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Old 03-07-2009, 05:44 PM   #1
Mr.Durden
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2009 Impreza 2.5i
Satin white

Lightbulb DIY: Painting tail lights Impreza 08-09 5 door

I take no responsibility if anything happens, diy are always to use at your own risk.


Alright, after looking around for some vinyl to put on my tail lights and found that it was almost impossible for me to find this weekend, I decided to paint the lights instead. To begin with, you will need:

-Flat screwdriver
-Ratchet
-10mm socket
-8mm socket
-Extension for ratchet
-Painters tape
-Exacto knife
-Stained glass paint (Can be found in hardware stores)

First you start by removing the 2 screws for the outer tail lights. When those are removed, you slide the light towards you.













Once the outer tail lights are removed you can remove the inner ones. By using the 8mm socket remove the screws located on the side of the lights when you open the trunk.(forgot to take a picture) After those 2 screws are removed, you need to remove the interior panel of the hatch. You will need to pull hard in order to remove the cover, don't worry you wont break anything.





Once the panel removed the last bolt for the inner tail lights is located next to the reverse light bulb, make sure to not drop the bolt.




All lights removed.



Now for the paint, cover the blinker and reverse part with painters tape. Make the contour with exacto knife. All of this is pretty straight forward. Take the spray paint and paint the lights... You can put as many coats as you want to achieve the tint of your choice, you can also add some clear to protect even more. Once everything is dry, reassemble everything.






Hope all of this was of any help sorry if some steps were skipped, this is my first written diy.

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Last edited by Mr.Durden; 03-07-2009 at 06:14 PM.
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Old 03-07-2009, 05:48 PM   #2
Mr.Durden
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The paint to use
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Old 03-07-2009, 05:55 PM   #3
All4bSpinnin
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Good job, thanks for the writeup!!
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Old 03-07-2009, 06:28 PM   #4
eurospek
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Looks awesome!!!! Much better than vinyl!
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Old 03-07-2009, 06:29 PM   #5
bebechica
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nice job! too bad my car is leased...

yur rear seats are brown??
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Old 03-07-2009, 06:32 PM   #6
Mr.Durden
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bebechica View Post
nice job! too bad my car is leased...

yur rear seats are brown??

No, no just the lighting that makes them look like that. Btw my car is leased too
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Old 03-07-2009, 07:07 PM   #7
Cereal Killer
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Great job! About how long did it take?
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Old 03-07-2009, 07:08 PM   #8
Mechie3
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Nice! I like it!
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Old 03-07-2009, 07:10 PM   #9
98Legacy_757
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looks flawless, and yes is much better than tint
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Old 03-07-2009, 07:13 PM   #10
Mr.Durden
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cereal Killer View Post
Great job! About how long did it take?
3-4 hours in total. Which means removing the lights, prepping, painting and putting back together.
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Old 03-07-2009, 09:34 PM   #11
BURMAT
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Good job.. They look much better to me honestly
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Old 03-07-2009, 09:41 PM   #12
wrxphantom
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do you know if this paint is removeable... lets say you don't like it... or you make a mistake
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Old 03-07-2009, 11:06 PM   #13
NorthBayResident
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DGM

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soon to do this to my nasty-altezza-style 08 tail lights too haha
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Old 03-08-2009, 09:15 AM   #14
Mr.Durden
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wrxphantom View Post
do you know if this paint is removeable... lets say you don't like it... or you make a mistake

Regular paint thinner on a rag.
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Old 03-08-2009, 10:12 AM   #15
elwray
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'07 VTX1300c, '03 VFR800

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Wow, that looks fantastic - thanks for the write up and pictures!

You achieved that look without sanding at all?? This is definitely worth a shot!

is this an enamel or lacquer paint?

EDIT:
How many coats did you use to get this degree of tint?

Last edited by elwray; 03-08-2009 at 10:19 AM.
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Old 03-08-2009, 12:19 PM   #16
Zordos
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looks good man. here's mine I did a while back pretty much with the exact same steps and material. 4 coats I think, held up nicely to all the washes, rain, and pitiful snow BC gets haha.
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Old 03-08-2009, 07:31 PM   #17
Mr.Durden
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elwray View Post
Wow, that looks fantastic - thanks for the write up and pictures!

You achieved that look without sanding at all?? This is definitely worth a shot!

is this an enamel or lacquer paint?

EDIT:
How many coats did you use to get this degree of tint?
Like Zordos said about 4 coats. Yes did it without sanding. The paint is a glass coat paint, not sure if it's enamel, lacquer or something else. It is the thing to use though. Oh, i do know that testors spray paint works too, this one:
I know this one is enamel
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Old 03-08-2009, 07:32 PM   #18
elwray
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Cool, thanks for the info! I'll be getting to this soon!
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Old 03-08-2009, 07:33 PM   #19
Mr.Durden
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zordos View Post
looks good man. here's mine I did a while back pretty much with the exact same steps and material. 4 coats I think, held up nicely to all the washes, rain, and pitiful snow BC gets haha.

The way those lights should have came out of the factory.
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Old 03-08-2009, 07:35 PM   #20
Mr.Durden
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elwray View Post
Cool, thanks for the info! I'll be getting to this soon!

Just notice in your info that you have a dgm impreza, any pictures of it? Of course you do need to get some when you get it done too.
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Old 03-08-2009, 07:37 PM   #21
elwray
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Haha, if you were an hour earlier I could have taken some! But no, not yet. I'll snap some tomorrow before I get to work if it's nice out.
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Old 03-08-2009, 07:38 PM   #22
Mr.Durden
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elwray View Post
Haha, if you were an hour earlier I could have taken some! But no, not yet. I'll snap some tomorrow before I get to work if it's nice out.

All good!
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Old 03-10-2009, 09:14 PM   #23
Mr.Durden
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Bump. Sweet cheap mod to do!
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Old 03-24-2009, 12:48 AM   #24
MarksmanUK
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zordos View Post
looks good man. here's mine I did a while back pretty much with the exact same steps and material. 4 coats I think, held up nicely to all the washes, rain, and pitiful snow BC gets haha.
Hey Zordos, lights look great. Did you use the candy apple colour too? Looks darker to me...
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Old 03-24-2009, 01:17 AM   #25
Zordos
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exact same stuff Mr.Durden used. Krylon stained glass stuff. I used roughly 4 coats
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