My custom taillight project

So my plans are to get a new rear bumper with some flush baja designs reverse lights. I also run a vled reverse led plate frame.


So my idea was to take factory tundra lights and customize them a little.

I made the entire light assembly red, smoked them lightly and clear coat them. I then will modify the light harness to either run the factory reverse light as a parking light or eliminate it all together. I will see how I like it as a Parking/running light.


Started with some factory fresh lights from local offer up. Took me a while to get a smoking deal. But time was on my side. Ended up landing a mint 10-13 set for $50


First a cleaning, just wipe down with a cleaner of your choice. Just to remove dust and grime that might leave scratches as you sand.


Soak a piece of 1000 grit paper in clean water. If your lenses are in good shape with minimal scratches you can use the 1000 grit. If you have defects to remove, start lower and work up. I was just looking to scuff and clean.


One sanded the shine should be all gone and they should look dull. Wipe down with wax and grease remover and let sit in the sun to dry and warm. It was about 75 degrees when I did this.




I also let my vht red night shades sit in the sun to warm the can. Warm cans spray better.


Now since I am only really concentrating on the clear portion most people would want to tape off the existing red. I respectfully disagree as I do not want a hard paint/tape line to deal with. I prefer to gently blend the paints with no tape. It’s much cleaner in the final product.


I will spray multiple light coats of red over the clear portion until the desired red is near, 2 coats then I give the entire light another 2 coats of red so they all match and have the same tint of red.









Let dry completely. I will leave them out all day in the sun.

Strat again with the original step of west sanding with 1000grit

To knock the shine and the dust off or whatever. And leave the black nightshades out in the sun.




I did light coats of niteshades and was happy after 3 light coats. I like a lightly tinted look. I also run very nice and bright LED bulbs so output it still better than original.





Let dry another day and now is time for clear. I am a huge fan of 2k clear in a can. Basically professional automotive clear in a spray can. Runs about $25 a can but worth it. I would have liked it warmer today but it was still about 65 and low humidity. After 5 coats I was happy.








Now they need to cure.


I’m going to modify the wire harness next. Pretty easy to identify the reverse light positive wire here. I’m going to cut it to tap into the parking light wife of the top brake bulb. But also remember to leave the factory reverse wire in case you run a back up camera or aux reverse lights like I do. I ran yellow wire to make it easily identifiable for me.

 

Place holder for install and testing soon

I am also going to run a 194 red led bulb in the reverse light socket. I know they normally run

$26 t15/921 LASFIT 921 LED bulb reverse lights 912 T15 back up light CANBUS error free reversing bulb 904 916 6000K xenon white new upgrade design(pack of 2)

t15/921 bulbs but that would be too much heat and maybe too much light for a parking light.

 

Cool project!

 

Very cool, looking great!

 

You could use the empty reverse light socket to double up your turn signal bulbs. Looks great so far.

 

You’re right. Another easy option to explore

I can easily make a small video of all my options and leave it up to the forum on what looks best

 

Looks great so far

 

Looking good so far.

 

I got everything finished up and couldn’t be happier.

the all red tail lights give a subtle yet custom appearance and the Baja designs s2 flush mounts look awesome and perform better!

 

Well done!!

 

Thank you.

I need to get some good pics to do these justice. They look good

 

Yes they do! I tried and messed mine up!

 

Looks great

 

You did a great job with those tail lights!

 

I'm amazed at how the red matched up!

 

Killer diy for sure. Nice work, nice write up.

 

How about I send you my taillights, I'm serious how much?

 

let me find an extra set. I would rather work with a core set and do exchanges. For a couple reasons.

 

This might be a start to something big.

 

Is that reverse positive wire red/blue??? I'm basically color blind......

 

Those taillights look great, by the way..

 

that looks good! Killer tail lights!

 

I love this. Nice work.

 

I have a set... a Failed attempt to tint! But I’m afraid after your done with them the rest of my pickup would look shit!

 

Yes, but these were an aftermarket harness that came with some aftermarket eBay lights. The ones on the factory harness was a different color bits it’s easy to spot. The ground is black and runs to all three plugs.

So the positive sides on the sockets are easy to identify. The only time I needed to test a wire was the parking light vs. the brake light.

Easy enough though, using a test light turn on the parking lights and probe the two wires in the brake light socket and tap that one for the parking light.

 

TTT... Two year old thread. These would look great on my black Tundra. Dope!

 

thanks, I still look at them everyday and love them.

I have since upgraded to VLED reds for my brake lights and they are almost too bright for brake lights!

I have also done an all red set with no tint and they look great

 

...but how are we to pass judgment without photographic evidence??