Page 1 of 1

smoked headlights

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:24 pm
by shadrack
so i got some lamin x off ebay and smoked all the lights front and rear, while the tail lights turned out great the headlights have turned out not so good, does anyone know if there is anywhere that will fit lamin x and make a perfect job or if you can buy the plastic covers pre smoked, thanks

Re: smoked headlights

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:48 pm
by X5Sport
Not sure which version of their film you are using, but beware of the colour of the light after fitting the film in case you fall foul of the MOT requirements that the main lights 'must be of a white or yellow' colour. I know it's a styling thing, but why anyone would want to intentionally reduce the output of their headlights by 'smoking' them is,in my humble opinion, questionable. Each to their own though.

Lamin-X have a UK website so they may be able to help you out with a fitter. Note that they do have a caveat of 'Not legal for road use' against some of their products.

Another option may be to use a 'smoke' spray tint, but I don't know how successful that would be, or how resilient if applied externally, as I don't know what plastic the OEM light are - probably a polycarbonate.

Re: smoked headlights

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:36 pm
by shadrack
thanks, for the reply, tbh if it was possible i would rather have a revovable tinted cover like you get fot the bikes headlights but im open to suggestions

Re: smoked headlights

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 11:33 pm
by Raj
How bad does it look and do you have any pics of where it is not perfect?

I've lamin-x'd mine last year and it came out really well. The light output is still white.

Re: smoked headlights

Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 6:50 pm
by shadrack
i will get some pics up, the light output is totally un affected in the dark, what it is when you look really close there is slight imperfection/bubbles it them from chips etc it the light lens however if your 3ft away they look perfect, i did the rears also and they came out perfect, my mates 5 series is the same close up

Re: smoked headlights

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 7:31 am
by Raj
A lot of the small bubbles will disappear after sometime. Bit like tint film, it just needs to dry out for the final finish. However if there are stone chips on the lens the. These will remain but will still look better once dried out.