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DIY: Vinyl Your Tail Light Corners

19K views 51 replies 41 participants last post by  Teg.Time 
#1 ·
Ok, as promised just incase I leave the site forever. I will leave you all with a couple DIY’s on my specialty: VINYL!!!

The most popular thing to do is turn your 94 tail lights to turn them into 98 tails.


Tools required:



*Red Vinyl
*Xacto knife or razor blade
*Soap mixed with warm water
*Blow dryer
*Decal applier or credit card wrapped in cloth

The decal applier can found at Wal-Mart I believe or any custom signs store near you. The vinyl can be found at a sign store, ebay or pm me.

*The tail light used in this article is a 98 JDM Tail light. I don’t have a 94-97 tail light on hand so this will do for now. The final product has a slightly darker corner than the rest of the tail light because this shade of red was made for the 94-97 tail light.

WHY VINYL?
It beats paint if you’re bad at painting or if you don’t want to paint at all. It’s easily reversible and does not chip of. once it is on, it’s on until you want it off. Vinyl grips very very well but can be peeled off with some ease and doesn’t leave a messy residue. It lasts long, on average 3-5 years when used outdoors and can endure extreme weather.


1.Mix warm water and a little bit of soap in a cup. Enough to get some small bubbles going.



2.Clean your tail light so it is nice and clean. You want the surface to be dirt free to apply the vinyl.





3.Dip your hand in the cup, and rub the soap/water mixture on your tail light corner to get the corner lightly wet.







4.Peel the vinyl and apply the whole thing on the tail light.





5.Use the applier or credit card and PUSH OUT starting from the middle of the corner pushing outwards. This will get the water out. Make sure to push out any possible air bubbles out as well.







6.Grab the blow dryer, put it on HOT mode. The blow dryer will soften up the vinyl so it can bend easier and form to corners. I start off in the LOW mode and point it towards the corners of the tail light and repeatedly PUSH OUT from the middle. This will help straighten out the vinyl and help it wrap around the edges.





7.If there are any bubbles or creases still stuck, just peel the vinyl from the corner closest to it and rewrap it as you PUSH OUT from the middle of the corner outwards to straighten it up.





8.As the vinyl is taking shape, put the blow dryer on HIGH mode (if applicable) to blow at the whole corner and edges to finalize and make sure the vinyl sticks on to the tail light.





9.Take out your Xacto knife/razor blade and cut around the corner of the tail light. Use light pressure, enough to cut off the vinyl but too much pressure will leave a scratch in the tail light. The stock tail lights have a small crease outline in which you can cut along. If you want, you can trace this crease. If not you can trace outside of the crease to make sure you don’t cut off a part of the vinyl that is covering the amber.





10.Peel off the excess, if any of it is still stuck then cut it off.




11.Use the blow dryer to blow at the cut edges if it peeled off a bit. Use your car/applier to flatten those edges off.



12.You’re done, hit the streets and enjoy your new red corners.







Contact me for any questions about the write up or vinyl via PM or aim: mystikalstriker.

-Tony
 
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#9 ·
You ppl have to understand that the tail lights i'm using are 98 jdm tails. They are as bright as usdm 98 tails.

That's why the corner is darker!!!!

I'm using vinyl that is meant for 94-97 tails since those tail lights have darker lights.

If i had 94-97 tails to use in this article, the color would look more uniform.
 
#10 ·
And here.

This pic shows LIGHT RED VINYL used in conjunction with 98 JDM Tail lights.

Now you tell me which one is the USDM 98 tail light:





...Trust me kids I know my stuff. The pic up there shows RED used with the jdm tails. But the article made there for specifically for the 94-97 guys but I didn't have a 94-97 tail light when I JUST made this write up.
 
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