Ok here goes..this is gonna be long so I appologize up front lol..I just figured I'd go into detail.
Halos are a retrofit on the stock fogs. basically I bought sealed waterproof CCFL halos and attached them to the outside of the fog lights..and no it's not ghetto lol..might sound like it but you couldn't see that they were on the outside when they are off being they just look like a ring around the edge..and of course look sweet when they are on..obviously ha
As for the tinted lights..I tinted the lights with a mixture of clearcoat and a few grams of black mixed in sprayed through a gun (did paint work for a living) and did several coats until I got to the darkness I wanted. (took my experimenting on junkyard lights with my clear to black ratio in grams but I finally came to a formula I liked) Basically it was just clear coat which is why it is so transparent and shiny but with a black tint to it. It allowed light transfer with no issues..In comparison that VHT in a can stuff is more like a black paint basically thin enough to let some light through and then to make them shiny you coat over that with clear coat..so really it is different since it isn't "tinted clearcoat"..its black with clear on top of it.
Some people are against tinted lights..and I actually am too if they aren't done properly. It scares me to see people driving around with tinted tail lights during the day and when they hit the brakes you can't even see them..not safe at all..mine were blacked out BUT you could see even just the tail lights when they were on during the DAY..brake lights were brighter yet obviously..at night stopped next to other cars at stoplights or driving down the road you couldn't even tell my lights were tinted (had my wife drive it when I did it). I was amazed at how well it turned out so with such good results I did the same thing with the headlights and with HID's it transferred plenty of light..I'd say somewhere near what stock halogens output on non tinted lights, so not too bad at all.
Here are a couple pictures
Just the tail lights on..not brake lights
HID's in both the headlights and fog lights
Off: (before clear corners and halos installed)
On:
When I sold her the car I "un-tinted" the lights slightly as they are more picky in Minnesota about that stuff and I didn't want her to have issues..so this is how the car sits now, but I plan to re-do them back to how I originally had them.
Headlights before:
Tint sanded off to an extent..I wanted to make them unique still:
Re-cleared
Before on the right / After on the left (also untinted the Fogs..and you can see the outline of the halos in this picture..so that is what they looked like off)
And so you can see difference in brightness with tint and without
And I also did the tail lights so she wouldn't get hassled..I lightly wetsanded (reverse lights and turn signals completely sanded)to take some of the darkness of the tint off..but still leave a little.
Hopefully that answers some questions
Mods on the car are in my signature. I posted some of these in my new members intro thread, but figured this is where they belong most and where all can enjoy so might as well throw them up. A few of them were before it had the GXP spoiler on it.
