How are headlights and taillights blackened?

fieroid · 17th October 2006, 15:37

Saturday night, me and my pal were sipping chai at m.g.road resting on my zen and suddenly this silver Vtec with black HL appeared. The light intensity was the same, but looked really good when the light was turned off. The glass was blackened. Have seen teh same treatment on taillamps as well. I wanna know, if this actually reduces the lumination, what treatment is given(vinyls?) to the glass and who does that in bangalore.
It will really look smashing on a black carn..i always want that all-black look.
I'm not gonna bother if its gonna affect visibility, but otherwise dont mind trying. Help!

binz · 17th October 2006, 17:24

I want to know too...memo and mclaren have done sumting similar to their balenos...Not too sure whether they used tints,but they were saying its called masking paper.Psycho will know!

hellspawn · 17th October 2006, 17:49

saw a couple of cars in delhi with jet black tinis on the headlights.....
upon enquiring with one of the guys got to know that they changed to brighter bulbs and put on tints.did the same with the rear tailights and they looked smoked out.

esteem_lover · 17th October 2006, 18:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellspawn

saw a couple of cars in delhi with jet black tinis on the headlights.....
upon enquiring with one of the guys got to know that they changed to brighter bulbs and put on tints.did the same with the rear tailights and they looked smoked out.

not too sure if the tints can take the heat from the headlamps.

gd1418 · 17th October 2006, 21:39

I too want to do the same with my Black Scorpio GLx HLs. Where is this done and the cost. I ahve Philips Crystalvison 55/60 tubes and don't want reduced illumination. If blackening reduces the lux then I am out of this.

I have seen them in the latest BMWs of 5 & 7 series. In the dipped mode a black ring is visible like a full solar eclipse with corona in full glory. Lip smacking. If only someone could do the same here as well...

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellspawn

saw a couple of cars in delhi with jet black tinis on the headlights.....
upon enquiring with one of the guys got to know that they changed to brighter bulbs and put on tints.did the same with the rear tailights and they looked smoked out.

karthik247 · 17th October 2006, 21:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by gd1418

I have seen them in the latest BMWs of 5 & 7 series. In the dipped mode a black ring is visible like a full solar eclipse with corona in full glory. Lip smacking. If only someone could do the same here as well...

Those are Angel Eyes/Halo Rings i think...

17th October 2006, 22:00

this sounds interesting i would really like to know.

blueraven316 · 17th October 2006, 22:17

Most in India use Tints with a hair dryer , but the headlamp has to be more or less plain for it to stay on, OHC is a good lamp to do tht.
In US you get Headlight smoking Vinyl, which sits nice on curves.
Heat is not much of an issue even with our Tints, one has to apply carefully with no wrinkles

balenopower · 17th October 2006, 22:48

Wht i have seen really upclose is TAPE..yes just normal steelgrip black colored tape being applied around the edges of teh headlight with just the center part being left...saw this in a palio and was lookin really cool

fieroid · 17th October 2006, 23:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by balenopower

Wht i have seen really upclose is TAPE..yes just normal steelgrip black colored tape being applied around the edges of teh headlight with just the center part being left...saw this in a palio and was lookin really cool

buddy I'm not talking about the tape here. It’s the black vinyl that’s applied on the inner side on the HL glass. I saw this on an old zen too with the tail lamp also given the same treatment. I wanna try this on my zen and bikes. I have an "all black" effect in mind..hence this query. pls let me know where this can be done in bangalore. also the method. The black film part is not convincing enough for me, coz i still feel its a smoking effect...there were no traces of wrinkles or vinyl on the OHC i saw last saturday.
@psycho, others who know..pls shed some light on this

gd1418 · 18th October 2006, 08:03

Absolutely right Karthik and thanks for the image as well. It looks menacing and groovy too..!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by karthik247

Those are Angel Eyes/Halo Rings i think...

GTO · 18th October 2006, 11:59

I have seen black covers that are bolted on to the headlight. However, they are opaque and must be taken off at night.

Psycho · 18th October 2006, 13:03

There are 2 tricks to achieve this

1) Paste masking paper in the required colour over your lights
2) You could get away with sun film too

GTO · 18th October 2006, 13:12

But that is dangerous. It will seriously affect the illumination quality.

saint_sinner · 18th October 2006, 20:02

on my my zen i had put the regular sunfilm on the headlights. i had philips diamond vision installed, but yes the light intensity does get reduced. you can expect the 5000K diamond vision with the film to be as bright as philips crystal vision (4300K) without the film. but yes it does look very neat. my advice is that you really dont need a very dark film for this. dont go for anything less than 50% visibilty, and get a good quality film so that it does not burn out.

17th October 2006, 15:37	#1
fieroid BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: bangalore Posts: 706 Thanked: 305 Times	How are headlights and taillights blackened? Saturday night, me and my pal were sipping chai at m.g.road resting on my zen and suddenly this silver Vtec with black HL appeared. The light intensity was the same, but looked really good when the light was turned off. The glass was blackened. Have seen teh same treatment on taillamps as well. I wanna know, if this actually reduces the lumination, what treatment is given(vinyls?) to the glass and who does that in bangalore. It will really look smashing on a black carn..i always want that all-black look. I'm not gonna bother if its gonna affect visibility, but otherwise dont mind trying. Help! Last edited by normally_crazy : 17th October 2006 at 22:23.
	() Thanks

17th October 2006, 17:24	#2
binz Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,306 Thanked: 431 Times View My Garage	I want to know too...memo and mclaren have done sumting similar to their balenos...Not too sure whether they used tints,but they were saying its called masking paper.Psycho will know!
	() Thanks

17th October 2006, 17:49	#3
hellspawn Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: noida Posts: 1,686 Thanked: 7 Times View My Garage Infractions: 0/1 (10)	saw a couple of cars in delhi with jet black tinis on the headlights..... upon enquiring with one of the guys got to know that they changed to brighter bulbs and put on tints.did the same with the rear tailights and they looked smoked out.
	() Thanks

17th October 2006, 22:00	#7
lancer_mania Posts: n/a	this sounds interesting i would really like to know.
	() Thanks

17th October 2006, 22:17	#8
blueraven316 Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,110 Thanked: 21 Times View My Garage	Most in India use Tints with a hair dryer , but the headlamp has to be more or less plain for it to stay on, OHC is a good lamp to do tht. In US you get Headlight smoking Vinyl, which sits nice on curves. Heat is not much of an issue even with our Tints, one has to apply carefully with no wrinkles
	() Thanks

17th October 2006, 22:48	#9
balenopower BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Bombay Posts: 957 Thanked: 467 Times View My Garage	Wht i have seen really upclose is TAPE..yes just normal steelgrip black colored tape being applied around the edges of teh headlight with just the center part being left...saw this in a palio and was lookin really cool
	() Thanks

18th October 2006, 11:59	#12
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 72,720 Thanked: 318,228 Times View My Garage	I have seen black covers that are bolted on to the headlight. However, they are opaque and must be taken off at night.
	() Thanks

18th October 2006, 13:03	#13
Psycho Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,043 Thanked: 111 Times View My Garage	There are 2 tricks to achieve this 1) Paste masking paper in the required colour over your lights 2) You could get away with sun film too
	() Thanks

18th October 2006, 13:12	#14
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 72,720 Thanked: 318,228 Times View My Garage	But that is dangerous. It will seriously affect the illumination quality.
	() Thanks

18th October 2006, 20:02	#15
saint_sinner BANNED Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: NOIDA Posts: 28 Thanked: 0 Times	on my my zen i had put the regular sunfilm on the headlights. i had philips diamond vision installed, but yes the light intensity does get reduced. you can expect the 5000K diamond vision with the film to be as bright as philips crystal vision (4300K) without the film. but yes it does look very neat. my advice is that you really dont need a very dark film for this. dont go for anything less than 50% visibilty, and get a good quality film so that it does not burn out.
	() Thanks