I have decided I want to tint my tail lights. I have searched the topic and found some info., but still have a few questions. I know they have pre-cut tint, but it's kind of pricey, would the cheap stuff at the parts house work? Also, would 35% be too dark for the lights? It's not too difficult to apply so I figured I would do it myself. Any help would be great!

 

dont tint them yet. i'm about to make some custom tails (probably by next weekend). painting them black from inside. see how they come out and then u can decide.

 

That's cool man, I wasn't planning on doing them this week, just trying to plan ahead a bit, let me know how they turn out.

 

i guess my taillight project is gonna have to wait for a few more weeks.

my tranny just took a shit . . .

 

i got taillight film cut to match our tails perfectly for about 16 bucks on ebay. I actually put it on, then exacto-ed out the top clear portion so just the bottom 3/4's are tinted (the red part of the 03 tails). It came out really well, and unlike painting, it can be removed at any time easily.

I lack a digital camera, but when I get one I'll post up some pics

 

I think I'm going to try the stuff from AutoZone, and I'm going to leave the top clear (I have an '03) I'll let you guys know how it turns out. I'm just hoping 35% isn't too dark.

 

I used 35% in my front fogs and they look grate, and still shine brightly. Good luck

 

Went to the Zone and picked up 35% tint. I tried it by myself and failed, so I'm waiting for an extra pair of hands.

 

Man I wish I saw this earlier, I woulda warned you against the autozone tint. I tried the autozone tint too and failed miserably, even with the extra pair of hands. The tint isn't flexible enough to make it around the curve. It'll just keep coming up in different places. We tried everything to make it work. Been carrying that damn roll around in my trunk for 6 months now.

 

Damn, what would you recommend?

 

Just a suggestion...

What about buying the pre-cut tail light tint kits on eBay and then modifying that?

 

do what i said.

15-20 bucks from ebay. pre cut. very stretchy. perfect for what you want to do. honestly.

 

I was worried about messing those up and wasting $16, so I got like 10ft of the crap in case I messed up. I'll give it a try. Anyone have a DIY on how to install them?

 

^ Oh yeah my bad...evan03CL you did say that.

LOL...didn't read back over the thread until I saw your post.

Just DO IT!

That tint is made for this application and precut.

All you need to do is cut a straight line....

Should come with instructions...Google "HOW TO APPLY TINT"

 

^ I'll give it a shot, and use the crap I just bought to do my spoiler light.

 

^ Good luck with spoiler light.

Want to see pics.

 

Hmm everyone is saying tint.. I used this product called VHT nightshade. I like it because I could spray on as much as I wanted to get just the right shade..downside being that it is permanent. But I just did the red part of my taillights and left the clear.

 

u should use a heat gun to shrink the tint. it will be really hard to do it on our cars because of the curve so I think its better to let a professional do it.

or you can cut it in to two pieces and then put it on so that it doesnt require as much stretching.

 

I don't know where I can get a heat gun from. I tried a hair dryer but that was a fail.

 

It should come off with thinner. A buddy of mine had VHT on his jetta which came off easily with thinner.

 

Tried a heat gun, tried it with the tails off the car. It was just the wrong stuff to use. Didn't stretch at all with the heat.

 

http://vi.ebaydesc.com/ebaymotors/ws...wItem&caz.html

There is my auction.

The sell is qtrhorse69

17.99, free shipping.

it's stretchy. it works great. if you can cut a straight line then you wont mess them up if you want to remove the top clear area.
if you can't cut a straight line then cutting a curved tail portion out of a flat sheet not pre-cut for our cars will be even harder. No heat gun. No trouble. took me 5 minutes including opening the package. save yourself the trouble and buy this stuff.

 

Thanks man, I'll look into it.

 

This was done with Night Shades Spray Tint from Summit Racing.

 

My friend used the paint stuff, its not that bad looking but if you ever want to take it off it will take some work, im going to get the tint just for the top and see how that looks.

 

Did you paint your (A) emblem?

 

^ This isn't my CL.

I just found it from another thread.

But...they do sell Black Chrome emblems on eBay.

Just look it up.

I thought about converting mine to black.

 

I found them for the 99-01 TL but nothing for the CL.

Sorry for the thread jack.

The link posted to the ebay auction for the tinted tails has ended. But there are a few others on ebay now. Theres even a UV clear protectant film too.

 

The smoked films on Ebay evan mentioned are only 4.99 now if anyone is interested.

 

^ Sweet! I'll look into ordering some ASAP.

 

^ just go to the guy's Ebay store

 

rockblocker.com. the tint is nice and thick and extrememley durable. if you dont like it you can just take it right off.

 

+1

I too used the VHT Nightshade spray tint to tint my tails about 2 months ago. I first tried using the film tint from Oreily's. It was just impossible to put on without creasing the tint because of the curve of the tail light. With this spray tint it was very easy. My roommate and I tinted my 03 CL and his 2001 Mustang Bullitt...

I took the tail lights off the car (they are just connected by 4 bolts each, literally) so i wouldn't have to bother with overspray. Then, I cleaned the tailights really well to remove the sticky residue and debris from the EPIC fail of trying to use film tint. I then masked off the plastic parts that I didnt want the spray to get on with masking tape. I shook the can for a good 3 minutes and with a brisk sweeping motion, began to spray just before the tail light and stopped spraying after i was passed the tailight (to ensure a good consistent spray was going on the tail light itself) in straight lines from the top to the bottom (ever so slightly overlapping) until the tail light was completely covered. This technique provided for a nice even coat and I was very satisfied with the product, and the results it produced. I also let the tail lights sit under my desk lamp for a good hour to ensure that they dried well.

I'll take pics and post them if yall want to see how they turned out. My roommate and I ended up doing 2 light coats on each of our tail lights and they turned out better than we could have imagined. His came out a little darker because his red on his taillights are darker than mine on the CL. Here is a pic of his Bullitt with the tinted tails I found on his facebook... you can kinda see a corner of my tailights in the pic as well.




Also, the tailights still shine through pretty damn bright at night, even the white parking light...

 

Your car looks sweet man. I love the TL wheels. Are they the same size as CL-S rims?