[KarthikK]

On my latest DIY venture with the Punto, I explored the possibility of smoke-tinting headlamps and tail lamps for better cosmetic value.

How smoked/tinted headlamps can alter the front profile of a vehicle


Going ahead, I'll structure my posts in this fashion for easy readability :

- FAQ section
- A glance at the smoke tint product
- Tools used for the application process
- Preparations before the tint application
- Applying the tints on tail lamps and headlamps
- A photo-session - How it looks after the application is complete


FAQ section: Before we get down to the actual DIY process, I thought it was good to put together a FAQ section which answers some common doubts and queries about smoked AND/OR tinted headlamps and tail lamps.

What is smoking of headlamps?

It is a complex process of blacking out the headlamp and tail lamp lens by involving heat treatment (actual smoking). Most custom smoked headlamps/tail lamps nowadays don't use smoking anymore. They instead prefer to dismantle the headlamp assembly and spray-paint the inner surfaces of the headlamps and tail lamps.


Does a smoked headlamp/tail lamp reduce visibility at night?

Fundamentally, Yes. Since the process is very similar to how a window is tinted, there will be a marked difference in night time visibility based on the intensity of smoking the outer glass. If the owner just got the inner surfaces of the headlamp painted black and left the glass alone, it will not affect visibility.


Is my warranty affected due to smoking of headlamps/tail lamps?

Since you are doing some sort of irreversible changes to the headlamps and reducing visibility, Yes.


Is there any alternative to smoking / painting the headlamps?

The reversible alternative to painting and smoking the headlamps is the option of using Smoke tint film. It gives almost the same blacked out effect of the former, but with the added advantage of being a removable film layer on top of the headlamp which doesn't require dismantling / meddling with the insides of the lamp assemblies.


What is this thread covering?

I chose the safer, reversible alternative - applying smoke tint films instead of actually smoking the lamps. This is what I will be detailing in this thread.


What are the advantages of using Smoke tint film as opposed to conventional smoking/painting the headlamps?

Smoke tints have the following advantages over conventional smoking / painting :
- Perhaps the single biggest advantage of using tint film is that the blacked effect can be reversed at any time by stripping the tints. Painting/smoking are irreversible changes.
- There is no need to dismantle the headlamp/tail lamp assembly. Hence no worries about sorting out the wiring, damaging the internals, fitting the assembly properly, etc. Everything is done on the top, and can be done by DIY method right at home
- Acts as a protective film on top of the headlamp/tail lamp glass surface. This prevents the glass from getting visible scratches, etc.
- For older vehicles with scratched / yellowed headlamp surfaces (outer glass), the age can be hidden by masking the lamps with smoke tint film.
- It is possible to choose any color of smoke tint film depending on individual taste / preference.

Smoke tint film can produce the same effect as painting/smoking the headlamps, as shown in this picture


Normally, tail lamps are tinted darker than headlamps for better aesthetics. This is possible/permissible to implement because the heat produced/trapped will be lesser in tail lamps due to the lower lamp intensity, and because tail lamps don't affect the driver's visibility directly. It is advised not to go for very dark shades, because it poses a hazard of other road users not being able to see your tail lamp clearly.

An example of a tail lamp tinted with smoke film



Should I avoid any particular colors for masking headlamps and tail lamps??

Generally, as a guideline from a safety perspective, it is recommended to avoid Red and Yellow/Amber colors for headlamps and tail lamps. This is to avoid fellow road users (at night) from mistaking red headlamps for tail lamps or amber lamps for indicators. Most other colors are acceptable.

It is possible to experiment with a variety of tint shades like the blue lights on the car showed here, but it is more a matter of personal choice and taste as to which color of tint one prefers.



Will the smoke tint film cause heating and damage the headlamps under prolonged usage?

Smoke tint films themselves are designed to withstand heat and they do not trap much heat within the headlamps unless they are too dark, so the heat accumulation with light tints is minimal and negligible. If the tints are too dark and are causing any overheating, place an order with your local service centre for a spare set of headlamps!


Doesn't smoke tint film affect night time visibility too?

Yes it does, but the amount of tinting determines how much the visibility is affected. Lighter tint films will hardly produce any noticeable deterioration in headlight strength. Dark tints like the one shown in the beginning of this thread, can cause a significant loss in the headlight beam strength.


What if I want to retain dark tints and still want good night time visibility?

Welcome to the twisted maze of car modifications, where one tweak requires another series of tweaks. The easiest way to avoid being in this situation is to go for lighter tints in the first place. What most people with darker tints do is - they upgrade the headlamp bulbs to match the loss in headlight beam strength (due to the blocking by dark films). Do note that upgrading to brighter, more powerful lamps can produce increased heating, increased load on the battery and other such unwanted risks.


Can I use sunfilms to give the same effect as smoke tint films? How different are these two products?

Sunfilms can be used to produce the same effect (in fact most people are already doing it happily), but they lose out on a few aspects over smoke tints since they were never designed for this purpose.
- Sunfilms are designed to be used on the inner surfaces of glasses and windows, not outer surfaces. Owing to this, the sunfilms when used on headlamps and tail lamps will develop a high amount of scratches on the surface due to dust, heat, rain, washing, etc.
- The adhesive which comes with sunfilms is not designed to handle the heat of the headlamps or weather effects of dust, wind and rain, not to forget frequent washes too. There is no guarantee on how long they will stay intact. You might find them peeling prematurely.
- Sunfilms are by nature thick and designed for flat surfaces like windshields and windows. Headlamps and tail lamps sometimes have creases, curves and bends, which the sunfilms cannot be bent around. Smoke tint films are thinner and can be bent to accommodate any size and shape of lamps.
- Smoke tint films can be cut easily to produce customized shapes and openings in the films. Sunfilms are thick and can't be easily altered

Tint films can be cut to allow customized openings like the tail lamps shown on this Optra SRV.



How long does a smoke tint film take to apply on my car?

Generally, you will need 3-4 hours for a pair of headlamps and a pair of tail lamps. If you have a deft pair of hands, you could do it earlier than that too.


Can I do it at home? What tools do I need?

Yes, the tinting can be done right at home. You will need a set of basic tools to apply the film, and to remove air bubbles and iron out wrinkles. It is best done on a sunny day since this provides ample time and heat for the tint to dry up and settle well.

You will primarily need these tools :
- Old cloth (preferably Microfibre)
- Measuring tape (to measure headlamp and tail lamp dimensions)
- A pair of strong scissors (to cut the film)
- A sharp blade, preferably of stationery use variety (to cut unwanted edges of the film and shape the film properly around the lamp assembly)
- A spray can/gun with shampoo solution (to apply the tint film and move it around)
- A rubber Squeegee (to remove air bubbles and wrinkles during application)
- A heat gun or its closest substitute, a hair dryer (to soften the film and heat/soften the adhesive for better seating during tint application)
- tons of patience

An image I found on google image search which illustrates how the film is cut to your headlamp's shape and size and applied separately, one after the other. We'll go to that section later.



Where can I order smoke tint film for my vehicle?

I ordered mine from a seller on eBay. you are free to purchase better alternatives from eBay/abroad or buy from your local accessory dealer depending on what you want.

Link to headlamp tint film:
http://www.ebay.in/itm/Smoked-Headli...item35c64cdab8

Link to tail lamp tint film:
http://www.ebay.in/itm/Smoked-Tailli...item35c6623662


If I don't like the film, is it easily removable?

Yes. all you need to do is park the car under the hot sun for an hour or two, start peeling the film from one of the corners carefully. Use a hair dryer directing the hot air into the remaining film area. This will loosen the adhesive holding the film, and you should soon be able to strip the entire tint film off the lamp surface.

Disclaimer : All the images in the first post were taken from google image search results, and the images belong to the respective owners. I merely used them for illustrative purposes.

[KarthikK]

A glance at the tint films :

The parcel which arrived via courier was a long roll. Both the headlamp and taillamp vinyl were rolled into the same package.






Tearing off one corner of the roll, I saw both the headlamp and taillamp vinyl films rolled one on top of another.


The lighter film is for the headlamp, and the darker one for the taillamp.


Both were large rolls measuring 30" X 24", or in other words 2.5 ft X 2 ft. That was more than enough for 2 lamps each. Thank god, I had some extra length in case I goofed up somewhere.

[KarthikK]

Tools used :

We're going to require some basic tools before we embark on the tint application process :

Microfibre cloth, to clean the headlamp/taillamp surface before application



Measuring tape to measure and cut the required dimensions of the tint film



A pair of strong scissors to cut the film strips for the individual lamps



A sharp blade to shape the tint film around the lamp, and cut the unwanted edges after the tints are applied



A water spray gun can with a sachet of shampoo mixed in water. This solution is to make the lamp surface slippery for adjusting the tint position, when applying it.



A hair dryer to heat up the tint adhesive and allow better seating around creases and curves



Last but not the least, a rubber Squeegee to remove air bubbles below the tint, and to ensure the adhesive is properly clinging to the lamp in cuts and creases.



Preparations before the tint application process :

- Clean the taillamps and the headlamps with a moist cloth thoroughly removing any visible stains, impurities and dust from the glass surface.

- In case the car is not clean, also wipe the surrounding body area around the headlamps and taillamps and remove dust. We don't want the film adhesive to pickup dust particles by accidentally touching the body parts when we start applying the tints.

- Remember that dust will again settle on the cleaned lamps again after you wipe them all. You'll need to repeat the wiping work just before you begin the tint application on each individual lamp glass.

- If there is no access to an electrical socket/point at the place where you plan to do the tinting, please keep an extension cord ready. You will need this for the hairdryer to work.

- Gather your tools and the film rolls and keep them in a handy location, perhaps in the car's boot itself!

[KarthikK]

Smoke tinting the tail lamps:


Step 1 : Ensure that the lamp's outer glass surface is spotlessly clean and devoid of any dust particles




Step 2 : Measure and note down the approximate length and width of the tail lamps. Factor in an additional buffer of 2-3 inches on either side for adjustments and trial and error experiments.




Step 3 : Cut the tail lamp masking strip of the required dimensions from the darker vinyl roll - the tail lamp tint






Step 4 : Size up the tint film strip and make a mental note of where you are going to begin the application. Once you are sure, strip the tint film's protective backing tape to reveal the adhesive surface underneath.




Step 5 : Liberally spray the shampoo-water solution on the tail lamp surface to cover the entire area with the slippery liquid.




Step 6 : Apply the tint film (with adhesive revealed) to cover the entire tail lamp surface area. Use the rubber squeegee to ease out the air bubbles from one side to another. Work your way width-wise along the entire length of the lamp surface.



If your car is a Punto, you will face a roadblock in the process. That tail lamps have a crease line along the centre, which will make the process tough. You'll have to go from one side of the crease to another, so that you don't run short of tint vinyl length and end up stretching the tints. We'll tackle that in the next stage. For now, we'll just make sure the film is sitting there without air bubbles.

If you go wrong in step 6, strip the film off, repeat step 5 (spray shampoo solution) and step 6 until you achieve the proper results you need. Once most of your air bubbles have been squeezed out, the tint should at least be in place along the surface area of the lamp.


Step 7 : Allow 4-5 minutes for the adhesive to settle, then use your sharp blade and start cutting out the extra length and width so that the tint is properly covering the dimensions of the lamp. Nothing more. Nothing less. This should be a fairly time consuming affair, but a razor sharp blade will do wonders.




Strip away the extra film after you cut the required masking area


90% of your job is done at this stage. Well, almost. Just the finishing touches are left. We'll need to cement it there so that it lasts long, shouldn't we?


Step 8 : There will invariably be some stubborn bubbles which you can't remove, or the tint adhesive may not be sticking properly in some areas. You'll need to to inflict some hard punishment now. Time to pick up that heat gun (hair dryer) and direct your anger at the tint vinyl. While the heat will soften the vinyl and soften the adhesive, you must now use that squeegee and make sure all remaining bubbles and air gaps are removed.
I had to move to an indoor location to access an electrical socket. Apologies if the photos from now on appear slightly darker.




Direct the heat at the vinyl to soften the adhesive and allow for more flexible seating



Remove all existing bubbles from the lamp using a squeegee.


Yes, I know about that crease. I'll tackle the crease and its associated problems in the next step.

If your car has no creases or humps in the tail lamp surface, you are pretty much done with the process after the fine-tuning in step 8. Allow 3-4 hours of drying time for the smoke tints to settle in place, and do not unnecessarily meddle around with the tint until it dries up. For any last minute bubbles, just puncture them with a needle, allow the air to escape and smoothen out the film to make sure that area sits properly now.


Step 9 (optional reading) : If your car is a Punto, or has a similar crease line along the lamp surface, getting the tint to stick properly around the crease is an annoying affair. This step probably took more time for me than all 8 previous steps put together.

Basically, I'm trying to say this is what starts to happen around the crease area. Observe the tint starting to peel away near the sharp bends?



When something like this annoys you, resort to the heat treatment. It works wonders. I shot a video of the heat treatment + squeegee massage session for the stubborn crease lines (with the camera dangling around my neck). Sorry if the video quality is bad or if sometimes the equipment goes out of view momentarily. I could only manage this much with multi-tasking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Re2vL0XS78

Mercilessly use heat treatment and the squeegee simultaneously to press the tint film down and allow the adhesive to sit properly around stubborn bends.





Now that the creases are taken care of, you should be done at this stage.



Step 10 : You can repeat the same sequence of steps for the headlamps. It should be exactly the same process with a lighter shade of tint than the ones on the tail lamps. Moreover, headlamps rarely have creases or lines so it should be a slightly easier and less time-consuming task. Some random snaps taken during adjustment after cutting the tints.





I didn't take all the photos again for the headlamp tinting since I was doing it alone, photo stops were already delaying my job and it was a hot day. Moreover, the information will become redundant. Like I said, it is the exact same process for headlamps too, so I'm skipping redundancy.

[KarthikK]

The photo-session:

After a tiring session of smoke-tinting your headlamps and tail lamps, it is absolutely mandatory to show how the tinting has affected (or enhanced) the looks of the rear profile, and how the lamps look with tints when switched on, and in daylight when the lamps are not in use.


After tinting the lamps, they look like extension flaps of the rear windshield



Okay, maybe the doors being open was distracting. Here's a picture with the doors shut



With the night time (parking lights) on. I couldn't try out a picture with brake lights activated, since I was working alone and photographing alone



With parking lights and indicators on



With just indicators on



A closer look at the driver side tints - without the lights on (daytime)



And now with the lights on.



A closer look at the passenger side tints - without the lights on



With the lights on - looks absolutely smashing with the concentric circles pattern and the black outlines around the individual light clusters.



Final summarizing view of the rear profile look after the smoke tints, without the lights on, this is how the rear of the car looks



And with the lights on, this is how the rear looks



Moving the car outdoors into direct sunlight, here are some snaps of the rear profile








I managed to take some snaps of the front after returning home and parking the car at its usual place, outside that rundown old wall opposite my house. Honestly, I didn't know when applying the tints that it would turn out to be so dark in color when it was pasted on (otherwise I wouldn't have ordered it in the first place!!). The front not only looked like a fashion disaster for the Italian hot hatch, it also made the car look ridiculous like some blind lizard's or toad's snout.






If that wasn't reason enough to remove it, using the headlamps with the tint was frustrating. Approximately 30% of the beam was getting cut off, and the vinyl tint was starting to get too hot. I stripped the headlamp vinyls that very night because I just didn't want to risk any safety issues with regard to night-time visibility. The front smoke tints were removed almost immediately.


The front smoke tints were stripped off and the headlamps were back to stock condition. One of the beautiful aspects of using reversible modifications: don't like it? Strip it!



The tail lamp tints are perfect, don't block much of the light so they are still on. They will continue to be on for many more months to come (until I can afford Abarth bolt-on replacement lamps from eBay UK).

Thanks for reading!

[moralfibre]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Mods & Accessories Section. Thanks for sharing!

[ariesonu]

Awesome and very detailed mod and commentary with photos. Kudos to you to handle camera and the works by yourself. The rear profile of your car looks awesome. The CF work on rear bumper adds to the beauty. Did you do that yourself too??
Though you may have already tried it, here is a suggestion:


Raab rakha.

[nipcarlover]

Have been following your Punto thread, and love the work you have done to it. The rear tail lamp tints look absolutely fantastic .
It was a good thing you removed the headlamp tints, because even though they look 'good', it would have been really dangerous to run like that in the night.
Hope to see some more nice mods to your car

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

The CF work on rear bumper adds to the beauty. Did you do that yourself too??

All the faux carbon fibre vinyl work on the car was done at 3M car care centre. No way I could have managed that level of cutting and finishing, hehe.

[Shiv_1984]

Karthik, rear looks stunning. You said it right, the front smoking lamps were looking horrible. Good that you removed it. Overall, very nice job, I am going to look at my car today and find out where all i can follow your traits

-Shiv

[Speed Pujari]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

All the faux carbon fibre vinyl work on the car was done at 3M car care centre. No way I could have managed that level of cutting and finishing, hehe.

Hey Karthikk one QQ. Can I have thos faux carbon vinyl for the bottom of rear and front bumper. The way it is in prev gen Jetta?

How much would that cost? I need to know to know the damages if at all I want to reverse it ;-) .

Like this

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Speed Pujari

Hey Karthikk one QQ. Can I have thos faux carbon vinyl for the bottom of rear and front bumper.

Yeah they can add it for you on any part you like. You can get it done at any of the 3M car care centres. They charge on area basis - 400 bucks per sq. ft or something like that. For the work required in the bumper pattern you showed, I'm guessing you will require 3-4 strips = 3-4 sq. ft. So that's roughly 1500 bucks.

[ACM]

Thank you for the superb level of detail and really gripping narration.

The Faux carbon fibre vinyl work is also quite nice.

The last snap is a bit confusion as it not only does not have the front tints (as mentioned by you as removed - but also if looked at closely misses the rear tints. ? - Is it a trick for us to spot that it is an earlier snap actually?

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by ACM

The last snap is a bit confusion as it not only does not have the front tints (as mentioned by you as removed - but also if looked at closely misses the rear tints. ? - Is it a trick for us to spot that it is an earlier snap actually?

whoa Mr. Eagle eyes! you're right! That picture was taken a bit earlier. I just wanted to point out (with that picture) that the headlamp tints were removed and the original front look had come back .

I should have added a note asking people not to look at the back of the car , or maybe just shot the front look again with the rear tints in place. My bad.

[paragsachania]

Very clean and tidy DIY this one is Karthik. Loved the way you have explained the entire process complementing it with self explanatory photos.

The tinted tail lamps look absolutely fantastic for the color of your Italian beauty. The fit and finish of the entire job seems to be flawless as it is evident from the photos. No Bubbles, no badly wrinkled edges etc.

While I was scrolling down (and further down) to see how the Punto looked from front, I realized that you had removed the tints owing to deficient throw/intensity of the beam from the headlights which I was about you ask you.

Overall, wonderfully accomplished DIY