Rear lights - no more orange

[ErrErrminator]

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:

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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:

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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[markplant]

Does look good

[wonkydonkey]

That looks like a very neat job, you must be happy. The red tint is a cracking match. I agree with you on the bluey bulbs; it'll look perfect with the silver bulbs fitted

[Russ59]

Top job, look so much better

[ben g]

They look fantastic great job on those.

You're making me regret selling mine now

You're gonna have people commenting that one of your 'reverse lights' isn't working now. When you ask which one, they say drivers side. The same guy told me 3 times before he realised his mistake. It's a bloody rear fog light!!!

[adam04]

Nice job!

[MACK]

Great job! This is how all pre face-lifts should have come from the factory if you ask me. Symmetrical and not a hint of orange in sight!

[Peter-E36]

Makes such a difference, would love to do it myself. Well done!

[bz4kev]

Look really good may change my clears at some point which was my original plan and seeing yours I think has convinced me more mods but well worth it

[ErrErrminator]

Thanks all for the positive comments. They’re not perfect and there are some minor things I would do differently if doing another set. However, if not studying them up super-close they look great and I’m very pleased with them.

I have also swapped out the side repeaters for clear ones, so the only orange left is the headlights. I think I am going to have to be more patient to find a pair of facelift black headlights though, as these don’t seem to come up often. There are the aftermarket headlights (MStyle and the likes), but I’m not sure whether to go with those or try to keep it OE. Either way though my mission is to eradicate all orange, so one or other will happen eventually.

[MACK]

Thanks all for the positive comments. They’re not perfect and there are some minor things I would do differently if doing another set. However, if not studying them up super-close they look great and I’m very pleased with them.

I have also swapped out the side repeaters for clear ones, so the only orange left is the headlights. I think I am going to have to be more patient to find a pair of facelift black headlights though, as these don’t seem to come up often. There are the aftermarket headlights (MStyle and the likes), but I’m not sure whether to go with those or try to keep it OE. Either way though my mission is to eradicate all orange, so one or other will happen eventually.

You've really made a great job of it, but if there are a few things you would do differently it might be worth mentioning it here for the benefit of others following suit.
Headlight wise, have you considered phoning/emailing around breakers yards and folks breaking zeds on ebay to see if anyones got any they haven't listed individually etc. If your looking for black halogens they'll be easier to find than silver ones, particularly silver xenon ones. Personally I dont like the design of the aftermarket ones and I know folks who have had them have had issues with poor light output/beam pattern and water ingress.

[ErrErrminator]

You've really made a great job of it, but if there are a few things you would do differently it might be worth mentioning it here for the benefit of others following suit.

It’s really just about the time and care spent finishing them. They still have a bit of orange peel texture showing, so some more polishing is required. Also a slight ‘lip’ of tint built up around the edge of the masked indicator spot. When polishing this nibbles away a bit so that the masked edge is not perfect. This is not visible unless you get to within a few centimetres, but I am my own worst critic.

The other point I would make to anyone else doing this is this: The reverse/fog/reflector end of the light on these is actually clear too, with the reflector beneath being red. The result of this, having not tinted this section, is a clear edge around that portion of the light, which doesn’t look right when the rest of it is tinted right up to and around the edge. I carried out a temporary ‘cheat’, but they will be coming off again, to mark up and spray tint this part as well.

[firebobby]

Looks like a professional job, well done

[Scooba_Steve]

Tidy