Tail light project

[YoungCoupe]

I've been bored lately, so I've been looking to do something with my tail lights. I don't really like the design of the depot tails, and I've heard terrible things about their quality. So I've decided to take it into my own hands. This is what a tail light looks like disassembled.

[SanoSuKe]

What could you possibly do to it besides LEDs or GTR style lights? Paint?

[YoungCoupe]

It's LEDs just in a halo style unlike the depots. Nothing too drastic haha. Do you think painting the housing would look good? I've thought about it.

[SanoSuKe]

Depends on the look you're going for. Personally I wouldn't do it since it's not a clear glass. It would just appear as a darker red I think. The LEDs I approve of! lol

[YoungCoupe]

Ya that's what I was thinking. Should I got for a dotty or smooth look? I did a photoshop with smooth rings.

[Innovazn]

smooth. and good on you for taking the plunge and being guinea pig

[SanoSuKe]

I like the Iron Man style better but I'm sure smooth will come out great.

[DJ_B_Easy]

and good on you for taking the plunge and being guinea pig

+1
I thought about doing this for a while when I had the extra set in my basement. Never got around to it.

Question about the red lens. Is it actually red material or is there a red film layer on clear material? Reverse cutout always led me to believe it was a film that could be removed and then tinted from the inside rather than outside.

[YoungCoupe]

I've been thinking about doing this for a while and decided to go for it when i found a tail light for $40.

The lens itself is actually red plastic. The reverse thing is just special haha.

[AlexN09]

Dude that is gonna look awesome. Smooth rings are what I had in mind!!! I might have to follow your lead.

[YoungCoupe]

I'm not sure if the smooth rings are gonna work out anymore, TRS doesn't have red rings in the size that I need. Might have to go with a dotty look. I'm not in a hurry though, so we'll see!

[AlexN09]

I wouldn't mind trying it out too. If you get the project going let me know and maybe I can follow along and learn how.

Can you not use a white ring? I have no idea.

[DJ_B_Easy]

^Good point.
OEM halogen bulbs are white/off white, a red would actually give less output than a white filtered through a red lens.
Not sure what kind of bulbs you are specifically looking at but you might have to do some trial and error to see which (red or white) will give you the best output.
Maybe Dangeris can chime in, I'm sure he has tried something like this in the past.

[AlexN09]

^Good point.
OEM halogen bulbs are white/off white, a red would actually give less output than a white filtered through a red lens.
Not sure what kind of bulbs you are specifically looking at but you might have to do some trial and error to see which (red or white) will give you the best output.
Maybe Dangeris can chime in, I'm sure he has tried something like this in the past.

This is exactly what I was thinking, that red light would be filtered out and not be as bright. I'm not an expert but it seems like a white bulb would look the brightest and most red.

[YoungCoupe]

You would think that right, but physics says otherwise. The tail lights are red, which means that every other color except red is absorbed by the material. So in the case of incandescent bulbs, those output the full spectrum of light, so the red in it gets through while all the other color is blocked. But with LEDs, they only emit one specific wavelength, or color. So a white LED would get almost completely filtered out, while a red LED, because the tail light material does not absorb red, will go through. That's your physics lesson of the day.

[AlexN09]

Thanks man. Didn't realize that about LEDs

[DJ_B_Easy]

<---*Scratches head*

Huh? It makes 100% complete sense to me both ways. Research time!

[AlexN09]

Hahaha well first you have to understand what the red lense does to the light.

Then you have to understand that lEds are gonna peak at a specific wavelength rather than emitting a large spectrum of colors like an incandescent bulb.

Then you will see the light !

[Bangin_Coupe]

So is there an update on this tail light quest?

[YoungCoupe]

I'm waiting for a break from school to work on this project. But I've tested it out and got the wiring and the like to work. Will update when I'm done

[Blue Batmobile]

looking forward to the pics!

B@t

[Bangin_Coupe]

Good, I can't wait.

[tdawson]

This is a bit of an older post, but did you ever do anything with this? How did you disassemble the tail light? I decided recently I wanted to try something similar and stumbled on this post. I bought a light off eBay and I'm having a heck of a time trying to take it apart. I'm using dremel cutting wheels, but it's painfully slow and I'm not sure the finished product is going to look all that great. Thanks!

[YoungCoupe]

Never got around to doing it with my actual lights, as I've been pretty busy. And I'll be handing the car down to my brother soon, so I don't really want to mess with it anymore. But anyway, to disassemble the lights, what I did was use a dremel and just cut through the gray plastic. Don't bother trying to cut where it looks like the lens would come off, it'll end up looking terrible. Best of luck to you!