E30 Tail Lights

[GunMetalGrey]

This was an odd thread to stumble in to. 
You figured it all out already.

[straight6pwr]

kill it with fire!

MHW. $1,000+

[m42b32]

Man, I would love a set of MHW's, but I can think of a LOT of things I would rather spend $1k+ on... 

Some people have attempted to replicate the MHW style by doing varying levels of tint on each section, you can get fairly close to the same look:

[YoungCR]

Anything is possible with enough time/money. These are my favorite tails I've run across. Home built by a guy in Taiwan, it's so incredibly '80's imo

[wasnt m3]

Things I hate about that car: trunk lid, emblem, tail lights, 3rd brake light, single exhaust, and probably a ton more if I could see the rest of the car.

[B C]

I searched high and low for Startecs, replicas, or other easily executable DIY’s that generate quality results. The only thing that seemed decent was red Lamin-x/painting them red. All DIY smoke/tint options ive seen looked cheap and made me feel like 1994 again

[SteelBlue]

m42b32 said:

Man, I would love a set of MHW's, but I can think of a LOT of things I would rather spend $1k+ on... 

Some people have attempted to replicate the MHW style by doing varying levels of tint on each section, you can get fairly close to the same look:

snap said:

I searched high and low for Startecs, replicas, or other easily executable DIY’s that generate quality results. The only thing that seemed decent was red Lamin-x/painting them red. All DIY smoke/tint options ive seen looked cheap and made me feel like 1994 again

I bought a small roll of 50% smoke tint to see what I could do. If it turns out like shit, I'll peel it off and maybe just paint them all red except for the reverse lights.

Saw a lot of people start threads about asking interest in making rep startecs, but no one ever came through .

[Earl]

wasnt m3 said:

Things I hate about that car: trunk lid, emblem, tail lights, 3rd brake light, single exhaust, and probably a ton more if I could see the rest of the car.

Just looked it up. Has a 2.0L e36 m42 swap

[Jdesign]

Mine are tinted. If you want a nice high quality finish you will want to get high quality clear, and mix in some pure black, non-metallic paint. Just a few little drops goes a long way. Mix it, then spray the tails one coat at a time and let it dry. Its really easy to put too much on.  I didnt do the ones on my tails, but I have done them on other E30s. The clear coat also provides a really nice shine and deep reflections to older tail lights.

I would not suggest using vinyl as the groves in the lights will be really hard to prevent bubbles from forming. 

[SteelBlue]

Jdesign said:

Mine are tinted. If you want a nice high quality finish you will want to get high quality clear, and mix in some pure black, non-metallic paint. Just a few little drops goes a long way. Mix it, then spray the tails one coat at a time and let it dry. Its really easy to put too much on.  I didnt do the ones on my tails, but I have done them on other E30s. The clear coat also provides a really nice shine and deep reflections to older tail lights.

I would not suggest using vinyl as the groves in the lights will be really hard to prevent bubbles from forming. 

Welp, guess I'll use the vinyl for for something else then lol

This looks really good though, I'll have to give that method a try.

[straight6pwr]

humbug, vinyl can work fine. i wrapped the corners of mine (which are the most difficult portion) with red clear vinyl and have none of these bubbles you speak of.

https://www.wibimmers.com/board/index.php?/topic/4560-hello-my-name-is-dan-and-today-it-rained/&do=findComment&comment=73984

[Jdesign]

straight6pwr said:

humbug, vinyl can work fine. i wrapped the corners of mine (which are the most difficult portion) with red clear vinyl and have none of these bubbles you speak of.

https://www.wibimmers.com/board/index.php?/topic/4560-hello-my-name-is-dan-and-today-it-rained/&do=findComment&comment=73984

Well you win. Seems like more effort IMO but it looks great.