Tinted tailights brighter bulbs? (3496??)

[GTU89]

Okay I tinted my taillights (Rustoleum tint) they came out amazing glass smooth reflection with no orange peel only problem now it that my lights are too dim during the day for my liking. They're visable but much too dim for me to feel safe about. The bulbs in it are old and seem to be cheap ass ones (only stamping is 2057 made in China)

3496 from what I've read are supposed to be much brighter so I ordered some (two 3496LL to try) but I'd like to know if anyone ran a brighter bulb with tint and what that bulb was.

[1988GTU]

I'd have to see if i still have the paperwork, but I am 99% sure I used 1157 36 high powered dual intensity leds.

[woody90gtz]

Long life bulbs actually don't burn as bright...that's why they last longer. I've tried several 1157 LED bulbs too and was never impressed with the light output. Be curious to see the ones 1988GTU used.

[GTU89]

I just ended up wetsanding the bottom lenses and retinting them slightly less dark so the light shines through much better. Looks wise the difference is not even noticeable other than when the lights are on (bottom is much brighter than top) so I'm happy for now. Unfortunantly all I could get was stupid Long Life bulbs atm.

Sometime i'm gonna snag a extra set of tails and rip these off and do them perfect (take them apart and either get the inside plastic chromed or paint it white/silver inside so they reflect light better) and re-tint them. They leak horrible anyways so might as well rip them open anyhow. maybe get some good front/side "firing" LED bulbs too if the incandescents aren't good enough.

That rustoleum tint has to be the shinniest and toughest crap ever. They shine like glass and its very hard to remove the tint once it's on. Had to wetsand forever with 120 grit to even get it off. amazingly the 120 wetsanding didn't hurt the lenses somehow.

[woody90gtz]

Glad to hear there's a tint spray that works decent. I keep hearing how VHT Nighshades suck. I went the vinyl route with my truck rather than spray. Hard to do complex shapes, but the tint is 100% even that way.

[GTU89]

Glad to hear there's a tint spray that works decent. I keep hearing how VHT Nighshades suck. I went the vinyl route with my truck rather than spray. Hard to do complex shapes, but the tint is 100% even that way.

It's great stuff. Takes several hours to be touchable and around 24 hours to cure. Seemed to lay on pretty nice and even. Didn't have any problems with paint/tint runs or anything.

[96B-Mike]

i did my lights as well (the spray tint)..i got pulled over 3 times before i finally wet sanded and buff em down haha

[GTU89]

i did my lights as well (the spray tint)..i got pulled over 3 times before i finally wet sanded and buff em down haha

Yeah I didn't want to be that jackass who gets rear ended because their lights were too dark lol

Got a few dirty looks from people who were behind me even though they were still very visable (and my third brakelight is extremely bright) and had a few cops take second and third looks at my car but luckly no tickets.

Came out great though have pics of the less tinted lower portion of the tails on the 90 GTZ thread of mine. They shine like stock now with the tint seen there and the 3496 bulbs.

If anyone wants to tint tails/whatever on the car I'd really reccomend Rustoleum tint looks amazing. Very easy to apply and extremely durable. Not so easy to remove though lol. The Fillers look cool too you can faintly see the ribbing/whatever inside them (they were nice clear ones) when the light shines just right.