Radiant Red w/ Black Headlights

[WannaRedTundra]

So I started this project last night at around 6pm thinking that it shouldnt be a problem, people stated it takes them about 6 hours for the whole project and I dont have to be up for work tomorrow, so no big deal.

Yea, right.

Actually, it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be, it is pretty time consuming and you DEFINATELY need to be patient. I rushed a little on the painting part and had to sand some down and repaint. This sucked. Plus my oven is REALLY crappy and I think it pretty much pre-heats to any temp so it was kinda scary. Overall, this modification was a pain, but holy crap, after installing them this morning, it all was worth it.

Side note: I live in an apartment, so space was an issue. I had towels down all over, tools were scattered about. My bathroom became my heating room to dry the paint. I cranked up the heat as high as it would go, used some hangers from my shower rod to hang the lights on and let them dry between coats in there.

BIG LESSON LEARNED: When baking the headlight on a cookie sheet, keep in mind that all you need is the ambient temperature in the oven to be warm enough to make the sealant gooey. Youre not baking some bread here, so it doesnt need to be hot in there. To be honest, I think even 275 was a little overkill, but thats just me. ALSO: when you place the headlight on a cookie sheet, take steps to avoid melting the black housing that is sitting on the cookie sheet. 9-12 minutes at 275 is plenty of time for that cookie sheet to get hot enough to melt the places where the housing makes contact with it. I threw some dish towels down on the sheet as they would help keep it from sitting on metal. I melted a pretty good size area on the edge of the housing. BUT, with that said, it was just the housing, not a part that could be seen, I just sealed it up, molded it to fit and reinstalled. Just something to think about...

Pictures:


Sorry for the bad quality, there was a shadow, and my truck was dirty. I'm going to try and wash it tomorrow and get it out to take some more photos.

EDIT: NEW PHOTOS
Yet again, in the shade, but a little better. These are all taken with my phone...I guess I should finally get an actual camera...


Im really starting to like the red and black combo...a lot.

[HotWheelsUMD]

Looking good! I'm partial to the combination of red and black myself.

[wii]

Looks great

[WannaRedTundra]

Originally Posted by HotWheelsUMD

Looking good! I'm partial to the combination of red and black myself.

Ditto. I think thats what Im going for. I got the front passenger and driver side windows tinted to match the rear ones and now this. I think I shall continue with this theme

[Wildbill Tundra]

maybe it will grow on me but im still not a fan on the black headlights on these trucks

[WannaRedTundra]

Really? Because I think they would look GREAT on a Salsa Red one... Let me clean her up and take another photo...

[DvlsAdvc8]

Looks good on the red and black trucks, but I'd never do it to my blue streak.

[006]

I can't believe I keep hearing about the melting issue. I use 275 and 9-12 minutes for each mod and have yet to encounter a single melting issue. Although my oven is fairly new, only 3 years old. Like I state in my tutorial, oven temps vary due to age of ovens, so that could be the culprit. I have done 3 sets of Tundra lights now, on top of the set I did for my F-150 and a set for a friend's Tacoma that makes 5 sets without a problem.

DvlsAdvc8: For Blue Streak I would recommend paint-matched lights. I saw a red and also a silver Tundra the other day with paint-matched headlights and they looked GREAT. White/Black/Red/Silver/Green all look great with black housings, while Blue/Red/Silver/Pyrite look awesome with paint-match. In the end it's all personal preference though. Hell, some people even prefer the stock chrome housings over painted ones. To each their own, and that's all good

[99Runner]

Looks good but what I really want is a nice HID retro fit kit that works....

[WannaRedTundra]

So I went and washed my truck today. I swear, sometimes I forget how red it really is! But oh man, after it was done, I swear, painting the headlights just sets it off. It REALLY gives the lights depth and almost an aggressive tone! I love them!

I looked at the tail lights and they look like they have the same setup as the headlights...aka a nice chrome area aching to be sprayed! Hmm... What about the foglights....think something could be painted in there?

[006]

The foglights do not appear to have any good surface area to paint without defeating their lighting purpose.

The tail lights do not come apart like the headlights. In fact I am still waiting on a fax from the dealer about how they come apart because I want to do the same to the tail lights, and then if I don't like it, then I can always just smoke the lenses.

[WannaRedTundra]

Originally Posted by 006

The foglights do not appear to have any good surface area to paint without defeating their lighting purpose.

The tail lights do not come apart like the headlights. In fact I am still waiting on a fax from the dealer about how they come apart because I want to do the same to the tail lights, and then if I don't like it, then I can always just smoke the lenses.

Keep me posted on the tails. Very interested on how they would look if you go that route!

[WannaRedTundra]

Pictures updated.