Smoked Vs. Painted Vs Tinted Head & Tail Lights

[Lightning]

Which do you prefer, and what are the pros and cons? Also, do you think it depends on the colour of the car? Let me know what you guys think.

[Alex-evita]

i have smoked my rear.and maybe will paint front .tinting is looking good only from distance

[wullie_trd]

painting them is ok ...... If you can afford the genuine black headlights even better! ....... They expensive though!

[Lightning]

Thanks for your input guys. What about light output; how much of that is compromised when smoked, painted, or tinted and what about the longevity of each?

[wullie_trd]

Im guessing it may be compromised if you tint ... I may be wrong though ..... I painted mine just last week and have a set of 8000K HID lights and i have no probs with the lights.

[Soiled]

I've had my headlights painted black for years and theres no difference in light, tinting will affect light output but depends how dark the tints are as to how much obviously, and have my taillights colour coded to the white of the car which I like the look of and doesn't affect the light out put either.

Neither have deteriated in the time I've had them done.

If you're cheap you could always do the pull a black stocking tight over the lights :p

Pros of painted, don't affect light, look good (if you do a good job).
Cons, can melt the headlights if you're not careful, and very easy to crack the taillights getting them apart.

Cons of tinting, I have seen them peeling and it looks horrible.

Would be interesting to see people try some more out there colours to paint there lights

[Lightning]

Thanks guys. Soiled, can you post a picture of your tail lights please? I have always seen chrome or black, but I cannot recall seeing white used as a colour for the tail lights, or head lights for that matter. My car is white also, so it would be interesting to see how well the white colour blends in. Thanks once again.

[Soiled]

I'm in the UK at the moment and my cars in NZ so it'll be abit hard to take a photo but I did have one somewhere, will try ask my mate if he's still got it on his computer.

Have seen headlights down white on a white IS200 it looked good, but to me needed to break up the front abit more.

*edit* Found my car online easier than I thought.

[npm2]

I had a fly-eye kit on my old Celica. From a distance it looked like the lights were painted or tinted but werent!
I had a shade of Orange on the front of the car and black on the back and it was really easy to put on!

(Sorry for the poor pics but there the only one's I can find right now!)

[mike_01]

Painted my rear light's, bought car with the black headlights so wanted to match them up, easy to do and look's standard which is even better, on a silver car though would think the chrome would look better

[Lightning]

Thanks for all the input guys...