light tinting

what works the best on headlights and on tail lights? with hid's...... ive been looking at lamin-x for headlights and painting the taillights with tinted clear. any thoughts on them? thanks.

spray on tint.

Dont EVER paint your lights, I did on my old y33 and it looked real bad and the dude did it did a good job. There are tons of dudes who tint lights though. Check craigslist you should be able to find someone on there and they can do it for pretty cheap. Also I know ebay has the pre cut kits for most cars.

A body shop can paint head & tail lights easy and it lasts the longest & looks the best. The one thing is you'd better like it cause it's not coming off easily. Maybe try vinyl first, see if you like it and then get them painted.
I tinted my fogs myself and didn't like it after a while. I had to sand that shit off. Took a while but it looks good as new again. If I had a body shop paint them I don't think I would have been able to get it off.

[QUOTE=Schnitz;279293]A body shop can paint head & tail lights easy and it lasts the longest & looks the best. The one thing is you'd better like it cause it's not coming off easily. Maybe try vinyl first, see if you like it and then get them painted.
I tinted my fogs myself and didn't like it after a while. I had to sand that shit off. Took a while but it looks good as new again. If I had a body shop paint them I don't think I would have been able to get it off.[/QUOTE]Agreed. I would recommend just looking into getting vinyl overlays.

woah!!!! do not paint your headlights or tailights!!!
go to a tint shop and get them to put 3m film over them it comes in a range of tints and its durable and wont peel or scratch

we do this at our shop.  first what type of look were you tryin to achieve with the heads and tails

The tails I just want a few shades darker the headlights I would like to be kinda dark.

are the lights all smooth? are there nipples?

if they are smooth you can go vinyl. we use oracal but 3M also makes transparents.  they remove easily and last a long time.  the lamin-x is super thick, not very clear and more difficult to apply

the tails are smooth. the corner lights for the headlights have a raised part. here are some pics
[IMG]http://img179.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/users/1/9/9/7/sakaponja-img600x450-1256834929lnyitt11043.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img227.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/users/7/5/2/2/igakenzai-img600x450-1251643444saxztq94866.jpg[/IMG]

I had my tails sprayed and it looks great and lasts the longest.  My body does body work and paint so he hooked it up at his shop.  This is the best way to do it.  G/L

the tail lamps i want to go from this; (thanks mike)
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/chineseboi4o8/Car%20Photoshoots/IMG_9561.jpg[/IMG]
to this;
[IMG]http://www.angrylife.com/temp/purple_is_for_girls.jpg[/IMG]
 

and the headlamp tint something like this;
[IMG]http://carview-img02.bmcdn.jp/minkara/photo/000/001/627/848/1627848/p2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://carview-img02.bmcdn.jp/carlife/images/user/360166/p1.jpg[/IMG]

Use the film. Seriously.  If you don't it you can peel it off.  There are many colors to choose from and shades of black/smoke.  Spray on tint will absolutely NEVER go on as even as the vinyl.  In other words the vinyl is a perfect layer of colors, the spray can be splotchy and is MUCH harder to get off.

If you do go with spray make sure you pay damn good money and get the best job you can done, I had mine done as I said earlier and while it looked ok when I wanted to take if off I cold do was get new tail lights. Just get the vinyl it will be cheaper, non perminant, and will prb look better.

so i will probably go with vinyl but what kind is best? i dont want it to peel up.

Just get a pro to do it, it wil usualy come with a warranty that way.

I got mine from rvinyl.com and its holding up great.  Definitely something you can do yourself in your driveway.

holy sh*t. do not paint your headlights that dark! just buy some from rvinyl or get some 3m professionally done. if you dont like it you can just peel it off instead of sand and polish. not to mention the added UV and rockchip protection some films give.
the corners would probably be easier to paint though, and if you get harassed for how dark they are you can swap out to the original corner lenses.

aight for the front to be that dark you will have to either spray or use lamin-x.  like i said the lamin-x is a lot more difficult than your standard vinyl.  the lamin-x should be around $50.  you can buy bulk sheets.  as far as the taillights i would recommend dark grey transparent.  its pretty easy.  we use oracal 8300-073.  the lamin-x is dark charcoal.  its darker than the oracal.  i have lamin-x dark charcoal on my trunk inners and they appear black, on your chrome headlights they will be a tad lighter.  let me find some pics right quick

lamin-x, remember with a chrome background it will be lighter
[img]http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/87/l_d54f6a149521161f30ab499e0c997418.jpg[/img]
dark grey oracal 
[img]http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/46/l_88e1b02dcbe3ddeea202c6e5f4f7e3ca.jpg[/img]
dark grey oracal on top, light grey oracal on bottom
[img]http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/39/l_ecbead2789a4e13424d3ed3a55586b81.jpg[/img]

another dark grey oracal
[img]http://www.viptint.com/gallery/tinted-taillights/pic1.jpg[/img]
heres the dark oracal on chrome headlights, looks lighter than the pic u want
[img]http://www.viptint.com/gallery/tinted-headlights/pic1.jpg[/img]

yo and paint IMO is better, glossier finish, and its optically clearer.  however it is completely illegal and more difficult to remove.  the vinyl peels off with minimal glue.  and the residue wipes off with either alcohol or simplegreen

the dark grey oracal on the tails are a bit too dark for me is there anything a bit lighter? if you compare the pic i posted its a bit lighter and thats what i would ideally like my tails to look like. but i might be able to live with the headlights with dark grey oracal. looks like it wouldn't totally screw your light output.

what do you guys think i should do, im going to pick up a 2008 acura TL and should i tint my tail all red or leave it?

[QUOTE=BRIANxJDM;280708]what do you guys think i should do, im going to pick up a 2008 acura TL and should i tint my tail all red or leave it?[/QUOTE]
 all RED=)

so it looks like i may just go with the lamin-x on the tails and oracle on the headlamps. not 100% yet but thats where im leaning.

[QUOTE=NELSON09;280753]all RED=)[/QUOTE]

thats what i thought too, it looks pretty good

also i wanted to know whats better the tint spray or the lamin-x because i want to black out my side markers on the side of the TL

just wait up, i will throw some sample shades on our Q so u can see.
here is ur pic
[img]http://www.angrylife.com/temp/purple_is_for_girls.jpg[/img]
look at this is the light, they are pretty close
[img]http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/39/l_ecbead2789a4e13424d3ed3a55586b81.jpg[/img]

you see how you can still see the red?

and do you just want the red to be smoked?
[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/chineseboi4o8/Car%20Photoshoots/IMG_9561.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=vip tint+glass;280803]and do you just want the red to be smoked?
[img]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/chineseboi4o8/Car%20Photoshoots/IMG_9561.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]

no i like the idea of the whole light smoked.

[QUOTE=vip tint+glass;280802]just wait up, i will throw some sample shades on our Q so u can see.
here is ur pic
[img]http://www.angrylife.com/temp/purple_is_for_girls.jpg[/img]
look at this is the light, they are pretty close
[img]http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/39/l_ecbead2789a4e13424d3ed3a55586b81.jpg[/img]

you see how you can still see the red?[/QUOTE]

to me the truck looks sooooo much darker. black almost.

the smoke tint on that Q is pretty nice. not to dark matches the color of the car.
 
those trucks are sick ..