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Looking To Black out the tail lights on DJ Any Good Ideas or Tips


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Anyone with a Crossroad that wants tinted tail lights... I'll switch lights with you so you can tint my basic lights and I can have the Crossroad style! Tinting tailights is something that never really stuck with me, and I've never done it. This winter I'm hoping to have the time to open up a set of tail lights for my 300M, paint the turn signal and brake light sections gloss black, install custom made LED arrays, paint the turn signal portion of the lens red to match the brake section, and have a pretty cool looking set of lights. Depends on how the chrome reverse light section reacts to being taped off, as that needs to stay chrome for optimal rear visibility at night. We'll see, one planned winter project among many.

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Anyone with a Crossroad that wants tinted tail lights... I'll switch lights with you so you can tint my basic lights and I can have the Crossroad style! Tinting tailights is something that never really stuck with me, and I've never done it. This winter I'm hoping to have the time to open up a set of tail lights for my 300M, paint the turn signal and brake light sections gloss black, install custom made LED arrays, paint the turn signal portion of the lens red to match the brake section, and have a pretty cool looking set of lights. Depends on how the chrome reverse light section reacts to being taped off, as that needs to stay chrome for optimal rear visibility at night. We'll see, one planned winter project among many.

I just hate the bright red lens on tail lights. If the DJ had a clear lens I would definitely try and paint the inside rather than the outside, but that isn't the case. IMO the bright red looks cheap. A couple light coats of tint polished to a mirror shine still leaves the lens red, it is just a darker and more appealing shade of red. I had safety in mind when I did mine, not just looks.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Holy moly thats dark. But i gotta say its looks hella good to me. And you achieved that with plasti-dip. I had no idea you could see through it like that. I have to assume thats at least three coats. Looks good man nice job.

It was 4 light coats of regular black dip then 3 good coats of glossifier to give it better coverage and a little shine. I recently peeled it because I missed the bright lights my led reverse lights emitted. I do like the way they looked so I plan on getting vinyl tint but will end up cutting along the clear portion of the reflector to allow the light through.

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Holy moly thats dark. But i gotta say its looks hella good to me. And you achieved that with plasti-dip. I had no idea you could see through it like that. I have to assume thats at least three coats. Looks good man nice job.

I know he didn't use it, but PlastiDip makes a light tint application as well...

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The non-Crossroad tail lights are chrome inside vs being black. Makes a difference painting the inside black, but keeps the lenses red which is the law.

the lenses does not have to be red or atleast not in maryland , the truck I had that I traded in had aftermarket LED tail lamps with clear lenses . Only thing red was the LED bulbs / The dealer sold it on their lot with the aftermarket led tail lamps too

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So since I had some extra plastidip sitting around I decided to see how the tail lights looked blacked out. Not sure if I like them or not. Going to give it a little while to see if it grows on me, if I like it I'll do a vinyl wrap like I did with the reflectors and third brake light.

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Do you get any light from the b/u lights? I'm looking for a brighter bulb to put in mine because they are not bright enough.

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I'm not a big fan... it distorts the LEDs and the flat black look just doesn't look finished to me. A vinyl film or spray tint that is shiny would look much better IMHO.

This was the reason why I ended up with VHT coating. Tried plastidip, vynil wrap and the clear coat.

Plasti dip - easy to apply and remove, but distorts the light - not "clean" look

Vynil wrap - the best look, high visibility of the light when lit together with black out look. The best look, but hard to apply on curved lights. I didn't manage to wrap without bubbles, so eventually removed.

VHT - easy to apply. No light distortion, but reduces the level of light emission IMHO. Not completely blacked out look (I was looking for black out), but definitely darker than stock.

All in all - VHT was the best solution for me.

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Do you get any light from the b/u lights? I'm looking for a brighter bulb to put in mine because they are not bright enough.

I have very bright LED bulbs for the reverse lights and with the darkness of the plastidip over them they could not be seen if you were in the drivers seat and backing up to a wall. The only reason I didn't tape them off n the first place was because it was purely experimental. On the avenger I had I taped off the reverse light so it could be seen easily before spraying.

As for the bulbs I got mine on eBay they really light up and make a difference in visibility

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the lenses does not have to be red or atleast not in maryland , the truck I had that I traded in had aftermarket LED tail lamps with clear lenses . Only thing red was the LED bulbs / The dealer sold it on their lot with the aftermarket led tail lamps too

The lens needs to reflect red at a specific distance. How that is accomplished is up to the manufacturer, but something on your housing reflected red in order for it to be legal (or, gasp, it was an aftermarket "offroad only" housing that was installed on an on road vehicle). Just because something is available to install doesn't make it legal. Dealerships selling modified vehicles isn't a very good indicator of legality either...

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The lens needs to reflect red at a specific distance. How that is accomplished is up to the manufacturer, but something on your housing reflected red in order for it to be legal (or, gasp, it was an aftermarket "offroad only" housing that was installed on an on road vehicle). Just because something is available to install doesn't make it legal. Dealerships selling modified vehicles isn't a very good indicator of legality either...

It was aftermarket tail lamps by spyder and they def were road legal cause i got pulled over in my truck 2 times and one cop said nice tail lamps but i owe you a apology . I just look at a pic of my truck and it did have 3 small red spots inside the light but the lenses was clear !

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It was aftermarket tail lamps by spyder and they def were road legal cause i got pulled over in my truck 2 times and one cop said nice tail lamps but i owe you a apology . I just look at a pic of my truck and it did have 3 small red spots inside the light but the lenses was clear !

There you have it... The red reflectors are all that is required in most states. Amber in the front. It helps to differentiate the front from the rear of the vehicle at a distance. Though I feel like that law is fairly outdated...

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  • 5 months later...

Laminx.com

They have different shades for all lights on a vehicle. I have used this on fog lights for a few different vehicles. It is always cut perfectly and have never melted or discolored. The fogs on my journey are yellow using the cuts from that site. I recommend you look there.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah if I were to do my tails again it would be with film. Easy to apply with a heat gun and some soapy water to make sure no bubbles are in. YouTube is awesome for videos btw

This is what happened with the film on my lights.

Film 2

Film

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