I was thinking of getting it done and want to get an idea of how they would look.

 

i have one pic of my taillights with the vht niteshades paint on them. I believe the pic is at the bottom. They have 3 coats of niteshades and one coat of clear. After that they were kind of dull so I used some polishing compound and now they;re perfect

 

What's the difference between doing that and just getting some blackouts?

 

I always thought to stay away from blackouts... just incase someone rear ends you they can't use them as a counter case in court. saying that they couldn't see your brake lights, becasue you had them covered up.

 

Blackouts are thick and sit on the taillight. While it looks nice, it can cause the taillight to heat up to an unnatural temperature and cause warping of the taillight's lense. Also, they fall off, people take them, or the cops pull you over because the taillight covers (while looking normal during the day) REALLY dim the look of your taillights at night.

VHT Nightshades is a thin paint that you apply to the lense, and it allows the light to shine through almost 100% just as bright as before. Also, cops aren't as likely to pull you over because (unless you sand it down) you have the DOT stamp on the taillights, for all they know it just came that way.

Anyway, for pictures someone asked me awhile back to take pics of all my taillights lit up, so below are the pics. And yes I know I have one of my 3rd brake lights burnt out. These are old pics before I went through and installed brighter bulbs in ALL of my lamps.

These are the carbon fiber euro altezzas off ebay. I liked the way they lit up, but the carbon fiber was VERY cheesy looking and the lense was a cheap plastic and just didn't look right during the day, so I tinted them and got the smoked look during the day, aftermarket taillight at night.


Taillights, everything off (and a newer pic, with the spoiler and bodykit lol):
http://meissenation.com/modules/4nAl...lert%20013.jpg
Taillights with parking lamps on:
http://meissenation.com/modules/4nAl...5/P5060881.JPG
w/ Brake Pressed:
http://meissenation.com/modules/4nAl...akes_close.jpg

Edit:
By the way, if you plan on spraying your taillights or what not, make sure you remove the taillights from your vehicle, clean them down well, and then put them side by side. When you paint, spray them as if it's all one piece. I sprayed my taillights individually, and you can see the difference between the driver's compared to the passenger's, I put atleast one or two more coats on the drivers than the passengers, not realizing it until afterwards. Lastly, if you mess up, nail polish remover works well.

 

Well, I've had my blackouts on since June, and I took them off in August because the car was going to the body shop and I didn't see anything wrong with the taillight lenses.....

Also, I've gotten pulled over once and had numerous cops just driving behind me (day and night) and not one thing was said. And if there's any dimming at all, I'd say it would happen in the daytime with the sun and whatnot....I've looked at 'em lit up at night with the blackouts on and they light up just fine.

Oh and about people stealing them......you kinda gotta have the hatch open to do that. They won't come off unless you can pull the tab up on the top of it, which is hidden under the hatch.

 

Ah, well I've never had them, I'm just saying what I've heard people complain about.

 

Hey if you don't mind I now have one of your pictures as my wallpaper.....that first chick on your Cardomain is smokin.

And your car is just badass!

 

If someone tried to use my blackouts in a court case, I'd tell them my 3rd brake light wasn't covered.

 

Thanks! I thought so too (about the chick I mean)

If you don't have the full res image, it's http://meissenation.com/pictures/8-2...ores%20001.jpg

 

Ah yes that one is better, thanks.

 

OMG. Okay, you actually managed to pull that off. You made rice lights into a tasteful addition to a Camaro. Only because of the fact that they are blacked out, but damn. Those look awesome, actually - and I never thought I'd say that.

My friend has blackouts on his, not the paint. I could NOT see his brakelights for sh** in the daytime. I swear one day he will get creamed because of that, just a matter of time. It looks awesome, but like I say, I'd be reluctant to do it on my car because I wouldn't want to get hit. Now, if one coat of the paint would give me a little bit of that look without being too dark, I'd do it.

Oh, and yes, that chick is hot.

 

Haha thanks for the compliments. I really only bought aftermarket lights for the aftermarket look when they light up, only pic I ever took of the aftermarket lights before tinting was with a camera phone, I'll look around and see if I can find it again just to show the difference it made by tinting them.

Here's a night pic that I found on my cardomain tho http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...97_33_full.jpg

As for you doing it to your lights, one layer would be about the equivalent of say a stock tinted-looking Grand Prix or Impala or something like that. I know I've seen some of the cars before that have slightly tinted tail lights, about one or two layers would achieve that. Few coats of clearcoat ontop of that, and you'll have it lookin sweet.

 

So whats the procedure on doing this? Do they need to be lightly sanded, or even clearcoated afterwards? I've searched and I'm seeing mixed opinions. I ordered my can of paint yesterday

 

In my opinion, whenever you want something to stick (I.E paint), you have to scuff the object slightly to get it to stick. I used a semi-rough sand paper and lightly scuffed the surface to get it to stick just a bit better. Painted however many coats that I did, something like 10 probably, and then clear coated two coats. Procedures are always about the same, it's just a matter of personal preference on how many coats of nightshades you use, whether you use clear coat, and how many coats of clear you use.

Whatever you do, though, put the taillights side by side and paint them as if it's one long panel. Don't do each one individually. I did mine individually, and you can see the difference on how much darker the driver's side is compared to the passenger's side. I either sprayed it on thicker, or used more coats on the driver's side.