we have all seen our fair share of tinted and painted tails, all of which are on the outside of the original lense. now, here is another way to mod your tails: clearing and painting the INSIDES of the tails. many people have been turned off from doing this because of the effort it takes and how likely it is to destroy the tails in the process. tail lights are not like headlights where you can bake the lenses off. they are plastic welded together and the only way to do anything to the insides is to cut them apart.
tools for the job:
- dremel or die grinder with cutoff bit
- hammer and a screwdriver
- sealant of your choice, i will probably use a nice plastic epoxy
dont forget your safety goggles, you're going to get plastic flung in your face the whole time:
now, here is what the tails are like stock:
let's begin:
cut around the outer edge of the tail on the rear and follow the bottom across on the area just above the reflector.
NOTE: THIS IS A WRITE UP BASED ON ME PAINTING THE INSIDES OF THE TAILS, NOT JUST CLEARING THEM. IF YOU ARE CLEARING THEM YOU DO NOT NEED TO CUT THE ENTIRE BACK OFF OF THE TAILS. YOU WILL ONLY HAVE TO CUT JUST THE MAIN BULB PORTION AND THEN FOLLOW THE REST OF THE DIRECTIONS AFTER. CUT ONLY THIS PORTION:
because i am painting the insides, i am cutting the whole back off of the tail so that i can paint them.
here is the tail after being cut apart:
HINT: THE DREMEL IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO USE ON THE BOTTOM WHERE THE TWO MOUNTING POINTS ARE FOR SCREWING THEM INTO THE CAR. I USED A SMALL HANDHELD SAW FOR THESE TWO SPOTS. IT TAKES A LITTLE BIT OF EFFORT, BUT IT'S ABOUT THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN DO IT.
notice how the reflector is still stuck in there? time to take it out. how do you do this? break the reflector. i used these items to accomplish this:
that's right. a hammer and a screwdriver. BE CAREFUL. if you hit it too hard and go straight through the reflector you WILL crack the outer lense and it will leak and look crappy.
now, if you are just looking for cleared tails the reassembly part starts here. note that the clear reflector that goes over the reverse light is plastic welded to the red reflector that covers the whole tail. you can rip it off easily enough, but you'll probably have to clean up a few red pieces that come along with it. if you would like to reuse this and keep the reflector over the reverse light then you'll have to glue it to the rear section of the tail that we previously cut off. you have to do this because it no longer has a place to mount.
from here if you arent painting, just clearing, then you can start putting the tails back together. you use your sealant of choice (an epoxy in my case) and fill in the void of what we had previously cut out. REMEMBER THE NOTE I PUT AT THE BEGINNING? IF YOURE JUST CLEARING YOU HAVE A SMALLER SECTION TO REMOUNT BACK ON THE TAIL SO YOU HAVE IT A LITTLE EASIER. MAKE SURE YOU USE A SEALANT THAT WONT STAND OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB WHEN LOOKING THROUGH THE LENSE (COLORS).
here is what a cleared set of tails looks like:
here is the tail with the reverse reflector mounted in it:
obviously before you seal them back up take a little time and trim some of the flashing that cutting them produced. this will make it easier to seal them back up and so that there arent as many noticeable places where it looks like you ****ed up. take your time and make sure you dont just run at this all willy nilly. you will destroy a set of tails if you are not careful.
soon to come, next post, painted tails.
THE SECOND ONE I CUT WAS MUCH, MUCH BETTER. CHECK OUT THESE PICTURES FOR BETTER LINES FOR CUTTING:
Originally Posted by redlinepontiac
