Well I finally completed my cosmetic mods for the rear end. Earlier I replaced the badges on the trunk with Vios and 'S'. In basically every other country, the Yaris sedan is called a Vios. The hatchbacks are known as the Vitz. I personally like Vios better than Yaris. :p The next thing I wanted to do was paint the chrome piece on the trunk, body color. Finally did that. Then the last thing was to smoke the tail lights. I went back and forth on whether to paint them, buy replacements already tinted or use a film. Ultimately I decided upon the film from Lamin-X.

I carefully read the directions several times and finally decided I was ready to tackle them, including the 3rd brake light. The directions said the temperature must be at least 70 degrees out and to use a heat gun or hair dryer to work the film around the odd angles and contours. I ended up using our 500 watt halogen work lamp as it throws out quite a bit of heat. I started on the 3rd brake light as the seemed to me to be the easiest of the three to do. It was pretty straight forward and gave me the chance to work with the film. Man, that stuff is pretty thick! It does have an adhesive backing as well that activates when it gets wet. My kit was pre-cut to fit my car. It's a pretty darn good fit too, except for the 3rd brake light, that is a universal kit and would probably do two lights. The challenge was getting it on by myself! I ended up having my 12 year old daughter holding the halogen light about 6 inches away from the tail light while I was working the film into place with all my might! This is definately a two person job, especially if it's cooler weather. One to hold the source of heat and the other person to work the film. It is pretty forgiving and I repeatedly removed and reapplied it until I had it the way I wanted it. You have to keep your fingers wet and the film damp and the tail light misted and pull and stretch and squeegee and tug and pull and...well, you get the point. Whew! Finally they were on! A few little bubbles here and there and some fogging underneath from a little too much misting. The directions say that in a couple of weeks, depending on how much direct sun and the outside temp, it should all clear up. So I'll wait and see how that goes.

So, here are 4 pictures of the rear end so you all can see the different stages. Thanks for looking!

Stock, with the Vios and 'S' badges:


Chrome trim painted above the license plate:


Smoked tail lights and 3rd brake light using Lamin-X film:


Slight angle from the rear: