ErrErrminator
Active member
Following on from my ‘de-tango rear lights’ thread with some very helpful advice from other forum members about how to go about it, here is the finished article, with comments about the process.
I’ve never been a fan of the orange indicators on the Zed and having seen photos of other owner’s car with this job (or variations of it) done I was determined to do the same. In my opinion it freshens up the rear end, bringing it more up to date, plus adds some pleasing symmetry. Here’s my car as it was:

I probably could have picked up some lights secondhand eventually, but being rather impatient I decided to buy new clear ones and tint them myself. A new pair of good quality Hella clear rear lights were promptly ordered from Germany. Google translate may have its limitations, but it came in very useful (at both ends) in placing my order and my lights turned up in very good time. I was pleased with the quality and they even came with all the necessary bulbs. Here they are as they arrived:

I gathered the necessary red tint, clear lacquer and masking tape and set about the job. Masking was fiddly, but worth taking time over as any mistakes or inaccuracies would be obvious later.


When I was happy with the masking I applied five or six light coats of tint spray, careful to keep it even and not so heavy as to allow sags or runs. Each coat of tint was tounch dry in about ten minutes in the warm weather last weekend, so getting half a dozen coats on didn’t take too long.

Once I was happy with the shade of red I left them to dry thoroughly. Next was two or three coats of clear lacquer, as advised, to help prevent fading of the tint. Once the lacquer was properly dry it was time to polish, first with T-Cut to remove any orange peel texture, then wax polish to give a decent shine. This is part way through the process. More elbow grease required!

Finally then I fitted them to the car, which took no more than ten minutes. A pleasingly straightforward job. All lights checked and working.
Overall I am very pleased with the look. They do need a bit more polishing and I will swap out the supplied indicator bulbs, which have a blue tint, with silvered ones which show no colour through the clear lens.

I’ve never been a fan of the orange indicators on the Zed and having seen photos of other owner’s car with this job (or variations of it) done I was determined to do the same. In my opinion it freshens up the rear end, bringing it more up to date, plus adds some pleasing symmetry. Here’s my car as it was:

I probably could have picked up some lights secondhand eventually, but being rather impatient I decided to buy new clear ones and tint them myself. A new pair of good quality Hella clear rear lights were promptly ordered from Germany. Google translate may have its limitations, but it came in very useful (at both ends) in placing my order and my lights turned up in very good time. I was pleased with the quality and they even came with all the necessary bulbs. Here they are as they arrived:

I gathered the necessary red tint, clear lacquer and masking tape and set about the job. Masking was fiddly, but worth taking time over as any mistakes or inaccuracies would be obvious later.


When I was happy with the masking I applied five or six light coats of tint spray, careful to keep it even and not so heavy as to allow sags or runs. Each coat of tint was tounch dry in about ten minutes in the warm weather last weekend, so getting half a dozen coats on didn’t take too long.

Once I was happy with the shade of red I left them to dry thoroughly. Next was two or three coats of clear lacquer, as advised, to help prevent fading of the tint. Once the lacquer was properly dry it was time to polish, first with T-Cut to remove any orange peel texture, then wax polish to give a decent shine. This is part way through the process. More elbow grease required!

Finally then I fitted them to the car, which took no more than ten minutes. A pleasingly straightforward job. All lights checked and working.
Overall I am very pleased with the look. They do need a bit more polishing and I will swap out the supplied indicator bulbs, which have a blue tint, with silvered ones which show no colour through the clear lens.
