Dash needle color change and Gauge over lay help please

[huntman58]

Has any one ever changed the color of there needles on there first gen X?

Stock there white and I am thinking about going to a white gauge face so the needles will not show up that well with them. I was going to changed them to the bright red color that some after market gauges have. I have the real paint to do this with and I know the color is only painted on the bottom but I am wondering how well it will show up with the weak dash lights we have that are feed threw the clear plastic underneath.

Also the gauge covers I am looking at are over lays that go over your stock ones. So if any one has done something like this did you leave the green color on the OEM gauge or did you also take that off to get a brighter light show threw?

Or do you people think going to LED super bights (white) would be better?

 

[Anime]

If you paint the needles, you will need to remove the white paint, otherwise the red will just be behind the white and it will show pink when illuminated. It's best to use spray-on paint, and just do a very thin even coat.

The dash lights aren't weak, it's just the green gel color skin is rather thick, and the blue/green color of gauges just doesn't get all that bright with regular bulbs.

You can remove the gel color from the stock gauges, and replace the stock #194 bulbs with some 'superwhite' ones if you want more of a blue/white light to set off your new white face gauges, or use paint/marker on the removed color layer to change the color, or even use bulb covers or color bulbs.

LEDs are nice if you want to go through the hassle of getting them and wiring them in, but if you want white or blue/white, I'd suggest just removing the green gel layer and/or using superwhite bulbs, then if you're still not happy, maybe go with LEDs.

 

[huntman58]

Anime thanks for the info, I know about the needles it was the rest I was wondering about so your info helps. Sometimes I wonder also if you’re not just a walking typing Explorer encyclopedia at times as you always seam to have good answers for people so again thanks!

 

[exploration1997]

I know this thread is old, but I'll bump anyway. So if I scratch off the greeish/buish gel, and color it in with a dark blue sharpie, it'll show up dark blue right? Also, I want a couple elements to be red, so would coloring it red make it pink when lit up? thanks!