If anything ill gladly take the fix it ticket, clean it off, then re do it after showing it cleaned lol.
My friend with the Benz also got a ticket for having a lisence plate tinted lid on the back. Honestly burbank cops have nothing better to do than eat donuts and pull over people for stupid reasons.

Thanks!

Why don't you take them out and then weld some sheet metal over the holes? Then you can paint it body colour. It'll look awesome. It will also give you a 32W power increase at the rear wheels.