scryana

whatcha think? the rdx next to it is full red with reverse whites are redded out.

my car is to the right and this is a temporary edit. my bulbs are upgraded led so braking visibility is very bright so not entirely compromised but i do think its too black. i may just light smoke it out but well, full smoke is nice.

also saw a friends car with full smoke (not an rdx) and during the day, the brakes are pretty visible even on a sunny day.

BigHatch

I think smoked would look better with your color.

phoward_15

IMO...I hate cars that have this on their tail lights or head lights. I much prefer the natural look of the car. But to each their own.

AltRDX

I'd say Nay on the red-out... The light smoke might look fine.
I don't really think smoke-out is either good looking or practical... It's all up to personal preference tho.

How bright are your LED tail lights? and what do you use? I tried some of my LED bulbs but it didn't seem brighter at all...

R*D*X*

Rear Diffuser looks good tho, did u paint it?

scryana

yeah, i read ya re: blackout lights. it looks menacing yeah but i dunno about the practicality as well as risk of getting pulled over cuz of it. its a daily driver so i dont' want the hassle. i only wanted the black cuz my other car is silver andmy lights are redded out so i wanted something different.

Anyway, I did the bottom reflectors last night with smoke spray and it turned out nice but yeah, its dark. I don't think i'm going to black out the lights rather maybe a light smoke (50%). tint guy comes tomorrow and we'll see how it goes.
I'm all about different for the sake of being better rather than just different and beauty of the blackout is still debatable for me. i dunno, 80% i smoke the lights but def not black.
Thanks! I painted the diffuser yes.



178 color code with 2 coats of clearcoat.

getting the rubber surrounding back was not fun. i got lazy and tried to use glue and it was ruined. i had to do it all over again with new double sided tape.

i also put a chrome front middle lip i'll post photos soon. Here's a mockup in silver in the meantime. I like chrome better



RE: lights, i haven't actually put the bulbs in yet cuz i'm waiting for the tint to do it all at once but it supposed to be brighter.

try ijdmtoy.com

BigHatch

you should definitely go smoke on the tail lights then...besides, the reflectors look real dark 'cause that's all they are...reflectors.. you gonna do your headlight lenses smoked too? you do realize all the jdm type r's had smoked headlamps... it may be easiest to just get some clearbra/rockblocker type smoked film to do them up. I may do smoked headlamps on my black 07... If i do, i'll just go with a film. I have a light blue like that on my 02 WRX wagon.

R*D*X*

i think clear tail lights will be cool too then black inside..

scryana

Here's what the reflectors look like. I smoked it and covered it with spare ventureshield clear bra peices to add luster. its really shiny



I'm still 50/50 on the main lamps although tonight i may smoke the top tail light on the roof. if that turns out well, i may do the lights

k23a1

The RDX on the right looks nice and is very agressive. I thought cali laws prohibit the rear red-deflectors to be covered or modified to a darker color, although you may have LEDS, the cops may not believe so....

The diffusser also looks nice.

Arent there the vinyl applications that can tint rear lamps to a certain tone? I saw these online, and they are precut to every application.

I'd do a light smoke on the rear lamps.

cwepruk

It looks cheap to me.

Azzie

scryana, take a look here - https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-rdx-2007-2012-147/anybody-san-diego-725376/ That's a compromise, I suppose.

I prefer smoked tail & headlamps, but I do also have Nighthawk Black Pearl car.

PS: Great pics collection. I'm now using your album as kind of a fitting room for RDX

R*D*X*

Azzie headlight looks great.. Thanks for posting.

scryana

Thanks! I'll update often. I'm always looking around for photos and I'm still playing around with my RDX until its done.

So did you smoke your nighthawkblack?

Azzie

Not yet, mate, not yet... In progress. 80% done I think that I'll have time to leave my car in the paint shop not earlier than June.

You may also appreciate this and this.

scryana

I had a revelation that I am not a body shop painter in this life so Susan went to the body shop today and got her nails polished goth style. No more sexy red stuff and now she's goth woohoo. I'm very pleased with the work and I got the car back in 6 hours. Beautiful work IMO. If you're in Los Angeles and are interested, pm me and I'll send you to my guy.



a shade darker than red but noticeable (compare with car next door)



More photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/AcuraRDX...tedTaillights#

Azzie

Superb! You left me behind with the same idea but I think that my tail lights will look not worse. You're also right that the paint is much better than vinyl.

Chronic14

Damn, that looks great scryana. How was it applied?

Azzie

BTW, what's that chrome pillar there on the tail just above the bumper? Is it OEM?

scryana

Thanks guys.

The tint job was done by a body shop recommended to me by my tint guy. They don't paint and add clearcoat on top. They actually put some paint *INTO* the clearcoat and spray the clearcoat on which makes it shiny and it doesn't look painted at all. Its really really clean. This is not to exxagerate but I actually think its shinier than when it was brand new simply because they have an extra layer(s) of clearcoat. Definitely, have your body shop locally do it that way. Its also easier to figure out darkness. If you think its too light, you just have them spray on more layers. If you paint then clearcoat if you want to be darker you have to strip off clearcoat and then paint over again since it will be thicker again.

Like I said, in by 9, out by 3 and they took all the lights out. Outstanding job they did I think.




BTW the chrome pillar i got from ebay having seen the idea from an audi. Its really clean. Save money by going to say pep boys and buyin the chrome strip your self and just cutting. For the same price you can get extra peices which you can use elsewhere. I built a mini front skidplate with spare peices and it looked pretty cool

Azzie

Regarding the chrome strip... Yours is the plastic one right? Just as this one? I think that ~30$ is not a big deal...

There are also stainless steel chrome pillars available (click). They are only for the doors and I'm not sure that they'll look nice to the dark colored car, but their quality should be much higher than the plastics although they look just the same at the pics...

ucsmfu

do you have pics of the led tailights ?

scryana

The beveled edges look great but with the plastic ones you dont 'need the edges since you won't see the edges. I still have it, just havne't mounted it.

Re: led taillights, if I ever put it back on, i'll take photos. When I had them on stock tails they maybe looked a lil bit brighter but not noticeable really since the lamp covers are red (now dark red for me).

Bluecivic107

The new diffuser color is NICE.... I'm NOT feeling the Chrome on the hatch though...

fadeoutmystar

not to be dense, but did they paint on the tint for the tail-lights or was the paint for something else? the ride looks beautiful, btw

anavel0083

Are those stock bulbs you are using for the brake lights? I wonder how bright the difference is with some aftermarket PIAA bulbs...

OneOfOne

its the stupidest mod aside from the idiots who 'smoke' their xenon headlights. leave the damn things alone and be a man.

fadeoutmystar

REALLY?! You posted to say THAT? Thanks for adding so much to the discussion, ass.

scryana

They blended it for me. I wanted it dark red and not black, so they darkened it to the level I wanted and then sprayed it on the lights. I think its just regular paint clearcoat except slightly tinted.

fadeoutmystar

that's pretty impressive. i'm in San Diego, but i'd def. drive to LA to have these guys work on my ride. can we get the info for the place you took it to? thanks again for sharing!

BLACURA SUVND9L

ditto, be productive and keep your dimeaning comments to yourself

fadeoutmystar

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