[S2!!!]

Originally Posted by DWC

Im looking to smoke the tail lights of my Polo here in Mumbai. Can someone direct me to a professional who can source and apply the film on my ride?

May be you could try contacting these guys. I had blackened my headlamp bezels from them a few years ago. At that time Rishi had also shown me a tint for the tail lamps which I did not end up purchasing. He had both a dark as well as a light tint for the same.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/mumbai...ml#post3419193

Here is a picture of my ex-Ritz:

[Gannu_1]

Since the thread talks about blackening the headlights, I’ll post my recent experience here. But please note that this is about blackening the internal reflector bowls and the projector shrouds not the clear lens outside.

I am in the process of retrofitting bi-xenon projectors on the stock headlamps of my car and since the chrome on the reflectors do not serve any purpose any more (and bits and pieces had already chipped off while working), I decided to paint them with a matte black shade.

To get rid of the stock chrome from the reflectors:



A solution of Mr. Muscle toilet cleaner and kitchen cleaner helped.



I poured the concentrate into a bucket of water (1/4th of the volume) sufficient enough to immerse one bowl at a time.



After a few hours, with some gentle scrubbing using a Scotch Brite kitchen utensil cleaner pad, got the entire chrome stripped off in no time.





The bowls had a glossy finish so the spray paint would not stick to it properly unless a plastic adhesion primer is used. I could not get hold of one in any of the hardware/paint stores so decided to scuff the bowls using 2000 grit sand paper (dry). This is a fine sand paper so it gently scuffs the surface of the bowls to get rid of the glossy appearance.

After scuffing, cleaned the bowls using some Pril liquid and dried it using a microfiber towel. After drying the bowls, took a can of matte black spray paint, shook it vigorously for a minute or two (there’s a ball inside which moves up and down, back and forth), sprayed a bit on the newspaper and using a linear zig-zag motion (like a robotic arm) and holding the spray can about 30 cm away from the bowls, sprayed them one at a time and used a heat gun (with the low speed setting) to let it dry quicker.





The finish was better than what I had expected.

The same procedure was repeated for the projector shrouds as well. The chrome finish was poor and it had already started peeling off.









PS: The shrouds have been cut to fit the reflectors.

[DWC]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

May be you could try contacting these guys. I had blackened my headlamp bezels from them a few years ago. At that time Rishi had also shown me a tint for the tail lamps which I did not end up purchasing. He had both a dark as well as a light tint for the same.

Thanks for the tip S2. Will definitely check them out as i've been looking for someone to do this for a month now. Will call him tomorrow and post back.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

May be you could try contacting these guys. I had blackened my headlamp bezels from them a few years ago. At that time Rishi had also shown me a tint for the tail lamps which I did not end up purchasing. He had both a dark as well as a light tint for the same.

I intend to cover the tail lights of my Santro Xing with black film. Any idea as to how much will it cost? Also by applying black film, will the glow of the tail lights get affected??

[S2!!!]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

I intend to cover the tail lights of my Santro Xing with black film. Any idea as to how much will it cost? Also by applying black film, will the glow of the tail lights get affected??

This thread has all the answers to your questions: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do...ail-lamps.html.

[DWC]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

I intend to cover the tail lights of my Santro Xing with black film. Any idea as to how much will it cost? Also by applying black film, will the glow of the tail lights get affected??

I got it done for around Rs 1000 or so. Can't remember exactly how much, but was in the ballpark area.

Different tints have different opacities. Depending on the tint you use, the glow of your taillight will get affected. So make sure you choose one which isnt too dark.

[asit.kulkarni93]

Hello all,

After adding a black wrap to the grill of my Corolla, I am keen on smoking the headlamps black. As far as I know there are two ways to do this-

1. Adding a tint to the headlamps
2. Smoking the reflectors black.

Two years back, I had a lot of issues when I wanted to revert back from HID's to halogens on my bike. It had blackened headlamps . I had to get a new set of headlamps. Since then I am not to keen on aftermarket HID's. So has any tried using a smoked reflector + halogen bulbs setup?

As far as I know adding a tint will reduce visibility, so not to keen on that. Please help?

Asit

[swami69]

Hi, can you kindly put a photo of the car with your black wrap grill. Also, I will follow your process of smoking the headlights as I would also probably take it up for my Corolla. I read above Gannu spraying the reflectors matt black, but, is it possible to dismantle the Corolla headlight the same way ? just to paint the reflector and leave aside the lens.

Swami

Originally Posted by asit.kulkarni93

Hello all,

After adding a black wrap to the grill of my Corolla, I am keen on smoking the headlamps black. As far as I know there are two ways to do this-

1. Adding a tint to the headlamps
2. Smoking the reflectors black.

Two years back, I had a lot of issues when I wanted to revert back from HID's to halogens on my bike. It had blackened headlamps . I had to get a new set of headlamps. Since then I am not to keen on aftermarket HID's. So has any tried using a smoked reflector + halogen bulbs setup?

As far as I know adding a tint will reduce visibility, so not to keen on that. Please help?

Asit

[asit.kulkarni93]

Originally Posted by swami69

Hi, can you kindly put a photo of the car with your black wrap grill. Also, I will follow your process of smoking the headlights as I would also probably take it up for my Corolla. I read above Gannu spraying the reflectors matt black, but, is it possible to dismantle the Corolla headlight the same way ? just to paint the reflector and leave aside the lens.



Swami

Hello sir,

I have something similar planned as gannu did with his polo. I checked with this accessories shop near my house who said it is possible, but he was insisting on getting a HID+ projectors setup. So left it there.

I need the smoking effect like the first face lifted vento had received.

Here are 2 pics of the blackened grill.

[asit.kulkarni93]

Got the headlamps of my Corolla smoked. A well spent Sunday evening DIY job with my friend Vikash-

Attachment 1493761
Attachment 1493762

[swami69]

hi, thanks for the photos, but how did you get the headlights smoked. What is the procedure you followed. Kindly elaborate. Thanks.

Swami

[asit.kulkarni93]

Originally Posted by swami69

hi, thanks for the photos, but how did you get the headlights smoked. What is the procedure you followed. Kindly elaborate. Thanks.



Swami

Hello sir,

We followed the usual procedure-

Removed the bumper and headlight. After that with help of a heat gun we disassembled the headlight components.
Removed the reflector and spray painted it black. Till the reflector was drying up, we cleaned the lens and glass properly with a headlamp cleaner from formula1 that my friend had. After that we reassembled the headlamp by pressing it and adding fevicol at certain places and used the heat gun. Finally installed the headlamp and bumper back. Sorry I couldn't click any pics during the job as our hands were dirty. Approximately took us 5.5 hours.

The light throw is unaffected, I have used the car for more than 50kms in the last 2 days at night and found no issues.

Asit

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by asit.kulkarni93

Removed the bumper and headlight. After that with help of a heat gun we disassembled the headlight components.
Removed the reflector and spray painted it black. Till the reflector was drying up, we cleaned the lens and glass properly with a headlamp cleaner from formula1 that my friend had. After that we reassembled the headlamp by pressing it and adding fevicol at certain places and used the heat gun. Finally installed the headlamp and bumper back. Sorry I couldn't click any pics during the job as our hands were dirty. Approximately took us 5.5 hours.

Instead can I go for tinted headlight fro my Santro Xing. If Yes, which will be the preferred color of the tint?