Easiest Tinted lens diy ever!

So what if I tape off the inside of the lens and then dye the outside clear part of the entire housing? Even for the taillights, like open them up and tape off the inside as to not restrict any light output, but the outside would still be dyed?
 
Thanks Rick. Keep me posted.

The grille and lenses look good on that silver man!
Do you think it would look good on a 2nd gen lens? I really wanted clear but this is probably cheaper than custom lenses!
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Thanks, I think as long as you do a clean job on cutting the unit open it would look slick on a Gen 2. Im not sure how the reflection would be for that little side marker how ever considering the bulb is behind the lens on our gen 1's.


Great project! How long did the entire process take from start to finish?
Also, is there a problem with using the regular turn signal bulbs?
Just might do this tonight or tomorrow....
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If you are patient and clean the Grey glue up as mentioned about 1 hour.

The actual dying process it self dont take long at all!

I did take out one of my clear reverse lights to check and at night there is no difference but it makes a huge difference during the day.


So what if I tape off the inside of the lens and then dye the outside clear part of the entire housing? Even for the taillights, like open them up and tape off the inside as to not restrict any light output, but the outside would still be dyed?
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The difference would probably be minimal.

One more thing I forgot!

If you dont like the outcome soaking in a non diluted bucket of bleach for 8 hours takes the dye off and sets the lenses back to normal!


Everyone else, even sweets:p THANKS!
 
Just finished with this mod! Looks great, cant wait to see how it looks during the day. Thanks again JWerner ;).
 
What do you mean it would be minimal? Like it wouldn't tint them enough to be worth it?

Layers for darker look cannot be acheived? You said you didn't put much dye in. What about adding more? I wonder how it would hold up if exposed to the elements like that?

From the way yours turned out all glossy and nice looking, I wouldn't see how doing it on the outside of taillights would be a problem, as long as you clean/wax regularly like I do already.

This just seems way too easy and not common? Is it just like an undiscovered way of tinting or something?
 
LSblack00 said:
Just finished with this mod! Looks great, cant wait to see how it looks during the day. Thanks again JWerner ;).
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Nice! Cant wait to see!

What do you mean it would be minimal? Like it wouldn't tint them enough to be worth it?

Layers for darker look cannot be acheived? You said you didn't put much dye in. What about adding more? I wonder how it would hold up if exposed to the elements like that?

From the way yours turned out all glossy and nice looking, I wouldn't see how doing it on the outside of taillights would be a problem, as long as you clean/wax regularly like I do already.

This just seems way too easy and not common? Is it just like an undiscovered way of tinting or something?
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What I mean by minimal is that I doubt doing both sides of the lens would make much more of a difference than just one side.

Layers for a darker look can be achieved but Im not sure how dark. For darker use more dye and let it sit longer.


And as far as it never being done, Im not sure I did a Google and found nothing yet except my post:D


People do it on plenty of plastics, I was dying a 1:43 slot car when I said " Wait one minute here, I have a idea"!
 
you shoulda made a google "how to" video, you'd be famous and earn some "theoretical" dollars (for those whom watch southpark) ;-)


btw, I missed you Werner....and I have yet to try them autosockies :p
 
did my side markers earlier and they turned out awesome, am in the process of doing my tails and am not to impressed with the look so far, i let the inner lights sit for a little over and hour and they came out a little darker but nothing to drastic. i think the chrome inside reflects to much. the hardest part of this projectis finding sometihing big enough to put the lights in that the girl friend will let me use too. i have to use a garbage can. ill post pictures when its all back together.
 
It will be interesting to see how that stuff holds up. Is there any UV protection at all?
 
I thought about that. It is used for clothing and I have yet to see it fade on some projects the wife and her aunt did with fabric so....


Only time will tell if it set strong on plastic.


EDIT: Just thinking about it, I have been using it for years to dye PVC for the aquarium and under high out put lights it never faded either. Also used it in terrariums with high UVA and UVB with no problems. But still only time will tell.


Im sure a good UV protective finish would help in any case regardless.
 
Check it out

Thanks again J!

Photo0327.jpg


Photo0326.jpg
 
Nice! Looks like you went pretty dark?

Tell me how surprised and excited you were when you realized it actually works?:D
 
It almost looks darker in the picture than it actually is but it looks great in person. That yellow side marker really stood out from the rest of the black/red/chrome on the car.
It was surprisingly easy and being inside the headlight housing, I wouldnt expect it to fade any time soon.
 
Lincoln Luebbe said:
Those fogs would look great tinted out LSBlack00! What kind of wheels are those?
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i was thinking along the same lines.

Werner, i couldn't find the vendor for the lights anymore. do you just need some test headlights? if so, i have a pair in my garage that you can have for practice if your willing to pick up the shipping. let me know
 
Lincoln Luebbe said:
The lens. Take off the fog light and put it in the dye.
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he'd have to put the whole assembly in which shouldn't be a problem. just put the lens face down and don't let any of the dye in the assembly. taking the fog lights off is not difficult at all. don't make them too dark though
 
Rick, I kind of need some spare parts. How does the main lens look?
 
rickztahone said:
he'd have to put the whole assembly in which shouldn't be a problem. just put the lens face down and don't let any of the dye in the assembly. taking the fog lights off is not difficult at all. don't make them too dark though
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Has anyone else done this mod? Like to see what it looks like before jumping in ;) .
 
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heres my tail lights, not much diffrence even after sitting or alomst 2 hours, i used a pretty thick solution. my inner tail lights didnt want to change at all, my inner drivers side looks alot darker because there was some water in there when i got the car and it ate away alot of the chrome on the inside. but over all didnt get to darkness i wanted and was sick of waiting so i gave it up. make sure you dont have any light colored countertops when you do this i made quite i nice speckled effect on ours. good luck to anyone else who tries it, hopefully it comes out a little better then mine.

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not what I was expecting on the taillights...

Maybe I should just stay traditional and get the film or spray...


How did you go about doing them ls208? Like did you simmer them on the stove long enough or whatever?
 
Did you make sure the water stayed hot?

Kind of hard with larger objects.


Try this one. Bring the pot of water to a boil and put a deep baking pan on two of the stoves burners. Once the water is boiling and the dye is in pour it into the baking pan just so its enough again to cover the lenses and set it to simmer that way. Also, make sure the lens is very clean. I would wash it with some dish soap to get rid of any possible wax or anything that might hinder the process.

Maybe you do need to let it actually simmer more.


Good thing is like I said, you can use bleach to get it of. And trust me, I had to transfer my title AGAIN to a new state of residence and this time I needed to have the inspection done at the DMV in order to transfer. It failed so I used the bleach like I said to pass and then did it over again.
 
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