so, like the other 14,000 maximas that have the DIY clear tails, I used the typical Home Depot flourescant-light-housing acryllic to fabricate the inserts.

at the end of it all, 6 hours later, when i finally had them back together and on my car, it was pretty apparent that the shading of the Home Depot acryllic was darker than the actual OEM clear inserts that cover the reverse lights. so, side by side, they dont match, and therefore dont look factory.....

here is another shot to illustrate what im talking about.




its been bothering me for some time now, and it got me thinking......

has anyone ever opened up the INNER tail lights and replaced those inserts?
is it the same procedure as the outers (but easier, because its not bowed)?

also, is there some other, BETTER type of acryllic/plastic that i could use that would match the OEM shade/pattern?




i just want these things to match....thats all.

 

plenty of ppl did the inners back in the day when there was no affordable red/clear option. now that they cost $100 on ebay this is an obsolete mod.

if you really want to match i have a set of the outer clear inserts out of some ebay tails that showed up cracked that i'll sell you.

 

Lol seriously dude, either buy ebay tails or do the inners just like you did the outers. My CE outers match up perfectly with OEM inners, and so should ebay ones.

 

well lets say id rather not spend $100 if i can do it for 8 bux in a few hours.

i assume opening the rear inners is the same procedure as the outers?
is there anything unique to them that i should be aware of?

i wasnt even sure the inners had inserts to begin with. for all i know it could be part of the whole housing.

you mean a set of outer inserts that match the OEM inners?
the same pattern on the plastic and everything?

can you pm me a pic when you have time?


what are CE outers?

have you ever opened the inners via the oven method? is it just as easy?

 

opening the innners is the same as outers.

ce (custom enterprises) are the old $350 red/clear oem nissan outers that are basically the same as the diy method, and no they don't match up perfectly.

i'll get pics in a bit.

 

thanks

 

stock>*

 

They are as BlackonBlack said, OEM outer tails manufactured by an aftermarket company that used clear inserts.

Mine match up 99% of the time, there is really no noticeable difference. No one has ever commented that they don't look OEM, as most people who don't know Maximas would think red/clears are OEM.

These are old pics, but you'll see:

 

ok... we were talking about different tails. those are aftermarket tails sold by custom enterprises later on i assume. same as whats being sold on ebay these days, except for the fact that its rare to find a set with clear marker lights vs. red. those are indeed a good match.

here is what i think of when i hear "ce red/clears":



these were oem tails that custom enterprises would open and replace the orange reflector with clear plastic, similar to the diy method.

 

Ebay outers don't match up 100% with the stocks, I know because I have them. Its not bad but if you have OCD it will bother you. If you buy them off ebay, get the whole set.

 

I did both the inners and the outers and they look great to me. It wasn't much trouble at all to do the inners as well.

 

the ebay ones suck. the outers went on flush no problems but for some reason the inners wont sit flush and there is a gap between the two lights. maybe someone can shed some light...

 

I bought the ones with clear marker lights brand new back in May of 06. They have been sitting in my closet ever since just waiting for the day when i finish my car. I'm glad I bought them when I did because the red marker lights don't look as clean.