The Oldsmobile Connection

[p[k] p[k]3]

Ok, well, recently it comes to my attention that you can "Smoke" your head/taillights which is the process of making your tail/headlights black, and you can see the light through them when the light is on, otherwise it's completely ebony. Soooooo.......

Anyone mind telling me how exactly I could do this for cheap/where I can find predone 87 Delta 88 RB Head/Taillights?

Thanks :D

[88delta88]

Headlights should actually have those smoked plexiglass covers that you can remove at night, because they are very important - cops will nail you in a second if you mist black paint over them.

But I did my front parking lights, and rear tails with a VERY light coat of black spray paint. Make sure if you do decide to paint, put on very light coats at a time, only dark enough to make it appear smoked. Any darker, and you will start to compromise the brightness of the bulbs, which, in the daytime can cause tickets, and even accidents under the right circumstances.

Clean the plastic with alchohol before you paint, to remove oil and grime.

;-) good luck!

[p[k] p[k]3]

Thanks so much, you're the inspiration you know, I realized that was your car on Cardomain after a bit, and realized.. I was like "Well, I should just asked 88Delta88, he'd know, since he did it." I was told that's how you should do it, but I'm afraid of compromising the beauty by using spraypaint, since it will wear off.... And it may not look so nice in the first place. But eh, On a budget, that beats the hell out of custom Taillights... Thanks :)

[BigBlockOlds]

For one, its not a good idea. There's nothing more annoying than following someone with "blacked out" taillights and can hardly see their brake lights. :roll:

That being said, they make a spray paint for this called Nite Shades. I believe its made by VHT.

You also do not apply it to the exterior of the lens but to the inside so that it won't be exposed to the weather and road debris. Which brings up another question, whether or not you can separate the lens from the housing to get the paint where it needs to be.

[88delta88]

bigblockolds - never heard of Nite Shades, will have to check that out. I can see there being a problem with brightness using regular paint, there is a fine line between smoking the lights and blacking them out - usually just a single extra pass with the spray paint.

I have a feeling this is why a lot of states / provinces do not allow light tiniting of any sort. I do beleive though, that a properly tinted light can look good, as well as function well even in the daytime, with direct sunlight. I made sure that mine did.

These lights can be removed from the car, but cannot be separated - one sealed unit with a hole for a bulb. A little tough to spray through the hole ;-)

[Brianritchie21787]

i used night shades on my delta and my friends taurus and it came out really nice, i paid like 3$ for the spray can at pep boys, its says for show car use only on the can and that its 85% translucent... just be sure to remove the tail light before you spray it or mask it really good, spray a few light coats and allow a few hours to fully dry and its done... oh and dont spray the clear reverse lights or your going to have trouble backing up at night, for some reason it has a bad effect on clear plastics

[Brianritchie21787]

if the light still seems a little too dim at night you could buy a higher amper bulb too

[88delta88]

Anyone have any experience with those newer red LED stop lamps or yellow LED turning indicators?

They look like they'd be an excellent replacement, and likely never burn out. Reaction time for an LED is much better than an incandescant bulb also.

[p[k] p[k]3]

Hey 88delta88, I have one more question, when you applied the spraypaint did you do it to the outside? And if so, did you put an enamel coat, or use a special kind of spraypaint?

If not, does it still look great after weathering?

[88delta88]

I put the paint on the outside, because I couldnt get the light apart to paint the inside. I used a standard enamel paint, from the hardware store, and it looked great for 2 years. Its starting to fade a bit now, and in some spots I have chips out of it, but thats how it goes... I could touch it up in a few minutes, but a new dad doesnt have time for such things ;-)

[p[k] p[k]3]

Haha. Well Congratulations! oh, and Thanks for the info :3