does anyone know if smoked tail lights are legal in texas

http://carcustomz.com/osc/mazda-rx8-c-13_14.html

i want the dark smoke but i dont know if light or dark smoke are legal but if they are should i get light or dark

As long as you can see the reflector to the rear without the lights being depressed then it is legal in Texas. So as it isnt the blackout model then u are ok.

I went with a full kit (head / fogs / tails) and let me tell you; The tails are a bitch.

You will need a heat gun and multiple sets of hands to get it to stretch. You learn from experience quickly but only really get one shot at it.

Looking back it would have been easier to order the blank peices for the rears and heatgun them on then cut off the excess. While the pre-cut parts are nice they don't apply very easily. I cannot stress enough you will need to use a heat gun.


http://lamin-x.com/ecommerce/os/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=RX8

yeah woulda been useful reading what worm said about the tails.. haha.. but yeah had to heat up and stretch the film to fit..
but lamin-x, only 50 bucks for the tails.. not bad at all. and it looks pretty good too.

Too many places sell them already done now. I would rather just buy them already smoked myself.

My advice, forget the covers, they are a PAIN and trust me when i tell you if you are particular and want it to look flawless, IMO i would take them to get painted. They can put light coat and smoke them out and it will look 10x better than a heat gun, stretch session would look. Prob cost $150 or so for both but will look great.

i bought a set of smoked tails on ebay, i only seen them one other time afterwards...might want to check it time to time to see how often they are available. mine were a perfect set, pretty dark tho, but they wer nice and glossy with a smooth texture.

anybody though about just getting the spray on stuff?

theres a spray on??

The great thing about my Overlays is that the reflectors are still quite visible!

Bat™

theres a spray on??

yep


search on ebay and theres quite a few to choose from


theyre fairly popular in japan

you can just go to your local hobby shop and buy model spray tint. its the stuff they paint R/C Car windshields and stuff. thats what i did. it would be even better if you bake your tails and spray the inside but i didn't know how, could anyone tell me how?

man, ima have to go get that model paint stuff, it will probably look way better than how my tail lights actually turned out.. got some wrinkles around the edges.

I've used the model paint which does work but I have been experiencing problems with the stuff lasting. First attempt used just the spray on tint with no clear coat resulted in the paint coming off slowly until the tint was almost non-existant.

Second attempt we put in a layer of clear coat which has protected the tint but I've started having issues with the clear coat coming off of the lights. Either the humidity or direct sunlight.

anyone else having some fun with backing up at night?

why hasnt anyone let the circles of the white backing up lights stay untinted? i think that'd be pretty sweet looking imo. i was thinking of buying the overlays and simply cutting out the circles for the rear lights with a circle cutter.

it will look like a random circle considering the whole area lights up ... would look kinda weird imo.

why hasnt anyone let the circles of the white backing up lights stay untinted? i think that'd be pretty sweet looking imo. i was thinking of buying the overlays and simply cutting out the circles for the rear lights with a circle cutter.

i seen somethin similar to what you are saying and i honestly didnt like it, it just looked ricey imo, looked unfinished. i say get the smoke tails, but if you are worried bout the law or safety, do i vey light coating and polish it nice so it looks more OEM than something that was done in a garage...

jus a lil sameless plug to show mine off:spank:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/2659000-2659999/2659568_35_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/2659000-2659999/2659568_24_full.jpg
:rolleyes:

I'm gonna bake my tails and paint different parts on the inside and leave the lens clear. that way it will have the dark look inside and nice and shiny on the out.

cutting out an area for some light to shine through for the back ups wouldnt be a bad idea.. but yeah it would take away from the clean look, and plus i didnt even cut out the key hole in my tail light, tired of the damn water seeping in. and key holes are dumb, but i kinda needed it the other day, so dumb idea on my part.

I'm gonna bake my tails and paint different parts on the inside and leave the lens clear. that way it will have the dark look inside and nice and shiny on the out.

if you somehow get it to work, pics and details!

OMG those pre cut tints ARE A PAIN IN THE A$$. Don’t doo it, WoW!!! I tried to put them on the other day after ordering them off eBay and Boiii it looked like crap. Soooo difficult and I had a heatgun and all. I just gave up and put it in the garbage. TRUST ME just use the spray!!!!

precuts are a lot harder to put on cuz you gotta work with the size they give you. i tried it and got some stretch marks in the film. spray or bulk film would be lots easier.

yeah, pre cuts.. not the best idea in the world.. they should have a warning on the box about it.. cause mine look good from a far, but far from good.. well in certain spots. no good do it yourselfer!.. which is me.

lol, what annoyed me the most was having to stretch them to fit. having to put it on, it dries, pull it off and stretch it, and bam, stretch marks.

i'll make the warning: size too small, be prepared to mess up

thanks for the post warning.. now all we need is one talking about how the film doesnt really like hot ass weather..because mine is coming up in some spots. so.. i might have to take my film off and just hae them sprayed.

hmm..how long did you have it on for?

the film shouldn't be coming up unless there is still soap or air bubbles in it. if anything the heat helps the film. UV rays will cause wear, but that's what an application of wax over it is for. i had my previous fronts on for months with no issue (peeled it off cuz i didn't stretch it enough during install to cover entire area :()

i had them on for a little under a month.. the one side i am mostly talking about is the right tail light.. where the key hole for the trunk is.. something happened and now its all scrunched up and looks really bad.. so i might have to take them off. something i dont wanna do.. but might have too.. (also sad face)

Has anyone bought from that website? They look pretty decent. I want to know how they come as.. And if it's worth it.

i just got my second set of tail light film from them. i had extra left over from old set so i did my sidemarker lights, and my third brake light. so it looks alot better now. but uh.. how do you mean "how they come as". but its worth it, makes the tail light look alot better.

i just got my second set of tail light film from them. i had extra left over from old set so i did my sidemarker lights, and my third brake light. so it looks alot better now. but uh.. how do you mean "how they come as". but its worth it, makes the tail light look alot better.



I see you have a VR. Same as me. Can you post some pics of the tail lights bro? Just want to see how they came out.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g304/Lil_Gato/09-18-07_1507.jpg

couldnt get a pic with the third brake light done, sun was in the shot. but here the tail lights.. if the pic is fuzzy it was done with my celly..

nice... anyone have smoked tail lights on a bb rx8?

Looks pimp. Need to do this..

nice... anyone have smoked tail lights on a bb rx8?

check the 1st page of this thread and there are pics of a BB with smoked tails:uhh:

just checking but what did most people do when they had to deal with the keyhole in the rear? i didn't get a good look at danny's car at sevenstock so i just wanted to see what different people did

screw clear corners. i used smoke overlay on my corners and it came out VERY NICE. i have a tinted VR, and clearcorners would stand out since they would be the only white thing on the car. i tinted my headlights as well, its a good 10 footer. as in, from 10 feet, it looks good. i might redo it with my brothers help.

the whole, "many pairs of hands" suggestion should be taken.

but it looks very nice.

http://graphicdesignlabs.com/rx8/side2_tinted.jpg

needs to get lowered and have the back lights done.

i just took these 2 pics (car needs a wash.) in the last pic you can see the little distortions in the overlay. 2 hands are not enough because you need 1 to hold the hair dryer and one to.. only one to apply it? yeah right. :P

http://graphicdesignlabs.com/rx8/side3_tinted.jpg
http://graphicdesignlabs.com/rx8/tintedlights_wide.jpg

Red and black looks good. But Black and WB will not. I thought real hard about doing this but after seeing someone on here with this on there WB I was like no way!

for the key hole i just kinda.. well lets just i now have only one key hole for the car, it makes it alot smoother looking. how hard was it to do the headlights, been thinking about getting those done. i mean cause i got my "clear corners" done, might as well finish off the look. haha, maybe i can get more fix it tickets. haha. i have a big stack of tickets.

headlights are easy.

alright cool, now i just have to scrounge up some money, buy me the head lights.. nd hope that i dont have to do it twice like my tail lights. haha. question is.. where am i goin to get the money..??? any suggestions. haha

i did my headlights twice... haha

it was only cuz i lined up the precut wrong though.

aww shitty.. haha. thats.. well i dont know what happened to my tail lights the first time. but im sure i did something wrong. oh well, least i know one of the guys that works at lamin-x enough to where if it messes up again, i can get a cheaper price on some new ones. haha.

haha, i wish i had that hook up.

well, it took a guy with some sympathy and time to hear my amazing story. haha. i got fired the day i got my tail light film, put em.. a few days later.. my tail lights started messin up. tried to fix them.. blah blah blah, sent him some pics. and well i got my second set for cheap.. so i think i need to buy me a shirt that says "got it for cheap".

screw clear corners. i used smoke overlay on my corners and it came out VERY NICE. i have a tinted VR, and clearcorners would stand out since they would be the only white thing on the car. i tinted my headlights as well, its a good 10 footer. as in, from 10 feet, it looks good. i might redo it with my brothers help.

You just need tints on your 8 and it'd look nice. I won't go with the blacked out corners but I'm headings towards a Red & Black combo.. As in the car..

wtf, I just noticed.. You have tints..

i take it the red and black is a common thing these days. haha.

I have them too guys ;).

Bat™

can i ask a dumb question, why arent there any aftermarket tail lights fo our cars...everyone in the world wants to switch to altezza style lights, im prob the only person who wants to switch out of them lol...i love the smoked tails but i just want to see something different.

there are aftermarket tails out there..in Japan. but the market doesn't provide for it in the US cuz very few, if any would get it...and it doesn't look that good anyways.

i think the point in "the market" every creating such things as altezzas taillights is for rice tuners to feel like they have put something to increase the value on their POS. If you buy a car like the rx8 that already is OF value with some high-fab taillights then what is the point... if to say "something different" your rx8 IS "something different". IF you put altezza taillight on it you will no longer be that something different you will be a wannabe honda rice fan... :icon_no2:

BEST WEBSITE FOR TINTING YOUR LIGHTS IN YOUR CAR IS www.rvinyl.com
THEY EVEN GIVE YOU BACK 20 DOLLARS IF YOU SEND IN PICS OF YOUR CAR W/ THEIR PRODUCT....TRUST ME..THERE GOOD

VHT NITESHADE > all. I had done a couple cars with it, then used high-grade auto clear coat and it was MINT.

BEST WEBSITE FOR TINTING YOUR LIGHTS IN YOUR CAR IS www.rvinyl.com
THEY EVEN GIVE YOU BACK 20 DOLLARS IF YOU SEND IN PICS OF YOUR CAR W/ THEIR PRODUCT....TRUST ME..THERE GOOD
ya they have some nice stuff.
have you used them ?

VHT NITESHADE > all. I had done a couple cars with it, then used high-grade auto clear coat and it was MINT.

what's this high-grade clear coat you speak of? brand? where'd you buy it??

ya i used them RXallen
i did my head lights, tail lights, third brake light, and side (marker) lights. lol
turned out pretty good for my first time tinting lights

Nice. Thanks for posting a BBwith smoked tails. Did you do it yourself?

Anyone have a WB with smoked or tinted lights?? I want to figure out if I want to take the dive... I'd probably spray and cook em rather than use the films.

Anyone have a WB with smoked or tinted lights?? I want to figure out if I want to take the dive... I'd probably spray and cook em rather than use the films.

yeah i have an 04 WB with tinted headlights right now and tailights im doing very soon if u want PM me ill send u pics

i bought some spray for mine ... costs less then 6 bucks.

Resurrected! Anyone have pics of the light smoke film? I ordered from rvinyl, but not sure what the light smoke will look like. I installed some expensive LED bulbs and didn't want them completely dimmed out. I'll post up pics of the light smoke when they come in. Can't seem to find anyone with it.

No? Okay. Light smoke is on its way. I'll report my experience and include pics when it's done for those who may be interested.

good luck trying to get all the creases and bubbles out of that film. here's some pics of mine. they were painted by a professional.

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/3229/dsc0457pe0.jpg
By nuke0907 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/nuke0907), shot with NIKON D40X (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=NIKON+D40X&make=NIKON+CORPORATION) at 2008-11-06

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/6928/dsc0458au6.jpg
By nuke0907 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/nuke0907), shot with NIKON D40X (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=NIKON+D40X&make=NIKON+CORPORATION) at 2008-11-06

quick question.......what did everyone use to polish them and make them shiny......my buffer broke......just looking for another idea.....buffer under warranty they are sending me a new one