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DIY Rear Tail Tint 20$


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Hey guys,

 

I always liked the look of tinted tails on the Legacy but could never justify spending upwards of $50 for them.

 

So i was at Home Depot the other day and saw this

 

Gila Smoked window film (its in the doors and windows department) $12 for the film and $8 for the application kit.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/rurouni_xgt/IMG00066.jpg

Make sure you clean your lights with the suppled spray before then I just cut 2 squares of material to just stick on the tails once stuck on I trimmed them to match with a exacto knife/razor. Do not worry about air bubbles for now.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/rurouni_xgt/IMG00067.jpg

 

after trimming them to shape spray the film with the solution and start working out the air bubbles with the supplied squeegee. i found the best way was to peel of the film and apply it with the squeegee as you go.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/rurouni_xgt/IMG00068.jpg

 

After getting most of the bubbles out here ya go

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/rurouni_xgt/IMG00069.jpg

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/rurouni_xgt/IMG00070.jpg

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How would you discribe the degree of difficulty. I take it you have not donr this before. The tint loooks rather dark. What % tint is it. BTW Nice job.

 

It was extremely easy the only thing that took some time was getting the air bubbles out. as for the darkness its mostly due to my crappy cell phone cam. It is not that dark off cam.

 

thanks

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nice job/idea. i've been looking into tail tints but they are so damn expensive then you have to put them on yourself. $20 plus a little effort isn't a bad deal at all. the best part is when i screw it up (because i will screw it up) i will plenty of supplies to try it again. i will be doing this very soon. maybe home depot will put my car in one of their commercials to show off my " window tint tails" and my "rubber garage door sealer front lip."
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nice job/idea. i've been looking into tail tints but they are so damn expensive then you have to put them on yourself. $20 plus a little effort isn't a bad deal at all. the best part is when i screw it up (because i will screw it up) i will plenty of supplies to try it again. i will be doing this very soon. maybe home depot will put my car in one of their commercials to show off my " window tint tails" and my "rubber garage door sealer front lip."

 

Home Depot mods FTW!!! So far my grille mesh and tint are from there.

 

here is a better pic to show the true color

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/rurouni_xgt/IMG_1016.jpg

http://legacygt.com/forums/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/rurouni_xgt/IMG_1016.jpg%5B/IMG%5D

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I'm gonna do this too, except I wouldn't be caught dead in a home depot. I ROCK LOWE'S. lol

you don't know what you missing out on at the depo...lol

 

 

that pic settles it. im going to home depot after work tommorow to do the tails. i think i'm gonna be brave and cut a hole for the reverse lights. i'm going super custom guys, wish me luck

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you don't know what you missing out on at the depo...lol

 

 

that pic settles it. im going to home depot after work tommorow to do the tails. i think i'm gonna be brave and cut a hole for the reverse lights. i'm going super custom guys, wish me luck

 

Yeah, i was gonna do that too but i prefer the look of totally blacked out over cutting out the reverse light, but it shouldn't be too hard to do. Good luck.

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How Does the tint look over time? does it get scratched at all? i know that they put tint on the outside of windows on lambos. I had mine painted on my Titan. Is it easy to take off if i end up not wanting it on?
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How Does the tint look over time? does it get scratched at all? i know that they put tint on the outside of windows on lambos. I had mine painted on my Titan. Is it easy to take off if i end up not wanting it on?

 

 

It peels right off

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Well I did this today and had two problems with it. First the tint just sticks on with very little strength. It peels right off with very little effort. I'm not sure it'll last. Secondly, I realized just how cool our lights look. Even though they're stock, they still look better than other cars lights. In the end I took them off and preferred the stock clean look. But good luck guys. Keep an eye on the corners of the tint, they might start flapping around.
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I tried to black out my tails using window tint sometime ago as well, but I had a very difficult time getting the tint to flex around the curves, especially the "L" shaped curve from the back to the side of the lens. Eventually I got the tint to stick with minimal crease, however one of the edges began to peel off within less than a week after a rain shower, so I gave up the project entirely. Peeling off the tint and the subsequent "goo-gone" wipe down of the glue residue was a PITA itself. IMHO window tint does not work for tail tinting purposes.
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I tried to black out my tails using window tint sometime ago as well, but I had a very difficult time getting the tint to flex around the curves, especially the "L" shaped curve from the back to the side of the lens. Eventually I got the tint to stick with minimal crease, however one of the edges began to peel off within less than a week after a rain shower, so I gave up the project entirely. Peeling off the tint and the subsequent "goo-gone" wipe down of the glue residue was a PITA itself. IMHO window tint does not work for tail tinting purposes.

 

What kind of film did you use? Because it should be stretchy enough to go around the curves easily and it should not leave any residue on your lights since it does not require any adhesive to stick on.

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I did it today it was a pain in my a** to get the edge closest to the Center of the trunk to go down. once i did i couldnt trim the edges off without it peeling off. What is the economy doing to this forum! Diy Lips diy Tails... haha i need a break. Glad you got yours to work. Mine looked good for a bout 10 minutes.
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ok i received the window film today and since i just finished washing and waxing the car i really didn't want to be in the heat anymore but i couldn't help myself. took me less than an hour fro mstart to finish. kind of a PITA but thats just because I cut the film to size over the actual tail-lights. so using the exacto-knife right next to the paint & fresh wax took some precision cutting. overall it was pretty easy and looks good. pics should be up 2moro.
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It was just regular window tint picked up from Pep Boys. The film does not have enough flex to wrap around the corners, esp since the taillights are concave vertically. I had the film wet and soapy prior to application too.

 

 

What kind of film did you use? Because it should be stretchy enough to go around the curves easily and it should not leave any residue on your lights since it does not require any adhesive to stick on.
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I used that same tint to tint the doors and windows at my job. It can get nice and dark, but it scratches insanely easily. Just cleaning it with a terry cloth towel and windex puts permanent marks on it. I know you shouldn't clean a car with terry cloth, only microfiber, but I'm always skeptical about putting cheap stuff like this on my car.

I would imagine you would have to redo this on a yearly basis to ensure that it looks good...

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