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E30 Tail Lights


SteelBlue

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I searched high and low for Startecs, replicas, or other easily executable DIY’s that generate quality results. The only thing that seemed decent was red Lamin-x/painting them red. All DIY smoke/tint options ive seen looked cheap and made me feel like 1994 again

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10 hours ago, m42b32 said:

Man, I would love a set of MHW's, but I can think of a LOT of things I would rather spend $1k+ on... 

Some people have attempted to replicate the MHW style by doing varying levels of tint on each section, you can get fairly close to the same look:

IMG-5738.sized.jpg

 

 

1 hour ago, snap said:

I searched high and low for Startecs, replicas, or other easily executable DIY’s that generate quality results. The only thing that seemed decent was red Lamin-x/painting them red. All DIY smoke/tint options ive seen looked cheap and made me feel like 1994 again

I bought a small roll of 50% smoke tint to see what I could do. If it turns out like shit, I'll peel it off and maybe just paint them all red except for the reverse lights.

Saw a lot of people start threads about asking interest in making rep startecs, but no one ever came through .

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Mine are tinted. If you want a nice high quality finish you will want to get high quality clear, and mix in some pure black, non-metallic paint. Just a few little drops goes a long way. Mix it, then spray the tails one coat at a time and let it dry. Its really easy to put too much on.  I didnt do the ones on my tails, but I have done them on other E30s. The clear coat also provides a really nice shine and deep reflections to older tail lights.

I would not suggest using vinyl as the groves in the lights will be really hard to prevent bubbles from forming. 

IMG_4229.JPG

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6 hours ago, Jdesign said:

Mine are tinted. If you want a nice high quality finish you will want to get high quality clear, and mix in some pure black, non-metallic paint. Just a few little drops goes a long way. Mix it, then spray the tails one coat at a time and let it dry. Its really easy to put too much on.  I didnt do the ones on my tails, but I have done them on other E30s. The clear coat also provides a really nice shine and deep reflections to older tail lights.

I would not suggest using vinyl as the groves in the lights will be really hard to prevent bubbles from forming. 

IMG_4229.JPG

Welp, guess I'll use the vinyl for for something else then lol

This looks really good though, I'll have to give that method a try.

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27 minutes ago, straight6pwr said:

humbug, vinyl can work fine. i wrapped the corners of mine (which are the most difficult portion) with red clear vinyl and have none of these bubbles you speak of.

https://www.wibimmers.com/board/index.php?/topic/4560-hello-my-name-is-dan-and-today-it-rained/&do=findComment&comment=73984

 

Well you win. Seems like more effort IMO but it looks great. 😎👍

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