Clear tails + indicators upgrade

[ZED_NOT_ZEE]

FYI - I tried tinting the lights with tint first - it doesn't work because the lenses are curved and the tint doesn't curve.

I haven't tried the tint yet, but according to the tutorial from the company that sells it, it curves to fit the lights?
see video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dhgPp61ekk

Maybe different brands of tint, some flex better than others?

[Mangozac]

How much does the tint cost? It certainly may be worth a try if they say it will flex...

[Hotride]

the thing is, tint does curve easily in 1 direction, as per the lights in the vid but our lights are kind of round like a circle/ball and the only way to make tint fit the shape is to hit it with a heat gun and make the edges shrink or cut it to stop wrinkles forming - either way is very difficult, and doesn't look very neat

I have a heat gun and I attempted it - but no way would the tint fit our tail lights - but feel free to waste your money and give it a go

[powerontap]

I bought my red-outs from ebay, already cut to shape for Z4's. Child play to install and cheap to buy.

[Hotride]

powerontap - I still prefer 4 white spots myself, but that looks pretty good. do the red outs just cover the orange indicator circle or the whole light surface?

your lucky the inside circles are both clear on your car. the inner circle on the right side is orange on Australian spec cars and the left side is clear , so we don't have the option you went with!

[powerontap]

powerontap - I still prefer 4 white spots myself, but that looks pretty good. do the red outs just cover the orange indicator circle or the whole light surface?

your lucky the inside circles are both clear on your car. the inner circle on the right side is orange on Australian spec cars and the left side is clear , so we don't have the option you went with!

Only covers the orange section.

[ZED_NOT_ZEE]

powerontap - I still prefer 4 white spots myself, but that looks pretty good. do the red outs just cover the orange indicator circle or the whole light surface?

your lucky the inside circles are both clear on your car. the inner circle on the right side is orange on Australian spec cars and the left side is clear , so we don't have the option you went with!

Only covers the orange section.

I haven't seen those redouts on ebay in a while. Been looking for them myself. Did you get a filler for your trunk key hole too?

[tomTVR]

Double white spots only look the best

[Mangozac]

Double white spots only look the best

That's what I'm aiming for

Sorry I've been too busy lately to get this project finished. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done this coming weekend, then take pics!

[billygilly]

Think I agree

[Hotride]

I'm definitely a quad white spot man! not huge on the double, is the double white spot even legal? as your reversing light becomes red??

[Mangozac]

Ooops my bad - that's what I get for posting early morning. I'm going for quad white spots!

I've got a nice thick coat of clear over the top of the red paint. I've just got to pick up some fine grit wet and dry to polish them up to the necessary shine.

[Mangozac]

Well I finally got around to finishing the tail lights upgrade today. The clearcoat I had added over the painted tails was successively sanded with 800, 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit sandpaper, followed by some Polyglaze polish I had laying around. The polish didn't give me the level of shine I wanted so I''ll get something better to try eventually, but I decided that it was good enough to mount them:



Not bad eh? I'm very happy with the result and even with the amber front indicators getting rid of the amber everywhere else is definitely the way to go!

Big thanks to Levi (Hotride) for all the tips along the way!

Next up is to upgrade the rear number plate to a slimline and try coaxing the local dealer into giving me a new protector to match

[ZED_NOT_ZEE]

Looks really good, have any close-up photos of the finish on them?

[Mangozac]

Sorry, no close ups because I wasn't 100% happy with them. Honestly unless you're up really close and deliberately inspecting the finish you'll never know. Like I said I'll grab some better polish and give it a go I reckon they'll come up nicely.