Taillights?

[Chrisfrom1986]

has anyone ever popped open the taillighhts? i did last night, while breaking some of the outer black trim, everything went pretty well. toyota glued them suckers together REAL GOOD. i took out the clear plastic lense that sits between the colored lens and the lights. it is A LOT brighter. i was actually thinking about painting them with a smoke colored paint, but don tknow what to use, any ideas? i only did the left taillight as i was runnig out of time, but they can be taken apart without breaking them if you know how. just takes the first time to find out how to do it and not break anything the second time around :lol:. so any ideas on what kind of paint people use to smoke their taillights?

[ma615mgte]

the smoked color has been discussed before, :use_sear: i think it was for model cars? i cant remember.. now i am curiouse.. describe how you removed the tail light assembly completly please. have any pictures of the after effect?

the clear lense is there to make the stock tail lights act as a prizim effect.. hth

[dannymk2]

yea, if you can tell me how to remove and replace the black trim, it would save the hassle of having to buy a new tail light.

[Chrisfrom1986]

the smoked color has been discussed before, :use_sear: i think it was for model cars? i cant remember.. now i am curiouse.. describe how you removed the tail light assembly completly please. have any pictures of the after effect?

the clear lense is there to make the stock tail lights act as a prizim effect.. hth
i took pics, but you coudlnt notice the difference in them, but in person they are much brighter, well i mean the left side is brighter since i havent done the right yet. i dont care about model cars, im doing this on my real car.

removal, 8 small nuts sized about 8mm, i took them off by hand, they werent more than hand tight. unplugged the turn signal bulb and unlatched the 3 bulb holder. took a falt head screwdriver and started prying between the black trim piece and the lens itself in many different places. very easy to break the trim, but if done right, you can break all the glue. oh yeah, theres 6? screws holding the black trim to the white bulb housing, take those off. take off black trim, then separate the actual red and ornage lense from the inner bulb housing carefully again, those suckers are glued in there good. after you get the white plastic bulb housing apart from the lense, the clear lense should fal lout, and you have ot pry the clear lense off the turn signal area. replace the bulb housing, pressing the pieces together to try and wedge the glue back in there, attach black trim and put the screws in. attach bulbs, slide back in place, screw on the 8 nuts holding the whole assembly to the body.

i would NOT reccoment doing these to the early model taillights as it is easy to break them and finding good replacements is very hard. i only did it because i was bored and my taillights are cracked anyways.

like i said above, the after effect looks great in person, but shows no difference in a picture. i would like to paint the clear lense, but i need to know what kind of paint to use.

[cartman]

The smoke spray that you want is VHT Night Shades

http://www.afterthoughtsauto.com/vhtnigpain.html

I bought mine from the local parts shop for about $10 CDN. But i've seen it at some places for about $15 CDN as well.

I sprayed one of my spare tail lights on the outside lens and it turned out really good. I have no car to mount them on right now, but I can tell they're gonna look sweet

[82phoenix]

I have taken the taillights apart before, early model ones. It may be brighter, but personally I would not remove the clear diffuser panel behind the red brake lense. The diffuser is there to help spread and light the lense evenly, avoiding avoid the ugly bright spot of the bulb on the lense.

Taking the Black outer trim off without breaking is a fun task.
A little help to remove the red/orange lense is using a little heat from a blow drier helps to soften the adhesive.

Just cleaning out any dust or anything off the reflectors and lenses greatly increases light output. I made mine brighter just by rinsing off the inside of the brake lense.

[85 rat rod]

i would love to see a picture endulged write up on removing the lenses of late model tailights, as I have a good lense, that i cant remove, but want to, tryed just about anything i can to get it off but it just likes to chip, (i havent damaged any visible portion yet) the black boarder comes off easy up until you hit the part that houses the license plate light which wouldent budge, meanwhile, ive just about completely dismembered the white backing plate, and black boarder, and so far have only been able to get the turn signal portion of the light loose from the backing plate, (and ive used a sodering iron to melt the adhesive that holds the brake lights in.

[Chrisfrom1986]

havent tried it, but when i pick up some late model ones i will.

[ma615mgte]

for the stubborn glue might take a heat gun.. low heat and hold it away or tword the back side of the tail light.. just my .02

[82phoenix]

:imwithst: Totally worked when I did it a bit ago. Well I just used a blow drier on hot, and just make sure to warm all the glue down the sides and ends, not just one spot.

[85 rat rod]

what i dont understand is, i have this donor taillight, and its so goddamn stubborn, but the the light, (the one on my car that i want to replace) is practlly falling out of its base, either way, i need 2 new taillights, both of them have the cracked black part, (if i could get that of and replace it, i could save one of them) i need two new tallights, fix the dents on my hood, the rust on my sunroof, and the dents on my pass door, get a new supra decal and a good respray and my car would be brand new, (got new mirrors recently thanks to zach<-a lurker who hasent signed up for a s/n yet regardless of how much i badger him) i have big plans for this car, just no money to carry them out.

[batmobile]

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