Modifcation to lights question

[1995 525i]

Sorry to keep posting these silly questions but I was wondering who here has painted their tail lights and/or their side marker lights? If you did paint them, what paint did you use and have you been harrassed by the police yet? I am thinking of painting my rear tail lights red to eliminate the orange and possibly paiting the sidemarker lights black. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Michael

[rockyfeller]

I didn't exactly paint mine but I gave a smoke treatment to my clear sidemarkers, rear clear signals and front clear corners. It looks professional and stock and I always get compliments on it because it looks original and nobody else has tried it this way. I carefully did it myself. Spend time to be careful and do things in moderation to give everything thin even coats without dripping. Mask the edges/weatherseals. It will look more professional. Cops won't waste their time on these subtle things, they have better things to do. They look for flashy unsafe mods. Blanking your sidemarkers won't go noticed 90% of the time. And if you ever get questions just say what I always say. "I bought the car 2nd hand and it was always this way for years"

[1995 525i]

I didn't exactly paint mine but I gave a smoke treatment to my clear sidemarkers, rear clear signals and front clear corners. It looks professional and stock and I always get compliments on it because it looks original and nobody else has tried it this way. I carefully did it myself. Spend time to be careful and do things in moderation to give everything thin even coats without dripping. Mask the edges/weatherseals. It will look more professional. Cops won't waste their time on these subtle things, they have better things to do. They look for flashy unsafe mods. Blanking your sidemarkers won't go noticed 90% of the time. And if you ever get questions just say what I always say. "I bought the car 2nd hand and it was always this way for years"

What kind of paint did you use and did you sand the area first?

[DueyT]

Rocky, do you have pics? I have red/clears on the rear but still ugly orange on the front and sides. *edit - also a dusting of silver paint on the ambers to avoid egg-yolk-itis*
http://www3.sympatico.ca/dnatown/clr-rear.jpg
I think you're bang on about cops and mods...F&F Wings and other abvious stuff are like fly paper...

Cheers,
Duey

[rockyfeller]

I have some pics on my "big" computer which is kinda busted and I'm trying to fix...I'll post soon. Initially I was going to buy Hella blacked out rears w/smoked corners and sides. I decided the Hella rears were too dark for my taste...plus the 2 inner back-up light pieces are black dull plastic and not the same finish as the outer brake/signal piece. I saw e39/e36 rears with just the signal part blacked out. I loved that look. If I bought other smoke colored parts individually the smoke tint/intensity on certain parts may not have looked consistent on each part. So I decided to buy everything in clear and tint them myself (just lightly...not too dark). This would make them all look the same. I bought some e34 sides from a moron on ebay but he sent me 2 right sided ones. I only realized this after I sprayed them so I couldn't return them (I only lost like $10) Later I bought Hella clear rears and clear corners from abraham motorsports. (They gave me an awesome deal/great service with them....check them out) I bought better looking sidemarkers...I think they're E38 ones...They're jeweled, sleek and don't have that ugly black plastic around them. Since all parts were new I didn't need to sand them. I was afraid of creating a dull look. I carefully masked all edges/weatherstripping exposing only the lenses. I had used VHT nightshades on my older cars 10 yrs ago with great results. It would be ideal to spray the inside of the lens, but like most lights these are not able to be disassembled. It looks 100x better like that. (I did my MB 190E from the INSIDE and the result looked so stock I always got compliments) The spray is hard to find nowadays as it's not as popular as it used to be. It allows the light to transmit almost transparent. (remember blacked out days with GTS headlight covers ?) Through too many mistakes I'll tell this spray is much thinner than normal paint. It runs very easily. Also it is very easy to go too dark with the spray. My advice is to do mulitple, even sprays, drying between coats holding the can 6-8" away. It casts a bit of a matte finish on drying to I applied a clear coat on top of this to match the shiny appearance of the rest of the lens. My clear coat was not glossy enough, but my end result was just great. Nobody can tell I did it myself, it looks stock. I hear you can get a nice glossy clear coat from a hobby store, I have to try that. I have amber bulbs (please those of you w/hyper-whites inside clears have to change that cheap look.) and I dusted them w/silver......sadly it seems like they got burned from the heat of the bulbs. I would suggest using high temp silver or chrome coated bulbs you can get nowadays. Anybody have questions, let me know.

[BryanH]

Michael

I painted the amber turn signal portion of my tails all red using 3 coats of Krylon Stained Glass color paint (red). Got a perfect match to the rest of the lens. Never had any trouble with the authorities - look at some American cars and Japanese vehicles - they have all red tails OE so I'm guessing that all red is actually legal (at least here in CA). Got the paint in an 8oz spray can at Michaels (local craft's and hobby store). Good luck - it's fun!

[1995 525i]

I have some pics on my "big" computer which is kinda busted and I'm trying to fix...I'll post soon. Initially I was going to buy Hella blacked out rears w/smoked corners and sides. I decided the Hella rears were too dark for my taste...plus the 2 inner back-up light pieces are black dull plastic and not the same finish as the outer brake/signal piece. I saw e39/e36 rears with just the signal part blacked out. I loved that look. If I bought other smoke colored parts individually the smoke tint/intensity on certain parts may not have looked consistent on each part. So I decided to buy everything in clear and tint them myself (just lightly...not too dark). This would make them all look the same. I bought some e34 sides from a moron on ebay but he sent me 2 right sided ones. I only realized this after I sprayed them so I couldn't return them (I only lost like $10) Later I bought Hella clear rears and clear corners from abraham motorsports. (They gave me an awesome deal/great service with them....check them out) I bought better looking sidemarkers...I think they're E38 ones...They're jeweled, sleek and don't have that ugly black plastic around them. Since all parts were new I didn't need to sand them. I was afraid of creating a dull look. I carefully masked all edges/weatherstripping exposing only the lenses. I had used VHT nightshades on my older cars 10 yrs ago with great results. It would be ideal to spray the inside of the lens, but like most lights these are not able to be disassembled. It looks 100x better like that. (I did my MB 190E from the INSIDE and the result looked so stock I always got compliments) The spray is hard to find nowadays as it's not as popular as it used to be. It allows the light to transmit almost transparent. (remember blacked out days with GTS headlight covers ?) Through too many mistakes I'll tell this spray is much thinner than normal paint. It runs very easily. Also it is very easy to go too dark with the spray. My advice is to do mulitple, even sprays, drying between coats holding the can 6-8" away. It casts a bit of a matte finish on drying to I applied a clear coat on top of this to match the shiny appearance of the rest of the lens. My clear coat was not glossy enough, but my end result was just great. Nobody can tell I did it myself, it looks stock. I hear you can get a nice glossy clear coat from a hobby store, I have to try that. I have amber bulbs (please those of you w/hyper-whites inside clears have to change that cheap look.) and I dusted them w/silver......sadly it seems like they got burned from the heat of the bulbs. I would suggest using high temp silver or chrome coated bulbs you can get nowadays. Anybody have questions, let me know.

Thanks for the tips....I think I'll darken all the side markers and paint the rear lights red. By the way, how do I find abraham motorsports. Do you have a link?

[1995 525i]

Thanks bryan.
I'm going to head over to Michael's at lunch and pick up some of that paint. I'm goin to paint the rear lights red then darken the side markers. I'll take some pics when I'm done. Right now my car is having a new bumper installed,interior cleaned and conditioned, pinstrip removed (former owner's addition) and the entire car wet sanded, buffed and polished. I think painting the rear lights will finish it off nicely.