I found an interesting way to change the color of the light bulbs without having to incur much expense and it makes a great hold over till you finally decide to switch to LED's.

I have the JDM tail lights on my '98 and when I switched over to them, trying to find RED tail light bulbs was about impossible but they were there at AutoZone. They were not very bright red to start with but they were red and after about two months they seemed to fade out to almose an amber color. The RED lense was completely washed out.

On my recent trip to a Basketball officials camp last weekend, thats where I pay to chase high school kids up and down a basketball court all weekend and then get told what I need to do to improve, its a bit like this: "Basketball officating is the only vocation where you are expected to be perfect each game and then improve" ... anyway .... I had one burn out so I needed to replace one of my tail lights. Only one auto parts store to be found and no they didn't carry red 7443's.

While I was trying to figure out the next way to try to resolve my dilema, as I don't relish giving police a reason to stop me and issue me a ticket (been there done that) an older gent behind the counter asked me if I had an adversion to going to the women's section of Walmart. I told him "No, not really, why?" He then told me that all I needed to do was to take the clear bulbs and use finger nail polish and paint the bulbs. He said he used to do that all the time to his hot rods to make the bulbs any color he wanted, interior or exterior. Said that the polish is an acrylic enamel and it is semi-transparent. I was a bit worried that maybe this might cause a sontaneous combustion issue but he assured me it would not. Anyone else have an opinion?

Well I tried it with a color called "Rock & Roll Red" and sure enough! It went on really easy and if you brush it on thinly so you can see the filaments, it is really RED!. I let mine cure over night then installed the new replacement bulbs and they really are bright red now! (I'll post up a few pics later)

So has anyone else tried this? Seems like a easy way to change the interior gauge and indicator lamps for the interior as well. Ideally yes I would like toinstall LED's but this is a rather easy inexpensive alternative to resolve the color issue and just think of all the different colors that are out there! And look at it this way, your wife/girlfriend can help you pick out the color!!

 

when heated that stuff will emit toxic gasses in small amounts


does this matter at all, about anything ? who knows, just telling you what will happen

 

You can buy "testers" spray paint from a hobby shop that will give you the same effect. However, all of these paint-on methods will all fade after a period of time.

 

Hmm does sound like a good idea, but have you ever touched an incandescent bulb that's been burning for a while? They get extremely hot, and my guess would be that the fingernail polish isan't going to last very long at all.. If I were you I'd just upgrade to the LED tails... it's well worth the money, anybody would agree.

 

Dale, I'm not familar with the style of the JDM tail lights but if the heat thing becomes an issue, couldn't you use this trick to paint the inside of the lens?