TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Has anyone attempted to put their own transparent vinyl on the outside of the tailights? Seems like it'd be a really tough thing to get proper, but I was thinking of trying.

I'd be using the following:



Then overlaying the entire tailight with this:



To try and blend it in.

Before:



After (rough PS WITHOUT final light tinting):



I know this has been done, long time ago, I've read many theads about it, nothing about vinyl other than BlueBat's overlays though.

I am waiting on word on shipping costs and info on BlueBat overlays. Are they just simply stick on and you're done or do you have to heat/squeegie?

Also know that spraying the inside of the light is an option, but I don't like the idea, especially if it breaks down over time or is not sprayed properly, they you're left with garbage tailights. You can always remove vinyl.

Thoughts/ideas??

-Matt

Rochester

iTrader: (3)

I think the "white" part of the lens works with your pearl-white paint.

And if I had an Anniversary Edition Maxima, I wouldn't be removing that badge. It's special.

(Oh, and I see what you shopped there on your rear lip.)

ChrisMan287

iTrader: (34)

Just put the red vinyl, it looks really good that way.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

I think it just looks so busy, white, then black, then red, then white, then black.

And I need to PS just the burger delete/burger delete with red tails, haven't decided yet. I may not get rid of any of the badging on the bottom, just the burg.

I like no spoiler though, that looks sharp. If I have to paint my bumper to delete the burg I will probably get rid of the spoiler too.

I am working with that, just painting it seems like a 'cheap' look, but I have an idea to fix that with minimal work.
Anyways, OT.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Ugh OT but here:





^^ I like that, clean shaven is nice, but that looks good, and retains resale.

Ghost_54

iTrader: (13)

I for one really like the rear spoiler on our cars, so I wouldn't delete that ... wouldn't you be inviting one hell of a paint match job given your car is pearl white? which as I understand very difficult to match ... you would have a number of holes to fill from removing the spoiler and then have to pretty much re-paint the entire trunk.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

^Yes I would probaby have to get the whole trunk lid painted, I don't know about paint match difficulty, I need to get some body colour spray balm made up anyways so I'll see how that matches up.

As far as the spoiler, I think it makes the rear end look too round.... one may even say Obese. Not to mention pretty much every Maxima has one. Not very original.

My car is in realy good shape too, the paint isn't faded, which is usually what makes paint matching the most difficult.

Enough OT

zzmmrx0xmzz

looks a bit like my car

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

^ Ha ha Yeah no doubt. Did yours not have a spoiler OEM?

I was looking for a trunk without a spoiler but good freaking luck in that colour. I'd have to paint it anyways so what's the point?


No one has tried this eh? Well if BlueBat doesn't get back to me today I'll be buying the vinyl to try it. If it goes bad, only about $15-20 wasted.

zzmmrx0xmzz

yeah my trim didn't come with a spoiler
can't wait to see the finished product!

zero2sixtyZ

iTrader: (30)

BlueBatMobiles overlays come out perfect if you're going for the exterior vinyl route.

If not, spray Transparent Red paint in the housing like others have done.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Spraying it will be last resort. Hope he gets back to me with reasonable shipping. I'll probably consider the 'light grey' over the entire tail regardless, that's a pretty easy DIY though cause you're doing the entire light.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

P.S. spoiler removal would mean a definite professional paint job would be needed Nissan taped it down... dam.

Maxima413

It would look nice if you could get full red tail lights. Think of just tinting the whole thing black instead? I think its called night shades.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

No. No. Yes

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

D'OH!

Silly me, was trying to get ahold of him through freaking e-mail... DUH!




That should yield some better results.



--

2kmaxseblack2k

ya i mean you could go black, but idk i think theres enough black on the tails as is. I would just do the red vinyl..any leave it at that. Otherwise you're going to have to worry about cops pulling you over for having blacked out tailights..you don't want that.. oh and btw I saw you're previous thread abuot the 02 grille swap in the ae..congrats on the success! and ol' boy is right, you should've left the ae badge on the maxi, but i guess you can always put it back on right??

2kmaxseblack2k

yes, no and no.

luvlexus101

iTrader: (6)

A number of e90 guys do the red vinyl on their tails, looks and comes out good

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Not going black, don't like the look, especially not on a pearl white car.

Thanks, and I didn't take it off, that's just a PhotoShop pic. I'm still in decision mode on the rear end.
The red lights are happening though, that's decided.

He said all red tails, I only want the center red (will only be tinting the signal portion red). So it's No, No, Yes.

Unless you were just posting your opinion? I'm pretty sure a lot of guys would kill to trade my SE tails for their 2002/2003 all reds. But it's not going to happen

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Well foget Blue Bat I guess, i'm not waiting any longer.

I tried out some translucent red vinyl I got for free from a local sign shop, just to make sure I could do it myself, and that it'd work well.

It did. I did a rough cut, the final job will be much better.
Obviously the translucent is too dark, and looks silly. I'll be getting transparent vinyl like shown in the OP. Just waiting on a few Ebay seller replies.

Here are a couple pics of the translucent vinyl on one tailight. You can't see the dim filament (tailight) in the daylight, I"ll post a pic of it tonight because I'm curious. Note: PIC HEAVY

Lights off:



Close ups lights off:





Signal on:



Brake on:



Brake and Signal on:

Grand_hustle17

iTrader: (22)

i say go the overlays route...
My lil taillight project..
Got some all red tails for trade in the classifieds



Doing the SE tails look but a more densed black and glossier




then the overlays


still in the process of shaving the "maxima" so keep the smart comment to urselves



and on to the tow truck for other project purposes lol

Grand_hustle17

iTrader: (22)

Grand_hustle17

iTrader: (22)

oh shyt... my stickers go dead in april.... son of a ****!!! damn

Grand_hustle17

iTrader: (22)

i can keep going... i looooove the overlays...


dont mind the 16's

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

They look great, nice tape job on the black-out. Are those from Blue Bat?

I was going to buy the Blue bat overlays, but he won't answer any messages or emails. SO I just bought some transparent vinyl from a company online. I got red, and light grey in case I decide to try smoking them a bit. Great part is, if I don't like it, I'll just peel it off .

It's 24"x12", so I have enough to do the entire round surface 4x. And enough to do 8 half moon's (just lower part, like the overlays would be I'd imagine).

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Just cause, translucent night shots

Tailight on:



Closer, tailight on:



Brake on:

Grand_hustle17

iTrader: (22)

yea blue batmo... i think i contacted him via the forums and he replied despite his vacancy here

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Yeah I've always heard good things about him, but I messaged him everywhere. Maybe he's on vacation or something going on, always a good excuse,... ahem... reason

All kidding aside, I don't mind doing it myself. Just waiting on the vinyl to arrive.
I'll might make and sell a few remaining overlays when I'm done mine, but that'll be a FS thread if it happens.

I'll post pics when it's done

zzmmrx0xmzz

The red vinyl on your taillights tunermaxima looks so thick!

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

^ read the posts dude, that's the translucent vinyl I just used it for testing.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

I got my Sheets of Vinyl in today. It just so happened to be a lovely day (for winter) too

So here's the installation pics:

Before:



Laying the Vinyl on:



Vinyl Cut to Size:



Installed shots:









I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with myself. I suck at window tint, so I was obviously worried about this job. It came out INCREDIBLE. And for those of you that know how picky I am, that's saying a lot.
I will probably re-do the left side, I made a minor error in the cut, it's barely noticeable, but, again, picky .

I don't think I'll ever want to take them off, IMO it looks WAY better than the Blue Bat overlay pictures I've seen as well.

As you can probably tell, I decided NOT to install the smoked vinyl over them, they ended up dark enough for my taste, and there was no need.
I had originally though it would help 'blend' in the mismatch in colour. I ended up putting the vinyl over the whole light though, not just the 'half moon' as originally expected.

Either way, it was un-neccessary.

I'll post some night-time shots tonight.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

And I did the Fog lights with the light grey smoke out Vinyl, they didn't turn out amazing (up close), I should have removed them to do it. I will likely do that if I decide I like them after I black out the headlights.
I may actually tint the headlights with this light grey film too (despite me normally being HUGE anti-smoked headlights).
The tint is very minor though, and I think it would work in this application. If not, I can always pull it off .

Anyways, here's some pics of the fogs:

Right side close up, tinted:



Left side Stock, Right side Tinted:



Both tinted:

Clashez

iTrader: (5)

Not bad...... ....not bad at all i need to come up with something for the 03 tails .
I wonder how it looks up close in person

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

maybe its because the 5.5s arent tinted or AE'd yet, but i'm still in love w/ the oem AE headlights you had. OAN those vinyl 'all red' tails look effin awesome man.

Majestic Ken

iTrader: (5)

nice work. I'd go with the blue batmobile's and call it a day. I just lightly smoked mine and did the red LED blinker conversion

Rochester

iTrader: (3)

That looks surprisingly good. I think black tails with tint would look better on a darker car, but either way, your's look really, realy good in these pictures. Nice job. The fogs... IDK about the look, and yeah, you should have removed the lenses when doing it. It will be a pain otherwise. And if you're running hot bulbs, you can burn that tint pretty easy.

On the tails, how much does the edge of the tint catch your eye? And how did you cut without cutting the plastic? Did you create a template?

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

It looks good in person or it wouldn't be on there. I'm not like a lot of guys who take the 'ideal' photo at the right angle to make it look good. This acutally looks better in person than in the photos.

Like I said, I'm going to re-do the left side cause it has one minor imperfection.

I know, I'm still working on it. I got the new 5.5 lights (the ones on my car in the pics are my friends), so they'll be getting pulled apart soon.

And thanks, it really does look ridiculously good.


Thanks, I was shocked just how well it turned out.
If you're asking about the side view, whether you can tell that there is a layer of vinyl on there? No, you can't, I was worried about that too. After working them on, and some heat gun action, they are as smooth as stock, no exaggeration.

As for cutting, there is actually a very light 'dip' in the OEM Lens, I followed that with a razor blade. Easy? No. A lot of patience and a good eye. Need to cut just deep enough to cut the vinyl, not deep enough to touch the plastic.

I planned that before I ordered the vinyl. You couldn't do it with a template. I suspect Blue bat has an actual template that CUTS the vinyl in one shot, (think, cookie cutter).

And the fogs, it's not a very noticable tint. As for heat? I'm runnin 35 watt HID's, which actually run cooler than Halogens (this is not a commonly known fact). The heat should not bother this vinyl, I purchased high quality outdoor vinyl.

I wouldn't put window tint film on it like some guys do and expect THAT to hold up.

I'm still playing with the front obviously. If all fails, then I'll go back to the AE's with a HID kit, and call it a day.

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

you need a thread in teh member's ride section so i can ask you when are your Teins suppose to be in lol...whoops i already asked

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Ahaha, ebay settings were wrong and I didn't notice, so payment won't clear 'till Monday. I'm hoping to have them before then end of next month when the weather gets nice.
I have so many things going on, I should start a progress thread.
I just got my LED's in for the gauges and interior, I wired my POT up last night and installed some of the footwell lighting. I'm going to play with some of the LED mods tonight. ACC should be a good start.

I keep going out to look at my tailights. I am in awe with how well they turned out. $12 and 45 mins, and so far, the best exterior mod I've done next to the grille.