painting your light housing

[GottaBeTRD]

A while ago i saw a post about painting your light housing but i couldn't find it. Anyway my question is, has anyone tried to paint you bumper/blinker light housing? they look easy to take apart. My plan is to paint the "mirror color" to a gloss black, my only concern is that it may make the blinker harder to see and im sure that is a ticket waiting to happen. Has anyone tried this? thanks!!

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Yeah man, I don't know about painting the mirror inside. Seems too risky. Have you thought about Niteshade?

 

[GottaBeTRD]

i dont think ive heard of it, is it like a film that goes over the front of the light? cause thats what my 2nd choice was.

 

[trd_4runnin]

Niteshades is a spray-on tint. It works wonderful and looks good when applied right.

I've never had these turn signals apart but I'm guessing what you want to do will not work. When you take headlights apart to paint the housing it's very important that you don't paint the reflecting parts of the headlight. Since the turn signals are so much smaller, the whole housing probably is a reflector. So basically, by painting it you would lose light output and probably have a ticket like you said.

 

[steezemcqueen]

i painted my corners and the inside of the headlights. its the same as the JDM headlights that you see on ebay. also known as "the joey mod" in the VW community.

no tickets

edit: i also have some amber leds in the corners so they don't really need the reflector since they are more focused

 

[GottaBeTRD]

sorry if this came up twice im doin it with my phone. but thanks guys, ya i dont think ill paint them i may try that spray. that stuff sounds crazy! Is it like a plastc base when it dries? have any of you tried it?
greenmonster your rig looks great it looks like JDM ones. ya have any fogging problems from taking them apart?

 

[steezemcqueen]

nah. i just put a bead of silicone around the seam after i put them back together and haven't had any problems

 

[1999sr5]

greenmonster your lights look sweet
you have a write up or something for that?

 

[steezemcqueen]

thanks. they came out pretty good. i used wecool's HID write up to get apart the lenses and then i did the joey mod from the VW community

here are the links

http://wecool.net/home/Lights/4RunnerRetro.htm

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1567138

 

[GottaBeTRD]

you did a good job. half those ebay ones fog up too so yours it probably a lot better! so i looked that stuff up and i don't know if i can make mine all good looking like those samples haha. im thinking maybe ill try out laminx.

 

[Fo_SheeZy]

I had the Ebay ones, they were alright..

 

[RonMAIDEN]

Those black accented headlamps were never on any 3rd gen Runner from Toyota and aren't JDM;all are simply custom made to match the current trend in headlamps and alot of them aren't done well when put back together so ebay buyers beware.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

fo sheezy i like your black over the reflector, do you get any crap from cops for that??

 

[RonMAIDEN]

The problem with fo-sheezy's mod is that the corner no longer has any reflective surface amking it no only illegal but also a bit unsafe and might not be seen as quick form teh side. Probably not a major real world issue but it isn't an improvement and puts form over function.

 

[Fo_SheeZy]

fo sheezy i like your black over the reflector, do you get any crap from cops for that??

I sold it back in the summer, but I saw it last week crusing the road. Corner's are still blacked out so obviously there's no problem at all with the police. But definitely a huge improvement because the amber corner's stood out like a sore thumb and just didn't blend with the vehicle.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

haha ya it does, i saw one on ebay with a red reflector ehh!! it was worse than the orange!!! im hoping the laminex will calm it down a little.
what are you driving now?

 

[Clemsonfan15]

I sold it back in the summer, but I saw it last week crusing the road. Corner's are still blacked out so obviously there's no problem at all with the police. But definitely a huge improvement because the amber corner's stood out like a sore thumb and just didn't blend with the vehicle.

What's it like to pass a car that you've spend so much time and money on? It must be mixed emotions.


TRD- He has a 2008 Urban 4runner now.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

oh nice!!! i saw my old car the other day, i put some money into that one. its a wierd feeling haha!

 

[Fo_SheeZy]

haha ya it does, i saw one on ebay with a red reflector ehh!! it was worse than the orange!!! im hoping the laminex will calm it down a little.
what are you driving now?

It was real easy to black it out, here's my thread on it: http://www.yotatech.com/f2/blacked-out-amber-corners-145245/

I've got an 08 4Runner, see my sig for more info!