Vinyl Tint added to Tail Lights

I've wanted to do this mod for oh... about as long as I've been a member of Priuschat. Sigma Automotive has the Tail Lights like this for $800 Nope Just checked now they're $1250!!!

Toyota Prius 2004 ~ 2009 NHW20 Exterior Accessories :: Sigma Automotive

I don't know about you but $800 is too much, how many are they really selling for $1250???

So over the last couple of months I've been ordering the vinyl supplies off of eBay and researching what I need to do to add the vinyl tint to the talilights to simulate the Sigma automotive ones.

Lastnight I finally had time to try it! I smoked the Center and added red to the top and bottom Similar to the Sigma ones!

It was a pain, but I guess with some practice it would get easier to do over time...

 

Some hints for others who want to tint their headlights or taillights: know which side has the glue before you measure and pre-cut. Use a real heat gun, not a hair dryer (I used a hair dryer and it was really hard to get the vinyl to stay flexable and hard to get it to shrink around the curves of the tail lights. The tail lamps don't seem like they have a lot of curvature, but yeah they do. Apply the vinyl in a heated garage or during warm weather ( I was so cold when I was doing this I was shivering - making it hard to cut a straight line - and it was hard for the vinyl to stay pliable it would harden up so fast I struggled with it).

If this is your first time adding vinyl tint I'd recommend ordering way more than you need.

It took me a couple of tries on the left tail lamp. If I didn't have a second roll of red, I'd have ran out of tint! You can easily make your own application solution (I could be wrong - other can correct me on this but what I found on other websites was 1/3 part 91% isopropyl alcohol, 2/3 water and 3 medium to large drops of baby shampoo).

 

I used 3M automotive masking tape to help me hold the vinyl and used it to help score/cut the vinyl around the curves. The difference between the 3M 233+ green masking or the Yellow 3M automotive tape compared to your normal house-hold masking tape is that you can curve the tape where normal masking tape will tear, where the 3M will stretch. The 3M doesn't leave any glue residue, which typical standard masking tape often does.

 

I'd like to say that there arn't any jagged edges, and that it's perfect. But it's not. If you were able to look at it up close you could see the flaws, but from 1 foot away, it's not horrible looking. - Then again, if you're experienced or are a professional installer I'm sure mine looks like crap. but I'm happy with it!

 

Chamutas, those tail lights look good!

 

I think the style you're looking for would look good with the way that you have the roof and spoiler wrapped.
Hey - Don't forget to tint the center brake light! I think a light smoked tint would look good with the black carbon wrap that you have installed.

Look at what Chamutas did (comment #7) - it looks like his was the 04/05 style with blacked out upper brake light area, and then he added additional tint over the entire brake light assembly.

Sounds like you want the look that he has.

I think both styles (red/dark/red or the dark tint up top with the light smoked tint on the middle and bottom) look better than the 2009 stock tail lights!