Black TailLight Mod (BTLM)

i am pretty sure he started with his stock 06 tails, cut them apart, masked off and painted the inside bezel black, put them back together but the stock lens was pink...so he bought ebay tails for the clear shell?
waiting for op to chime in. i could be wrong

 

Yeeep that's what the op did haha

 

yup

i've had the 05-08 tails, the LED ebay ones, and now the 09 LEDs. there's a difference between the ebay one's and the 09s. a noticeable (or unnoticeable) difference in the LED pattern between the two.

 

Jonny is right, that's what I ended up doing.

I like the look of tinted tails too, but too many SoCal cops around where I drive are looking to pull you over for that. I go by the local academy everyday to and from work and don't feel like getting hassled so this was the next best alternative. I have a couple friends with lifted tacomas and tinted tails and one of them has been written up 3 times in the last year.

Griffin...the border was to cover up some imperfections. It really only needed to be about half that thickness. I went with the thicker line because I just layed the tape all around the edge and when I peeled it off I decided I was just going to stick with it.

 

came out so good! do they sell clear lensesanywhere? or would i have to buy the whole set from ebay or something. damn i hatee the pink stock ones

 

I couldn't find just the clear lense anywhere so I ended up having to buy a set off ebay. Careful with the ebay ones because not all of them have the same shape so you have to watch out before ordering.

 

x2
The 09 tails look a lot better than the ebay ones.

Now I need to figure out what I want to do with the ebay ones and the pink lenses. I might trash them, but maybe if I find some time I tint the pink lense black and try and reseal them up. The resealing part was a complete pain so idk if I'll get around to that.

 

My bad. I'm assuming you could do this the same way with the 09 led's though right?

 

Ya you can. I think Vince with the XR might have done a set of 09's. He has done a few from what I know.

 

no big deal man. just wanted to clarify for ya. idk if you could do this with the '09s. maybe, maybe not?

 

ya, i know a lot of you cali guys get shit for the tinted tails. my 09 tails are out getting professionally tinted right now. i'm not having a crazy dark tint sprayed on them though. just a decent amount. i live in a smalltown in upstate NY and know just about every cop within the area. doesn't mean i won't get a ticket or pulled over, but my chances will be more slim than yours. plus, if the tint comes out the way i want it to, i'm thinking i won't get hassled.

 

Did you paint a black border around the outside of the ebay LED tails, or just seal them up?

I was thinking about getting those taillights from ebay, but do not like the chrome.

 

Thinking about getting these lights, but just want to make sure, I can just seal them back up with regular black silicone, and not have to paint a border to mask any marks from cutting these open.

 

Hey rhino when I did the btlm I had to paint a border around the outside. It's pretty darn impossible to cut them open without the dremel catching on it somwhere. I had a tough time on the curved portion of the light because the gap was smaller there.

 

Thanks, another quick question, What did you use to seal them up?

I had planned on using a black silicone, and figured the black would cover up any cut marks, by filling them in.

If you think the black silicone will cover up these marks let me know, I might do that.

 

Ya I used black silicone and while it did help cut down the visibility of the make you could still see them. As long as you don't cut into the lens too deep like I made the mistake of your border wouldn't be very big at all. I say if you can come across the taillights for a good price go for otherwise if you're worried about wrecking them hold off.....I personally wouldn't spend th money to do it again.

 

I might try it, the reason I'm going for it is that my current tails are sprayed dark black, while fine at night, it's not the most visible during the day, and I was looking for more visibility. I just can stand the chrome ring around the led's so I figured I could take that part off and paint it black, and seal everything back up. I might try this down the road.

 

Sounds good just make sure to take your time. You'll have an easier time getting them to attach too than I did since I took the lenses of one set of lights and fitted them onto another. I recommend getting another set of hands to hold the light steady while you cut them. I did ok when I was cutting and holding it myself, but no comparison to the light that I had someone hold for me. The lights I had didn't have much of a gap between the lense towards the curve 3/4 of the way up. Everywhere else is pretty simple so you should be good.

After you go through and cut it dont be suprised if you have to go back through again and cut it over because the plastic from the first time around will cool down and harden up so it won't want to come off everywhere. Don't try to pop it off even though you can with a screwdriver. It's ok to give it a little tug here and there but if you put a little too much force into it the edges of these lights are a little delicate and you might put a couple spidercracks in the plastic. Well not actual cracks through it but ya you know what I mean.

That's about all I can think of to watch out for when doing this but if I can think of some more I'll post up.

 

Thanks a lot, I'll keep that in mind!

 

Ahh, so I tried cutting the lenses off. It is a huge pain like you said! I only did it a little bit, and it's not fun! What type of wheel did you use on the dremel? I tried a few, but the thinnest one kept getting fouled up by the plastic. I want to give up, but I can't stand that chrome section!