2005 M45 Rear Differences

[DeanM45]

One of my coworkers has an 06 M45 also. I parked next to him to get the differences between his cars (stock) and my car's rear:
Stock:


Mine:


Side by side:


Amazing the difference a bit of paint can make. He's starting to venture over to the mod scene now as well, it's contagious!

[Costee]

But the reverse lights are not the same.

[DeanM45]

But the reverse lights are not the same.

Yes they are, just a little bit of "Night Shades" red paint. Very SLIGHT decrease in light output. I just used a lumen meter to find the brightest part of the reverse light and made that the center of the "slit", cut out a form in tape, put it on and sprayed the "transparent" red paint.

[pedsemdoc]

I like your mod Dean, reminds me of the brake lights of the 2008-2010 models.

Just nitpicking, the red of the reverse light now looks a little darker than your tail lights.
Now you could mask off the clear portion of the tail light and spray your tail lights with some red.

[DeanM45]

I like your mod Dean, reminds me of the brake lights of the 2008-2010 models.

Just nitpicking, the red of the reverse light now looks a little darker than your tail lights.
Now you could mask off the clear portion of the tail light and spray your tail lights with some red.

Correct, sometimes, around dusk, the inners appear darker. Not as much light is allowed in to reflect back out on the inners so unless it is full daytime, they appear darker. Most of the time they look correct. I am going to pull the outters off soon enough and fog them with one coat which should take care of it. I am also going to put a black narrow "band" around the outside of both inner and outter. Think that will tie everything together.

[stm37s]

that is a cool tail light mod, very classy DeanM45

[DeanM45]

Thanks. It's all the little things (with minimal effort) that really bring the car together since it is a great platform to start from.

[Costee]

But the reverse lights are not the same.

Yes they are, just a little bit of "Night Shades" red paint. Very SLIGHT decrease in light output. I just used a lumen meter to find the brightest part of the reverse light and made that the center of the "slit", cut out a form in tape, put it on and sprayed the "transparent" red paint.

Hm, quite devious---well, I meant ingenious