Custom Smoked Euro LED Tail lights

The idea of a smoked set of taillights for the GLI was one long in the making. Ever since I bought the original set of LED European taillights, I always thought the red in them clashed too much with my black car. While the brilliant red of the taillight housing goes very well with other colored cars (particularly light ones), something about the contrast between black and red somewhat diminished the appeal they had, at least in my eyes. Hence the idea to make them dark one way or another.

The idea ran its natural course in pretty much the same way most things do; by attempting to do it myself first. However interesting this process was going to prove, It wasn’t without frustrating moments. It’s sometimes a little unnerving to gamble with $300+ auto parts particularly when there is no experience with the task that one is about to undertake.

The first step in this process was the application of smoked translucent vinyl which provided pretty bad results. The product and concept itself is not bad, unfortunately I was not apt to do this successfully. The amount of creases and bubbles that I ended up with made the results basically unacceptable. In addition, the film covers the housing in its entirety which is not something I wanted to do. The clear lenses on the outer taillight housings are the ones powered by LED and applying vinyl would tarnish to some extent the crisp light output LEDs provide. This was not a trade off I was willing to go with.

The next step in the process was the application of spray-on tint. This specific type of spray is designed specifically for polycarbonate lenses and is pretty difficult to find. The only source for this material so far has been eBay as it is a Japanese import. Sacrilege aside, the final product was something I could live with. I masked each housing and lens with painter’s tape in order to spray only the areas that needed to be tinted. I was able to apply it uniformly enough to get good coverage and even application. Unfortunately the cans are too small (about 2oz per can) and one was simply not enough to get the job done. In addition, the last few seconds worth of spray basically spit the tint onto the lens essentially ruining the job. I had to remove the tint completely with non-acetone nail polish remover. Unfortunately this caused the polycarbonate lens to fog and show very thin stress cracks in the clear areas; Not a good thing at all. I was able to polish off the lenses to an acceptable condition but now I had one side tinted and one not. I then ordered more spray, redid the process and decided to move on calling it a job well done. The slight haziness that the spray left was able to somewhat be curtailed by intensive machine polishing, although they never truly reached the gloss found in the rest of the car.

Then one night I was backing up a friend’s long, curved, pitch black driveway and stupidly backed into his car. My friend was in the car with me at the time so I assume he thought I knew his car was there. More importantly, I think he thought I could see it, with my cat-like night vision and all. In any case, as soon as I heard the crack I slammed on the brakes but it was too late: My driver’s side outer housing was destroyed. After I got over the anger I caused myself and budgeted for a new set of these (they are not cheap by any means) I figured this had given me the perfect excuse to have another go at this project, something I was not exactly thrilled with. As you can tell by reading this, while the job itself is rather easy and produced good results, it was the trial and error that led to the final result what I dreaded. And while I am aware that lessons learned are not soon forgotten, I really just wanted to have them done the right way this time around.

Enter Shifty’s Spraywerkz in Oklahoma City. Ran by Robert Lackey aka Shifty, this paint shop specializes in custom paint work for European cars. A Volkswagen enthusiast himself, Robert has been tinting lenses for years, endeavor which has become so successful that he even offers an exchange program based on a core/refundable fee system. And the results really show why Shifty’s Spraywerkz is has been in business for this long. Some minor over spray on the back of the housings aside, you would be hard pressed to detect that these are even tinted at all and didn’t come this way from factory. It is also my understanding that Shifty uses only automotive Dupont paint products which produce fantastic results. The end result is a glossy, evenly covered housing with no bleeding or haze to be found anywhere at all. The clear lens areas were masked perfectly then coated with clear coat with the rest of the pre-tinted housing so that there is no line to be felt or seen between the tinted and non tinted surface areas. The process itself is something only Robert knows for sure but I understand the prep process involves sanding the lenses, which improve greatly the adhesion the paint has with the polycarbonate. I would never be brave enough to do without the experience he has acquired through the years. However I am sure without this step, such excellent results could not have been achieved. Overall, I am extremely pleased with how the project turned out:

While I will always consider the first set I did myself a good learning experience, it was through its destruction that I ended up with a set far superior than anything I could have possibly done with a spray can.