So I found a few vids on using this stuff and people have rated this product very high. I am excited to see how this turns out. I will post pics later. Maybe even a vid. Has anyone on here used VHT?
Tonights Project: Blackout Tail Lights With VHT Paint.
TheDeadInMe
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17 Posts
I always face a problem, whenever I paints the mufler it gets burnt in 3-4 days. Can anyone tell me which will be best paint in that case in steel color?
Why would one want to reduce the visibility of their tailights, brake lights, and rear turn signals???? So they can say their car looked cool until they got rear ended and ended up in the hospital?
Is an accident investigator going to miss that the lights were obscured? In a lawsuit, will a jury think that a "reasonable and prudent person" (the usual test) would have obscured their lights?
:doh:
IMO and FWIW.
Is an accident investigator going to miss that the lights were obscured? In a lawsuit, will a jury think that a "reasonable and prudent person" (the usual test) would have obscured their lights?
:doh:
IMO and FWIW.
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578 Posts
i only did one coat on my tail lights. you can see it very fine during the day and night. and besides, the tail lights are very bright. I wouldnt want to totally black out the lights though. Are you venting because you hate blacked out lights?Why would one want to reduce the visibility of their tailights, brake lights, and rear turn signals???? So they can say their car looked cool until they got rear ended and ended up in the hospital?
Is an accident investigator going to miss that the lights were obscured? In a lawsuit, will a jury think that a "reasonable and prudent person" (the usual test) would have obscured their lights?
:doh:
IMO and FWIW.
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578 Posts
If I had the courage
That looks clean. I want to tint or spray my tail lights but I can't risk it where I live. There's multiple town police departments by me, and tons of state troopers. I can literally take a drive to the gas station, and pass by 3-4 cruisers and speed traps, even though there may only be a few dozen police around here. It's crazy. Having my windows fully tinted is pushing my luck. I can't risk compounding it with the tail lights.
I don't care about the appearance of blacked out lights one way or the other. I just don't like getting rear ended. And the liability question gives me pause also.
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578 Posts
ya i would probably be paranoid like that too. We have the tinted windows and the tail lights. But ya as far as anyone hitting the back of our car, is HIGHLY unlikely. If they did hit the back of the car and there was no police report I would just goo gone the stuff off and viola.
Further to my previous response, my thinking is based on a belief that a driver who rear ends another may just have been inept, not keeping enough space between it and the car it is following. But they may also be doing their makeup, texting, juggling a Big Mac and a cell phone, etc. I believe that brighter lights have a greater chance to hopefully get the attention of the distracted drive.
FWIW and YMMV.
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578 Posts
oh ok.. i see what you are saying. I wonder if the tail lights that are still blacked out will be covered under the insurance if someone hit. If someone did hit me and the tail lights weren't effected or even if they were i would use the goo gone to take off the black. then it wouldnt be an issue.
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992 Posts
And that's why I take pictures from the scene of an accident before I file the claim
Still, even with darkened tail lights like that, it would be a hard case for the person who rear-ended you to argue. I've never handled a claim where someone claimed that they rear-ended a car because they had darkened tails. But rear-end accidents are almost always the fault of the rear vehicle for following too closely. The main exception is if the front vehicle had faulty equipment. Yeah, the tail lights themselves are working just fine, but I wonder if there's a federal or state regulation where the tail lights must put out such and such number of lumens or candlepower through the tail light assembly. That might be what it comes down to. But that's all pure speculation on my part since I've never handled any claims like that and wouldn't really know until it happens.
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578 Posts
ya i should probably look into that.And that's why I take pictures from the scene of an accident before I file the claim
Still, even with darkened tail lights like that, it would be a hard case for the person who rear-ended you to argue. I've never handled a claim where someone claimed that they rear-ended a car because they had darkened tails. But rear-end accidents are almost always the fault of the rear vehicle for following too closely. The main exception is if the front vehicle had faulty equipment. Yeah, the tail lights themselves are working just fine, but I wonder if there's a federal or state regulation where the tail lights must put out such and such number of lumens or candlepower through the tail light assembly. That might be what it comes down to. But that's all pure speculation on my part since I've never handled any claims like that and wouldn't really know until it happens.
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313 Posts
Finished the blackout job. Even left a cut out of flames on third brake lite. Looks very good although I I may spring for new brighter lites from autozone. If I do I may also hit them with one more clear coat. Not sure if I will smoke the front markers.
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3,403 Posts
I almost Rear-Ended a Dodge Charger a few months ago. I could barely see his Blacked-Out Brakelights. To Each Their Own until they get a Ticket or Rear-Ended, whichever comes first. My 1-cent opinion.
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193 Posts
Valid point, earthwormjim - I don't think it's the best idea to go completely blacked out. Me personally, I did 2 coats of VHT on mine and left the reverse sections white. You can very much see the red on mine, especially when it's lit up or when it's in full sun.
I basically just wanted to 'dull down' the painful contrast of the black paint to the bright A$$ factory red lenses...so I just smoked mine rather than blacking them out. Still have to post pics, though...it's been over 2 years since I did it, I'd say I dropped the ball on that one haha.
I lived in NC at the time, and NC law states that brake lights must be visible from ~500ft behind the vehicle. I've had mine inspected in NC and MA since then and haven't run into any problems
Regarding the 'at fault' mentioned in earlier posts:
A friend of mine had his windows illegally tinted and was involved in an accident at night time. In this particular situation, he ended up getting the ticket even though it was the other person's fault. He got the ticket because the cop said the tinting of his windows prevented him from being able to see well enough at night, and that he could've prevented the accident if his windows weren't tinted. Sucked for him.
The flip side of that is...my old car had 5% tint on all windows and 35% tint on the windshield (not legal in any state and (hindsight 20/20) an absolutely retarded idea). One night I got t-boned by a girl who ran a red-light. The legality of my window tint didn't even come up because it was so blatantly obvious that it was her fault.
Moral of the story - it all depends on the variables of how the accident occurred and what kind of mood the cop is in as to if they'll write you up for things like windows, tail lights, etc.
I basically just wanted to 'dull down' the painful contrast of the black paint to the bright A$$ factory red lenses...so I just smoked mine rather than blacking them out. Still have to post pics, though...it's been over 2 years since I did it, I'd say I dropped the ball on that one haha.
I lived in NC at the time, and NC law states that brake lights must be visible from ~500ft behind the vehicle. I've had mine inspected in NC and MA since then and haven't run into any problems
Regarding the 'at fault' mentioned in earlier posts:
A friend of mine had his windows illegally tinted and was involved in an accident at night time. In this particular situation, he ended up getting the ticket even though it was the other person's fault. He got the ticket because the cop said the tinting of his windows prevented him from being able to see well enough at night, and that he could've prevented the accident if his windows weren't tinted. Sucked for him.
The flip side of that is...my old car had 5% tint on all windows and 35% tint on the windshield (not legal in any state and (hindsight 20/20) an absolutely retarded idea). One night I got t-boned by a girl who ran a red-light. The legality of my window tint didn't even come up because it was so blatantly obvious that it was her fault.
Moral of the story - it all depends on the variables of how the accident occurred and what kind of mood the cop is in as to if they'll write you up for things like windows, tail lights, etc.
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313 Posts
I also used only two lightly applied coats and several clear coats. Very pleased with the overall look.
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17 Posts
looks good! might be something i would wanna do in the spring...is it necessary to remove the taillights off of the vehicle to do this mod?
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193 Posts
I'd recommend removing them, especially depending on what color your ride is. Before I did mine, a did a lot of research on the best way to do them (which took me to a lot of Honda/Acura forums). There were a couple posts where guys taped off the body around the tails and had newspaper to help block, but still got overspray on their paint. IMO, it's worth it to remove them: only takes a couple minutes and guarantees no overspray. Plus it makes them easier to maneuver
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