Legal Clear Tail Lights 3G Brainstorm Idea
06-12-2016, 01:40 PM
#1
Legal Clear Tail Lights 3G Brainstorm Idea
So I know that I am not the only one who is slightly bothered by the tail lights being red on their Acura TL 3G base model. Acura came so close to making a perfect taillight in my eyes by adding the clear section in addition to the traditional red section which adds a little bit of coolness, but still misses the mark. I own an alabaster silver metallic 07 TL Base and have gone for the murdered out silver look myself. So when it comes to the tail lights it bugs me that they are in fact partially red and not all clear. Now I know they sell aftermarket clear tail lights that are all clear with some black in the housing which is fine. Just one problem, they are not DOT approved and you will get pulled over for them if such police officer is bored enough to do so. Of course when you drive around you see other cars like some Lexus cars that have all clear headlights, but they also have to have a red reflector somewhere on the rear of the vehicle to be considered street legal from my understanding of the law. So my idea is this, there are two routes you could take here. One of which I'm not sure is even possible without a custom part being fabricated from scratch that may or may not exist right now. Option #1, the easiest, buy the clear tail lights, heat them up, take them apart. Only remove the clear reflector part on the bottom inside part of the housing. Then take your OEM headlights heat them up, take them apart. Take the red reflector that is on the bottom inside part of the OEM housing and remove it and insert it into where the aftermarket clear headlight clear reflector was. Thus making them mostly all clear, but still street legal with a red reflector in the housing. Then reseal the tail light. This would have to be street legal and DOT approved. Option #2, the harder way which may or not be possible, YET... Heat up your OEM tail light housing and take it apart. Remove the red diffuser lens part of the tail light. Find a clear diffuser lens for the tail lights like they make for our clear corners on the headlights. Another minor detail that you could do to make your car look cooler is also while you have the tail lights apart, get a can of OEM paint matched paint like in my case alabaster silver metallic and paint the interior black section of the clear taillight housing silver to match your paint perfectly. The black part of the clear tail lights looks cool, but if you're going to take apart your tail lights and reseal them, you might as well paint them to match OEM paint while you are at it. (Like I said this lens may exist now or it may not, if it does exist I am not aware of it yet and haven't been able to find it) Insert the clear diffuser lens then reseal the taillight. I think lightning may have struck here on this one. Yeah there still is red in the bottom corners of each tail light and it doesn't look as cool as the all clear ones, but you would never risk getting pulled over for them, paying a fix it ticket, and in turn wouldn't waste money on a modification to your car that could have a chance of being taken off your car due to police boredom. Let me know your thoughts on this. I'm pretty amped about it actually.
Last edited by MasterDavid; 06-12-2016 at 01:55 PM.
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Oh Sickest TL (06-15-2016)
06-12-2016, 04:10 PM
#5
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06-13-2016, 02:11 AM
#6
Rev High; Drive Happy
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not gonna lie.. i only read like 1/5 of that.
edit: gave it another shot. read 2/3.
Your #1 doesn't make sense. Why would you add red reflectors in your HEADlights? Did you mean tail lights?
Also you cannot heat up the tail lights and pry them apart like you would headlights. You have to cut them apart.
Additionally... 04-06 tail lights are all clear inside.
Only 07-08 have red turn signal and red lower reflector (and red brake light lens for the TL-S).
If you're going the route of all clear tail lights with red for legal reasons then the cheapest thing to do is to buy 07/08 base. Cut 'em open. Cut the 04-06 tail lights open and swap over parts. OR you can buy the "ghost tails"... Cut 'em open and then paint the lower reflector red.
edit: gave it another shot. read 2/3.
Your #1 doesn't make sense. Why would you add red reflectors in your HEADlights? Did you mean tail lights?
Also you cannot heat up the tail lights and pry them apart like you would headlights. You have to cut them apart.
Additionally... 04-06 tail lights are all clear inside.
Only 07-08 have red turn signal and red lower reflector (and red brake light lens for the TL-S).
If you're going the route of all clear tail lights with red for legal reasons then the cheapest thing to do is to buy 07/08 base. Cut 'em open. Cut the 04-06 tail lights open and swap over parts. OR you can buy the "ghost tails"... Cut 'em open and then paint the lower reflector red.
Last edited by o4Komodo; 06-13-2016 at 02:17 AM.
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EvilVirus (06-15-2016)
06-13-2016, 08:14 AM
#7
I don't even think I made it past the first line...
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06-15-2016, 11:29 AM
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Still won't make non-DOT approved lights DOT approved.
You may legally meet the local transportation codes by doing whatever you talked about doing (no idea because I got lost halfway through; I did find Waldo though, so that was cool), but it still won't be DOT approved.
You may legally meet the local transportation codes by doing whatever you talked about doing (no idea because I got lost halfway through; I did find Waldo though, so that was cool), but it still won't be DOT approved.
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EvilVirus (06-15-2016)
06-15-2016, 11:32 AM
#9
Senior Moderator
Still won't make non-DOT approved lights DOT approved.
You may legally meet the local transportation codes by doing whatever you talked about doing (no idea because I got lost halfway through; I did find Waldo though, so that was cool), but it still won't be DOT approved.
You may legally meet the local transportation codes by doing whatever you talked about doing (no idea because I got lost halfway through; I did find Waldo though, so that was cool), but it still won't be DOT approved.
Or how about a picture of Dot embedded inside:
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EvilVirus (06-15-2016)
06-15-2016, 04:25 PM
#10
Attachment 37133Attachment 37134
So I know that I am not the only one who is slightly bothered by the tail lights being red on their Acura TL 3G base model. Acura came so close to making a perfect taillight in my eyes by adding the clear section in addition to the traditional red section which adds a little bit of coolness, but still misses the mark. I own an alabaster silver metallic 07 TL Base and have gone for the murdered out silver look myself. So when it comes to the tail lights it bugs me that they are in fact partially red and not all clear.
Now I know they sell aftermarket clear tail lights that are all clear with some black in the housing which is fine. Just one problem, they are not DOT approved and you will get pulled over for them if such police officer is bored enough to do so. Of course when you drive around you see other cars like some Lexus cars that have all clear headlights, but they also have to have a red reflector somewhere on the rear of the vehicle to be considered street legal from my understanding of the law.
So my idea is this, there are two routes you could take here. One of which I'm not sure is even possible without a custom part being fabricated from scratch that may or may not exist right now:
Option #1, the easiest, buy the clear tail lights, heat them up, take them apart. Only remove the clear reflector part on the bottom inside part of the housing. Then take your OEM headlights heat them up, take them apart. Take the red reflector that is on the bottom inside part of the OEM housing and remove it and insert it into where the aftermarket clear headlight clear reflector was. Thus making them mostly all clear, but still street legal with a red reflector in the housing. Then reseal the tail light. This would have to be street legal and DOT approved.
Option #2, the harder way which may or not be possible, YET... Heat up your OEM tail light housing and take it apart. Remove the red diffuser lens part of the tail light. Find a clear diffuser lens for the tail lights like they make for our clear corners on the headlights.
Another minor detail that you could do to make your car look cooler is also while you have the tail lights apart, get a can of OEM paint matched paint like in my case alabaster silver metallic and paint the interior black section of the clear taillight housing silver to match your paint perfectly. The black part of the clear tail lights looks cool, but if you're going to take apart your tail lights and reseal them, you might as well paint them to match OEM paint while you are at it.
(Like I said this lens may exist now or it may not, if it does exist I am not aware of it yet and haven't been able to find it) Insert the clear diffuser lens then reseal the taillight. I think lightning may have struck here on this one. Yeah there still is red in the bottom corners of each tail light and it doesn't look as cool as the all clear ones, but you would never risk getting pulled over for them, paying a fix it ticket, and in turn wouldn't waste money on a modification to your car that could have a chance of being taken off your car due to police boredom. Let me know your thoughts on this. I'm pretty amped about it actually.
So I know that I am not the only one who is slightly bothered by the tail lights being red on their Acura TL 3G base model. Acura came so close to making a perfect taillight in my eyes by adding the clear section in addition to the traditional red section which adds a little bit of coolness, but still misses the mark. I own an alabaster silver metallic 07 TL Base and have gone for the murdered out silver look myself. So when it comes to the tail lights it bugs me that they are in fact partially red and not all clear.
Now I know they sell aftermarket clear tail lights that are all clear with some black in the housing which is fine. Just one problem, they are not DOT approved and you will get pulled over for them if such police officer is bored enough to do so. Of course when you drive around you see other cars like some Lexus cars that have all clear headlights, but they also have to have a red reflector somewhere on the rear of the vehicle to be considered street legal from my understanding of the law.
So my idea is this, there are two routes you could take here. One of which I'm not sure is even possible without a custom part being fabricated from scratch that may or may not exist right now:
Option #1, the easiest, buy the clear tail lights, heat them up, take them apart. Only remove the clear reflector part on the bottom inside part of the housing. Then take your OEM headlights heat them up, take them apart. Take the red reflector that is on the bottom inside part of the OEM housing and remove it and insert it into where the aftermarket clear headlight clear reflector was. Thus making them mostly all clear, but still street legal with a red reflector in the housing. Then reseal the tail light. This would have to be street legal and DOT approved.
Option #2, the harder way which may or not be possible, YET... Heat up your OEM tail light housing and take it apart. Remove the red diffuser lens part of the tail light. Find a clear diffuser lens for the tail lights like they make for our clear corners on the headlights.
Another minor detail that you could do to make your car look cooler is also while you have the tail lights apart, get a can of OEM paint matched paint like in my case alabaster silver metallic and paint the interior black section of the clear taillight housing silver to match your paint perfectly. The black part of the clear tail lights looks cool, but if you're going to take apart your tail lights and reseal them, you might as well paint them to match OEM paint while you are at it.
(Like I said this lens may exist now or it may not, if it does exist I am not aware of it yet and haven't been able to find it) Insert the clear diffuser lens then reseal the taillight. I think lightning may have struck here on this one. Yeah there still is red in the bottom corners of each tail light and it doesn't look as cool as the all clear ones, but you would never risk getting pulled over for them, paying a fix it ticket, and in turn wouldn't waste money on a modification to your car that could have a chance of being taken off your car due to police boredom. Let me know your thoughts on this. I'm pretty amped about it actually.
Fixed OP
I might go back and read it now, but I wasted brain power just spacing and feel fatigue; so I'm try again tomorrow.
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EL BAN (07-04-2016)
06-15-2016, 10:09 PM
#11
Burning Brakes
Seriously... you want to go back to the 1990s? That was when clear taillights were the rave. I had a set on my Accord and people see my tails from behind me. It was cool, then it died off hard.
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