well, i was going to school today, and i saw a car with solid BLACK tail lights and i was like "WTF?!?!?!" i go over and notice they used the nightshade stuff. i was impressed at how good they looked, and decided i wanted to do that mysself. Well i went over to th yards today and got me a complete 3 piece set. ill be mesing with the one that came with the car since the ones i just got are from a 99, and still have the silver lettering intact. Now here are my ideas of what i want it to look like:



in this picture i made sure that one of the circles inlcluded the reflector, and thus making them a lil more legal (i think), If it ultimately turns out to be too much of a hassle to leave the circles and tips unshaded, ill be doing this, with a clear coat ofcourse so they arent dull like this:



Also, i got a general idea of how i would do the circles and the tips, but any one done it themselves and know of a sure method? i know if i use some cut out and paint over it, wont the paint crack around it when i remove it?

You could just use the stuff that body shops use to mask off graphics.

Or... you could must mask off the parts you want and paint the rest.

Electrical tape is good for nice clean lines with no fuzzies left over.

Blue painting tape would work well also!

As for the cracking when taking stuff off... take the stuff off when the paint is still wet. X-Acto knife and a pair of tweezers should eliminate any prints or marks.

hmm but see, arent i supposed to do SEVERAL thin coats and let EACH drie? would i have to retape everything on every coat? and electrical black tape sounds good, but i dont know if i can find any that thick, unless i use several strips to make each circle and cover the edges of the lights. Thanks for the ideas man, but overal what do you think, looks good both ways? i know some may say "just get altezzas", but the clear plastic around the edges kills the whole black look, plus they all have lines across them for some odd reason?

Go to a sign shop and have them cut you your circles out of vinyl (like sticker material) and then just place them where ever you want. Then paint over them and then peel them up.
-Todd

First off, you do know they sell the covers with the circles like that for a few bucks on eBay, right?

Secondly, I'd only want to do it this way if I had to.

Originally posted by edxmon
in this picture i made sure that one of the circles inlcluded the reflector, and thus making them a lil more legal (i think)...

Hmmm...I was looking at that pic like why does that look like my old 2g...then I realized it WAS my car. Glad that I didn't do that to my tail lights. LOL

Yea i do know they sell the covers on ebay, but they go over the taillights, they look cheap, and there is no piece for the center piece. hey thanks for the idea of the vynil stickers! :thumbsup Hey man sorry i used your pic just like that, but i just fished it out of 2gnt for the quick chop. Do you seriusly think it looks THAT bad? i actully think it looks awesome, i still cant decide which way im doing them.

It's fine that you used a pic of my car. If you absolutely have to do it, I think it'd look better with them all blacked out. Leaving those circles just looks tacky and ricey.

Originally posted by sonikbewm
It's fine that you used a pic of my car. If you absolutely have to do it, I think it'd look better with them all blacked out. Leaving those circles just looks tacky and ricey.

I'd say go all black, i'm considering doing the same thing with my spare set of tails though my car is black so it'll definetly look different than yours will

ugh. I wouldnt do that. I have mine niteshaded, but then again my car is black already. the center piece is paint matched and the rears are nightshaded. I like it on black cars, but on a red car I would paint match the center piece and then maybe, MAYBE niteshade the outers...
keep spares around. heh.

hmmm, i was going for the red-black contrast thing, since im also getting the 20% tinting all around and Black-with polished lip rims...but yea, much easier and cheaper to do all black. i just need to scrape of the letterings of my old tails and repaint them silver cuz they peeled badly. Btw like i said i just got me an extra set of complete tails just incase.

Btw those who did it already, how many cans did you use (remember i wanna make mine as BLACK as possible)? how would i glue the letters back on? super glue? is there any store i can grab em , the nightshades, from besides online?

quick photochop

nah...im not a fan of the paint matched center piece...i think its the "long" looking "UNITAIL" that realy identifies our eclipses, so in some way or another i want them all "toghether in a sence. when you paint match the center you separate the outer ones...but i just came up with a new idea, ill post a chop ASAP.
EDIT:


EDIT 2: omg i think im just going to do THIS!:



they are altezzas but im blacking them out just a tad and only around the edges to the ungly white line that shows around them disapears! (since they are under clear plastic and all)

Originally posted by edxmon
nah...im not a fan of the paint matched center piece...i think its the "long" looking "UNITAIL" that realy identifies our eclipses, so in some way or another i want them all "toghether in a sence. when you paint match the center you separate the outer ones...but i just came up with a new idea, ill post a chop ASAP.

I think it'd look better if you just painted the center black and left the red stockers alone... I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with mine, undecided between painting the center piece red (match the car's color) or black with my CF euro tails..

Yikes. erm...

I had mine completely blacked out for a long time then started getting tickets for it so I bought a used set of lights, masked off the reflector part of the lenses and nightshaded the rest black and haven't been hassled since. I think the first pic you posted looks sweet. I went to an art supply store and bought adhesive backed vinyl and made circles by putting an xacto knife in a compass. Cleaned the lights real well, applied the masks and did 4 or 5 light coats of nightshade letting it dry completely in between, it took 1 can. Then removed the masks and shot 3 coats of rattlecan clear. I say go for it.

Peace,
If you go with the circle design, don't spray too much (over spray) on the circle or around the line. As you apply more coats in that area, you'd be buildin' the coat up a lot. When you remove the "tape" (Blue painting masking tape is what I always use), you'll be able to see and feel the "hump" due to the thick coat. Which isn't nice...

One can will give you a very nice dark finish. Apply 1 thin coat at a time on each piece as you go. You don't want to give 3 coats on the left tail, three coats on the middle piece and not have enough for the right tail... The only place I've been able to get the can from is online...


Peace,
Jem

Gross. Leaving them alone on a red car is the way they look best.

Originally posted by djtrickee
Yikes. erm...

No shit.

Deej. post a pic of your tail lights for us.

Hell! wasup with the support? wheres the "its your car go for it man!" Anyways thanks for the support man, and i think the Xacto knife will be a must here, thanks for the pointers guys. I will do the circle design and if it looks ok ill keep it, if not i can always black them completely out or use thinner and clear em up again. Let the modding continue :thumbsup

Originally posted by Blizare

Originally posted by djtrickee Yikes. erm...

No shit. Deej. post a pic of your tail lights for us.

If you insist... heh.



paint-matched center and 3 coats of niteshades on tails, 1 coat on reverse lights. then cleared.

wow that is sexy, i think it will look nice on a red car aswell tho. Especially with the chromed eclipse lettering on it, nice contrast. anyways guys since i work at the mall, i found a guy who would print the circles for me for FREE, so ima go ahead and try it. btw if any one wants theis info: the circle must be atleast 11cm or 4.5in. to clear the rectangular reflector.

Or find some of the real discontinued smoked tails like these. My center is painted to match.

why after 7 years since our cars went bye bye, do they still look like some of the most sexiest cars on the road when done right? why did mitsu fuck it up with the 3rd gens? why?!?!?!?!

later

Originally posted by shuwa29
why after 7 years since our cars went bye bye, do they still look like some of the most sexiest cars on the road when done right? why did mitsu fuck it up with the 3rd gens? why?!?!?!?! later

i love ur fricken car.. lol