ive recently blacked out my taillights. at first the light came through them fine. but then i had to have them redone. now you can barely see light through them because the paint is so thick im guessing. i tried some LEDs i purchased through V-leds.com (24 cluster) but those seem to be less bright than the OEM bulbs. Is there any kind of setup i can do to make it hella bright in the taillamp?
i was just pulled over two nights ago because of this and i dont want to buy new taillights. at the worst we'll have to sand them down and start fresh. but im looking for some better suggestions.
LINK TO MY CAR:
https://my350z.com/forum/exterior-and-interior/258508-pics-ings-central-20-a.html

 

Seems like your car is 03-05.
Get yourself 06+ tail lights, which are LED. They're MUCH brighter than 03-05 tail lights. Looks better as well.

http://www.mynismo.com/products/?id=2779

 

drill pinholes in your lenses to let more light out

no, don't really do this.

 

yea i was hoping to get a suggestion on how to fix my problem without purchasing new tailights

 

nothin?

 

sand off some tint, in the shape of a Z, so that part will be brighter.....I am not responsible for any horrible rice results that may occur

 

You got a pic of the brakes on?

 

if you can sand off the whole thing then do it...shoulda got bats overlays instead of paint


search bluebatmobile

 

You painted you tails black TWICE and now expect a magical fix to make them super bright all of a sudden? What exactly are you expecting anyone here to say?

There is no fix for that except to either remove the paint somehow, or get new lights and leave them unpainted.

I never quite got the idea of actually transferring the blame of a rear-end accident from the guy behind you onto yourself...but that's a different topic.

 

you technically would not be at fault of a rearend if you have blacked out tails. Unless no light comes through at all. This is another reason it is mandatory to have the high mount third brake light.

 

I don't know how correct this statement is. The Department of Transporation generally forbids any alteration to factory headlight and taillights. Blacking out your tails is a clear violation of that rule.

Basically, once you start spraying paint, or placing overlays, your taillights are no longer DOT approved, and you can be faulted for a rear-end collision espeically if the other driver claims your tails were too dim to see.

 

i had the bat overlays. they dont look as good when the sun its em

 

.

 

thank you for this. everyone forgets about the third brake light. i came here to ask a serious question before i spend more money to redo them again. i wasnt planning on the forum to be full of people justifying the "law"

 

wow. no im just wondering if i can make some kind of brighter light setup in the tails. i mean shoot...if you had your headlights shining through those things theyd light up perfect

 

I completely understand that and sympathize with you, but it is impossible to fathom that you were unaware that painting the lights black twice would tremendously reduce their brightness no matter what bulb you use...

It's all about reaction time. In rear-end collisions, even a fraction of a second matters and the "rear-ender's" insurance company will simply provide a mathematical calculation to the judge stating that their client's reaction was slowed by x.xx seconds as he could not see 2 of the 3 brake lights until he was too close and thus the accident occured. Trust me, something like that would be very tough to fight.

Many people do this mod and I say more power to them, as long as they are aware of the risks involved.

 

Just ditch those lights and get 06 LEDs man...03-05 lights are dull as hell as it is already.

 

if you don't wana purchase, why don't you swap them? jk
you should sand it down and re do it i guess..

 

So I was right in saying you pretty much can't drive at night lol. I think you can get some higher wattage bulbs. I knew a guy that had them in his Merc. and they were bright as hell.

 

JDM tails...