smoked head/tail lights?

[mark_sargeant19]

howdy, just fitted my newly sprayed front grill and it looks awesome,

was wondering though if anyone has any info on smoked headlights or tail lights,

nothing too extreme tho, dont want to look like a filthy chav with tights stretched around them!

thanks

mark:thumbup:

[KenONeill]

You can get "smoking kits" in a variety of colours from some of the speed shops.

You probably don't want to do that with the headlights though, since it will attract unwanted attention from the traffic policeman and may also be an MOT failure.

[mark_sargeant19]

back when i owened a 306 (for my sins) i saw that people had baked their lights in the oven to soften the glue then stripped them down and sprayed the non reflective parts, there was also a brand called cibie i think that did legal tinted lights, just wondered if anyone had any info,

on the cop attention front my numberplate is illegally small anyway so not too fussed[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

[KenONeill]

Try Awesome GTI, in the site sponsors section then; I think they do Milotec, who'd be your best bet for something like that. I really don't get "tinted headlights" though; I want all the light I can get for driving at night, and tints reduce the light output!

[mark_sargeant19]

i see your point there and i also want all the light i can get, but im talking about painting the non reflective surfaces so i wouldnt think there will be any light lost surely?

[KenONeill]

What "non-reflective surfaces"? If you mean round the edges of the lenses, I'm not sure there's much other than the flat area around the foglight (Elegance or better spec) that isn't part of the reflector or lens and is actually visible with the bonnet closed.

[mark_sargeant19]

not entirely sure at the moment, just seen before that people have painted parts inside their lights (not on skodas though) and not lost their ability to drive at night

[dsmithmobile]

I've split and painted the non reflective areas to darken the front of mine,looks better imo and light output is not affected

and a closer one of the lamp itself

[KenONeill]

Cheers for that, although I'm struggling to see just where you've painted, or why you would need tinting paint since you've clearly not done the reflectors or lenses.

[mark_sargeant19]

oh wow that looks immense, love the look of that. dont suppose that you somehow you took some photos while you were doing it? haha now for the million questions

how did you split the lights down?

what paint did you use?

how did you manage to work out which bits to paint, and which bits not to?

had any problems from the cops?

[dsmithmobile]

Cheers for that, although I'm struggling to see just where you've painted, or why you would need tinting paint since you've clearly not done the reflectors or lenses.

There not tinted as such,as in the lenses are not tinted,all that is done is the lights are split open and the areas of the light that are not required for lighting are painted black to give the lights a darker look thats all

[dsmithmobile]

oh wow that looks immense, love the look of that. dont suppose that you somehow you took some photos while you were doing it? haha now for the million questions

how did you split the lights down?

what paint did you use?

how did you manage to work out which bits to paint, and which bits not to?

had any problems from the cops?

Sorry i didn't do a guide for splitting them but its easy enough to do,just have to get the mastic warmed up with a heat gun so the lense can be taken off with a bit of levering,adhesive is quite good stuff in comparison to the old glass type headlights but once apart you can paint the main front surround and then inside the light you can paint the main ribbed areas with no problems,mines had no ill effect and has gone through the last couple of mot's with no problems and no problems from the police either,as for paint then its up to you what you use but be aware that if you put masking tape on the reflective coating it will come off when you remove the tape so probably better off brush painting the insides and spray painting the main surround,hope this helps

[KenONeill]

I think we're all at slightly cross-purposes here. I was thinking specifically of actually tinted lights, where apparently no-one else was.

[mark_sargeant19]

cheers dsmithmobile, much appreciated. gona maybe look into doin this after payday.

think im going to buy another set of headights though just incase i screw things up

[dsmithmobile]

I think we're all at slightly cross-purposes here. I was thinking specifically of actually tinted lights, where apparently no-one else was.

Think so,some people just refer to them as tinted lights even though they aren't actually tinted,they just appear darker when you look at them but did actually lightly tint some headlight protectors on an old car and at least they could be removed on night and as for tail lights then mine are actually tinted like you was thinking and was done by a friend,he just added a little black paint to some laquer and gave them a couple of coats,they look better that way as they end up with a nice gloss finish unlike some tinting sprays

[mark_sargeant19]

not wanting to ask too much mate, but you got a pic of your tinted rear lights as well?

[mark_sargeant19]

haha whats the chances of you putting that up while i was writing my message!

[dsmithmobile]

not wanting to ask too much mate, but you got a pic of your tinted rear lights as well?

there's a pic just above your reply,you must of missed it:rofl:

[mark_sargeant19]

oh and nice chickens by the way:thumbup:

[dsmithmobile]

oh and nice chickens by the way:thumbup:

Cheers but they aint mine,pic was taken round at my partners parents house and there a pain to be honest cos they jump up on your car and scratch it to hell,thats why my cars not on the drive,i try to keep it out the way when visiting LOL

[GarryC]

My car has smoked rear lens. James at JBS did it when he had the car. I think it looks nice, dont see many about with it done so makes it look that little bit different

Regards

Garry

[mark_sargeant19]

wow thats really really dark, how does that show up at night?

[GarryC]

Its okay to be honest. They show up really well. No MOT problems either

Regards

Garry

[KenONeill]

Think so,some people just refer to them as tinted lights even though they aren't actually tinted,they just appear darker when you look at them but did actually lightly tint some headlight protectors on an old car and at least they could be removed on night and as for tail lights then mine are actually tinted like you was thinking and was done by a friend,he just added a little black paint to some laquer and gave them a couple of coats,they look better that way as they end up with a nice gloss finish unlike some tinting sprays

Now that is nice, at least on the black car. I'm far from convinced by commercial green or blue tint sprays (which I've seen).

[KenONeill]

wow thats really really dark, how does that show up at night?

Wrong question I think. The real issue tends to be more "how do the brake lights show up when there's bright sun on the back of the car?" IME.