Tinted my tail lights last night

Since I got the diamond black headlights, I wanted to get rid of the ugly orange turn signal section on my tails, so I set out to tint them using the steps many on the board have done.


As if you haven't already seen enough photos of my truck
, here's a "before" shot:

Here's the sprays I used: Pactra Candy Red, Pactra Window Tint, and Testors Ultra Gloss Clearcoat.

After cleaning the mud off the tails:

Masked:

After a coat or two of red:

After a couple coats of tint:

After the tint, I un-masked it, and coated the entire light in clear:

Did the second one following the same steps. The finished product:

And some photos of them on my rig:

Here's a shot with the turn signal on:

And off:

Overall, I'm happy with the finished product. If I had to do it all over again, I think I'd go a little easier on the red and tint, just to have them a litttttle brighter. I'm pretty sure I'm going to catch crap from cops for these, but I like the look. I think they'll look a whole lot better when my truck is actually cleaned and shined up, right now it's a dusty, sandy, muddy mess. I'll get pics up at next weeks truck show all shined up. It was a really easy process, took me only a few hours in my dorm room and only $15 worth of paint. Hope this helps people out.

 

[bigapple]

not sure if its the same for 2nd gens, but third gens use 3157 turn signals for the silverstars

 

[Squirrelmaster]

I've searched and cannot seem to find any NJ or PA laws (the two states I'm most likely to end up living in after graduation in a month) for vehicle details such as turn signals, lighting, etc. Where the hell can I find this info? Very frustrating.

As near as I can tell, it's federal law that dictates light color, however what is not covered by the federal law is left to discretion of the local law enforcement. As far as federal law is concerned, turn signals in the rear can be either red or amber, but they must conform to SAEJ588 turn signal color requirements. With that being said, I doubt you'll have too much trouble as long as the color can be seen when illuminated. Since you did do something to the taillight that's other than stock, you will have to face the risk that if a cop wants you bad enough, he can get you. Is it the same as having clear taillights which can't conform to the SAE requirement? No. Could you still get in trouble? Probably, because this will come down to what the cop that sees you wants to do. My recommendation to you is that if you want to get rid of the amber lens, ditch the dark tint and start all over. Grab yourself some candy red and paint the whole tail lamp (except the back-up lens, that will definitely get you in trouble) candy red until the orange matches. At this point you'll have two options. Option 1 is to clear it and go, because at this point you'll be pretty much 100% legal as no one could really prove you don't meet federal requirements (my orange turn signals match my brake lights nearly perfectly, but it took many, many coats). Your other is to begin to lightly tint your tail lamps as a whole (again, leave the back-up lens clear) until it gets you close to where you want to be. This can get you in trouble if you go too dark, but if you spray it a little bit at a time and get a nice subtle tinting effect, the cops probably won't notice or won't care, and you should be fine. Best of luck .

Tom

 

[Lankhimself]

That will solve my 'problem'. Do you know the specific bulb/part #?

Like others have already said- They are size 3157 for your truck and that's the same size for the turnsignals/parking lights up front. They'd look especially good in your new corner lenses since they are a bluish-purple when off but street-legal amber when lit.

 

[Paraphoe]

Thanks to both of you guys.

 

[xdviper]

I've had these for a a little over 2 months now, Thankfully no cop stopped me, I sprayed 6 Coats and then used paint thinner to remove the reverse light so it looks much better now.....

Here are the pictures, its camera phone quality so don't expect anything good!

 

[patman]

Dan, yes, I've clay-barred once. I'll prolly do it Friday again before waxing.


Question for you guys - could I spray my signal bulbs (they're clear) with yellow transparent paint to try to get the turn signals to look closer to amber? As you can see from the photo, they're pretty reddish. I figure if I get pulled over by a cop for the dark look, and the signal still lights up relatively amber, I can talk my way out of a ticket. Don't know if the paint would burn off, discolor, etc. I would imagine it would not, considering the signal bulb is never on long enough to get hot.

i might be wrong here but i don't beleive it's law to have amber turn's in the back...because both my parents have dodges with red brake's(duh) and a seperate red for turn...it lights up red...no hint of amber

 

[Uafan]

You can have either red or amber in the rear. I don't believe any of the newer model Fords come with amber in the rear..

 

[Paraphoe]

I ended up leaving it with no problems thus far..