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Old 04-13-2008, 08:55 AM   #1
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What color tailights/sidemarkers would look better....

with dark blue? Im trying to get around the headlight de-amber project due to excessive $$$'s, but I dont want it to look cheap. If I was changing the lights completely, Id probably lean to clear. However, Im trying to find headlight covers/film like Gary in BR (Id post a pic, but the site is not accepting my image), which is a dark/smoke color, and the smoked lights may look better. I want the ones Gary has, because I dont like how the lights look with just the amber tinted.

2 more quick things:
-will the smoke tint make the amber disappear, or will you still see the orange?
-how do you think the dar film would blend with the dark blue?

Thoughts/opinions?

thanks,

eric (noob)

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Old 04-13-2008, 09:05 AM   #2
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link to pic page of Gary

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Old 04-13-2008, 12:11 PM   #3
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Well if I remember correctly, Gary's lights are painted that way, not a tinted film overlay. I bought the tinted film from a company on Ebay, and was a waste of money. I painted the amber on my car first with spray tint use for model cars. Then I decided to get creative, and use regular car paint to match the black, and masked off a 3" oval opening on the amber part to show the turn signal, and painted the rest solid black. It was ok, but Deep down knew I wanted all clear. Finally broke down and bought some clear halogens (non-litronic) from a guy on another forum, for $600.00. I know its a long answer to a simple question, but just pointing out that it would have been easier to just wait and save the money, than to try a million other things when it still wont be what you want.
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Old 04-13-2008, 02:10 PM   #4
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I have an Ocean Blue, and got into the same dilemma a while ago. After looking at spray tint, and all sorts of cheap ways to deamber I decided I would not do anything. It is sort of a do it right (buy clears), or don't do it situation.
Plus, blue and orange compliment each other, so I just left it alone, and the car still looks great even with a little amber.
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Old 04-13-2008, 06:38 PM   #5
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Do you guys want the long or short version??

At one time I did have my headlights painted. It lasted about a month. We have lots of bigs in South Louisiana and after a few weeks of interstate driving and bugs hitting the paint, the headlights started to peel.

I also painted my taillights at the same time and they lasted perfectly until I decided to get smart and put a high wattage bulb in and melted the taillight lens.

Now, to the present I have a dark tint I bought from stickercity.com. I installed the full film. It covers the entire headlight, I let it cure and then took a hobby knife and cut out the center opening.

My head lights are the original style amber lights, the amber can not be seen on my lights unless the blinker is on.

I am very happy with this mod, except after a year and a half I have noticed a little shrinking in the film. I am the only one to ever notice it and I only see it when the sun is just right. I think the tint film is $50 or something. If I have to redo it I will leave a little extra to allow for shrinkage.

But, at this pace I may have my litronics on before I redo the current lights. Dont worry, the lits will have the same tint job on them.
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Old 04-13-2008, 07:46 PM   #6
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Im trying it...

I really like the look of the circle headlights just as much as I want to deamber - the double whammy imho, so I have to try.

Was cutting the circle to the exact dimensions of the headlight difficult?I dont even have the friggin car yet (4 or 5 more days!!!! Its on a truck as we speak!), so I dont know if theres a ridge or anything on the surface of the headlight, to help guide you. Is having the dark smoke over the blinker or the taillights legal?

What do you think for the rest of the car...clear or smoke?
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Old 04-13-2008, 08:20 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rick3000
It is sort of a do it right (buy clears), or don't do it situation.
I agree with this!

Also, for clear vs. smoked, I say smoked. Clear looks to "Altezza-y."
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Old 04-13-2008, 10:26 PM   #8
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My story sounds real similar to others here. I tried to save some bucks at first. I bought some tint film for $12 and tinted just the front signals. Looked great at first but soon small bubbles started to come up. I think this is one of the problems with tinting plastic. I'm too much of a perfectionist to leave it like that, so I took the tint off.

Then for $10 I tried the hobby paint tint. I painted, I sanded, I worked and worked at it to try to get it even and perfect. It didn't come out too bad, but still not to my satisfaction.

Then I came across some used Litronics in perfect condition for $750. I passed up the deal because at the time I had just bought the hobby paint and hadn't tried it yet and money was tight. Three months later the same deal came back again, the guy hadn't sold the Litronics. The hobby paint had turned out to be a bust and I didn't give a rat's arse about the cost. At that point I had had enough and jumped on them. I'm happy now. Besides the Litronics look cool too, not just deambered.

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