should I do a light tint my rear lights?

[QUOC2008]

should I do a light tint my rear lights?

my cars black and light smoking/tinting the rear lights will make it look even more stealth... at nite

[Peter Gidden]

Why would you want to make your lights less visible at night?

[QUOC2008]

Why would you want to make your lights less visible at night?

so people can crash into me... only joking your right! just seen alot of cars have it done plus my lights are looking abit faded wraping in a very light tint will make it look clean again.

plus i watched initial d and tacomi did it to win well actually he turned off his lights

[markstevieandmads]

so your question really is "How do i chav my car up?"

[QUOC2008]

so your question really is "How do i chav my car up?"

i dont know what i was thinking thanks for keeping me strianght

[mark_buk2003]

If you do it properly, with correct tint spray it does NOT affect the brightness of the lights atall! I done 3 coats on mine, and they look so much better. And light are just as bright as before.... mine dont look "chavy" looks alot more modern with big orange bits gone..

[craig]

Yep. Rear light tint is for saxos and corsas tearing round mc'ds.

[mark_buk2003]

If you do it properly, with correct tint spray it does NOT affect the brightness of the lights atall! I done 3 coats on mine, and they look so much better. And light are just as bright as before.... mine dont look "chavy" looks alot more modern with big orange bits gone..

[JD]

Yeah if you do it properly it shouldn't affect the functionality of the lights but personally I don't think it looks that great because I generally don't like black on black; a few hints of colour/bright do good for the look of a black car I think.

[QUOC2008]

If you do it properly, with correct tint spray it does NOT affect the brightness of the lights atall! I done 3 coats on mine, and they look so much better. And light are just as bright as before.... mine dont look "chavy" looks alot more modern with big orange bits gone..

thanks was actually thinking of wraping it in headlight protection tint... spray jobs are non reversable... hmm

I dont think it looks chavy... too these guys everything is chavy

[mark_buk2003]

I've never used tint film on lights, only tint spray but im sure they do a TINT SPRAY REMOVER, if you wish to remove at a later date,, but I have never used it, so cant say if it works or not??

[madbasshunter]

I've never used tint film on lights, only tint spray but im sure they do a TINT SPRAY REMOVER, if you wish to remove at a later date,, but I have never used it, so cant say if it works or not??

Nail varnish remover takes it off as I remember somebody sending a friend to the chemist for some so he could remove the tint before the law turned up after a car crashed into him as they didn't see his indicator

[mark_buk2003]

I've never used tint film on lights, only tint spray but im sure they do a TINT SPRAY REMOVER, if you wish to remove at a later date,, but I have never used it, so cant say if it works or not??

[uglee]

I had my rear lights very lightly tinted on the inside when they were modified.



The difference is very subtle, but it makes the red a darker shade and it tones down the amber indicator sections. Also doesn't look a bit council.

[2mad]

That looks sweet uglee .. not chavy at all


Nice car too by the way

[masterbateson]

I've done a set before on my MG and it looked great on a red car.

Doesn't look Chav'y at all if done well and as someone said you can get a can of stuff that allows you to remove it.
I also found paint brush cleaner takes it off, probably owt like acetone prob takes it off.

I had bought a 2nd set of lights to tint, so after i tinted them to how i wanted, I wet sanded them and then gave them a protective coat of clear lacquer.

Light output was fine and passed its mot with the tinted set on.

[shinny]

If you do it properly, with correct tint spray it does NOT affect the brightness of the lights atall!

Sorry, but that's simply impossible by the laws of physics... the tint reduces the amount of light getting to and from the lens. Therefore it will also reduce the light output from the bulbs... it's not like the tint suddenly changes properties because it somehow knows the light is coming from a bulb rather than the sun!

Which brings me back to this:

Why would you want to make your lights less visible at night?

Brake lights are first and foremost about safety. I would also argue that daylight visibility is far more important than nighttime because the bulbs sometimes have to compete with direct sunlight. Therefore I would not do anything to reduce the light output of my brake lights, especially not for aesthetic reasons.

Maybe you'll apply the tint and decide "well, that's good enough for me" by some objective measurement. However if you're not testing them on a bright summer's day, I'd say any such determination is fundamentally flawed to begin with. besides, how do you know what you think is "good enough" is actually up to standard?

A simple rule of thumb for safety items (such as brake lights) should be "OEM or better", unless otherwise E-approved. Tinting lights with standard filament bulbs in is always going to be worse than OEM. Don't do it...

[2mad]

A simple rule of thumb for safety items (such as brake lights) should be "OEM or better", unless otherwise E-approved. Tinting lights with standard filament bulbs in is always going to be worse than OEM. Don't do it...

Maybe swap out the stock bulbs for high intensity led jobs .. i find these on new cars dazzling at night if there not tinted

[shinny]

A simple rule of thumb for safety items (such as brake lights) should be "OEM or better", unless otherwise E-approved. Tinting lights with standard filament bulbs in is always going to be worse than OEM. Don't do it...

Maybe swap out the stock bulbs for high intensity led jobs .. i find these on new cars dazzling at night if there not tinted

AFAIK new cars use OEM built LED housings, not a simple drop-in bulb.

You can get retrofit LED bulbs that are better than a filament bulb, but I start at a 25W 5xCree bulb, and you're talking £30/£40 a pair for that. The majority of coloured LED bulbs are simply not up to the job even before you start adding tint.

[2mad]

A simple rule of thumb for safety items (such as brake lights) should be "OEM or better", unless otherwise E-approved. Tinting lights with standard filament bulbs in is always going to be worse than OEM. Don't do it...

Maybe swap out the stock bulbs for high intensity led jobs .. i find these on new cars dazzling at night if there not tinted

AFAIK new cars use OEM built LED housings, not a simple drop-in bulb.

You can get retrofit LED bulbs that are better than a filament bulb, but I start at a 25W 5xCree bulb, and you're talking £30/£40 a pair for that. The majority of coloured LED bulbs are simply not up to the job even before you start adding tint.

Thats a shame .. just a thought