Aftermarket Taillights

Post by **BorepYano** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:36 pm

Bennoz wrote:There's a DIY in our DIY section

and here's a very quick summary:

1st: cover up all the spots where u dont want tinted (i.e. surrounding paint work and where u want lights to come through)
2nd: go nuts with the spray till u r happy witht he darkness/run out.
3rd. clean up
4th. wait for cops to try to bust u

Richy · Post by **Richy** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:13 pm

4th. wait for cops to try to bust u

good one...

FtoSam · Post by **FtoSam** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:51 pm

BorepYano wrote:
mr_f700 wrote:and another qik question how big are fto sams rims???
17

Lol... try another inch buddy....

215/30/18

The rims in the pic are my lightweight Motegi Rims... Took a bit to grow on me but luv em now...

And yeh... pretty easy to paint...

The tail lights and bonnet are the two things that i get busted for the most... well they pull me over for them and then go mental on the rest of the car...

manofwood · Post by **manofwood** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:57 pm

mr_f700 wrote:so does anyone know how to do this with the tail lights???

look VERY closely at the pictures of my taillights on page 1 of this thread. i maintained the gloss because i sprayed the lenses from the inside.
cops cant tell sheepshit from cherrystones with my taillights because it looks normal, i havent been pulled over once.
it is not difficult to separate the lens from the housing, it just takes a bit of patience, time, and a fair bit of heat.
if you want proper details on how to do this without being a defect magnet, let me know, i'll post instructions, or pm you them.

sublime19 · Post by **sublime19** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:07 pm

RalliartBoy wrote:Does anyone know where i can source a set of Aftermarket taillights (tinted, altezza etc) for an FTO ?

I've been looking but have had no success.

Also been trying to find pics of FTO's with aftermarket lights if anyone can send me a link.

Hi RalliartBoy,

I scored myself a pair of Project F tail lights through WILL (member of forum who isn't very active any more).

$1400, I got them as I was involved in an accident. Basically had somebody run up my backside while I was sitting in traffic not moving, I paid $700 for them as the rest was covered by insurance (cost of new Stock lights).

Be very careful, anybody reading this - if you ever do end up buying aftermarket tail lights (and spending a lot of money), please make sure you put some clear celastic (Sorry, unsure of spelling) around the edges, otherwise gradually over time water will seep in little by little.

This is basically what happened to me, something I did not expect considering the price on the lights, but I have myself to blame as I did not do anything about it when it started to happen. I still have my lights on my car, but you can basically see a bit of runny glue on the edges of the lights where the water's gone in.

I might post up some pics in the HELP section to see if anybody might have ideas in how I might be able to take the back cover off, so I can re-apply some clear glue and put some celastic around them this time to ensure this does not happen again. It's not a huge problem, I'm sure it can be fixed, just don't want to snap the plastic cover trying to take it off.

Anyway, honestly I don't think they're worth the money, unless you had a situation like I did (not saying that you should get yourself rear ended!), or you're floating in money (In which case, please pass some over to those of us a bit less fortunate!).

They're nice lights, just a bit too expensive.

EDIT: Any idea why I keep getting this message when I make a post?

"General Error

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manofwood · Post by **manofwood** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:20 pm

you get a heat gun and concentrate the heat through the housing (not the lens, you'll melt it) and that weakens the glue. slowly, you can separate the lens from the housing with enough heat applied. thats it, its easy as. to refit the lens, you do the same thing in reverse, the glue is reusable.

project f are not a company, if you look at their site closely, you see that they are an owners club, like us. if you want to know what they are talking about, use 'alta vista babel fish translater'.

they know people who know people that produce these parts, most of the parts seem to come from a company called creative sports, which are a big ripoff ($1400 equivalent for shorty extractors) and seem to specialise in 'nakaya tune' parts, nakaya being a former fto racer.

as sublime19 found out the hard way, their lights are sh*t. a total waste of money. they arent even new, theyre reproduced stock units, that chrome backing is just paint. anyone can do it.

sublime19 · Post by **sublime19** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:37 pm

I don't regret buying them, I just didn't expect a poor quality product for that amount.

But yep, guess I found out the hard way! All in all, they don't really LOOK cheap, just when things go wrong that you wouldn't expect, you realise of the cheap quality items they used to make the lights.

I initially thought about using a heat gun, but I didn't know if that would warp the cover out of shape, since I'm unsure of the quality of it. Was thinking to maybe even working it over with a hair dryer slowly and trying to slowly pull it off. Anyway, I'll take a couple of happy snaps and post it up, thanks for the info.

manofwood · Post by **manofwood** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:49 pm

sublime19 wrote:I initially thought about using a heat gun, but I didn't know if that would warp the cover out of shape, since I'm unsure of the quality of it.

thats why you put the heat through the housing. dont put the heat gun on the lens at all. i guess with the rarity of those lights (only 3 sets in oz?) you'd expect to pay that inside the country

sublime19 · Post by **sublime19** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:59 pm

manofwood wrote:
sublime19 wrote:I initially thought about using a heat gun, but I didn't know if that would warp the cover out of shape, since I'm unsure of the quality of it.
thats why you put the heat through the housing. dont put the heat gun on the lens at all. i guess with the rarity of those lights (only 3 sets in oz?) you'd expect to pay that inside the country

Hmm, what exactly do you mean when you say I put the head through the housing? As in the edges of the lights?

manofwood · Post by **manofwood** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:08 pm

with most heat gun kits, you'll have little attachments. i used a 'flat' type that pumps the air out in a flat line, instead of a circle.
you focus the heat on the black part of the taillight (the black part that actually bolts to the car), and only on the black part.
it will absorb all the heat, and when its nearly too hot for you to touch, that should be enough to begin separating the lens. do it section by section though, as the heat will dissipate after a bit of time.
you have to pull the lens dircetly away from the housing as well, as it has a mounting flange all the way around(thats where the glue is), if you dont pull it directly away, you will snap parts of this flange, and then water will leak in anyway.

RalliartBoy · Post by **RalliartBoy** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 11:40 pm

Thanks for all the advice ManOfWood, ill need for when i tint my lights.

And, yes, the Project F lights look good but definately not worth the money.

manofwood · Post by **manofwood** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:12 am

if you need hands on help with it, send me a msg and i'll try to arrange something. you only live down the road from me dont you? i've got left over tint and a heat gun so you can use that stuff...

RalliartBoy · Post by **RalliartBoy** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:31 pm

Thanks, ill take you up on that as i'm not that handy with the tools, im likely to need first aid if i give it a go.

FTO AUSTRALIA

Aftermarket Taillights

Re: Aftermarket Taillights