I have a 95 civic dx, and a friend of mine decided it would be great to black out the tail lights since it would go well with the white color...

However, after doing so, I realized he had used interior trim spray paint. looks great... but I have a feeling that this is not the correct way to tint the lights. light shines through them and everything now, but it seems a bit dim to me.

any way I could put in a brighter bulb or something to brighten the light without having to mess with the lenses (cleaning, sanding, replacing, etc) ? Would an LED bulb solve the problem? I have heard that if you use a bulb that is just higher wattage in order for it to be brighter, it may cause problems with the fuses and present some sort of electrical hazard...

any suggestions?

 

LEDs will help a lot but if the tint is real dark, you'll have to spend a lot on LEDs. The only thing you can replace with LEDs are the brake light bulbs and side reflector bulbs. Well, you can replace the turn signal bulbs but that is a little more difficult because it requires a special relay. LEDs have less power draw so there will be no electrical hazard.

You shouldn't tint anything with paint though, use spray tint. Use VHT Niteshades. You really should sand it down and start over. I don't know if LEDs will help if he used actual paint. To that I say: "wtf was he thinking?"

When I sanded the VHT Niteshades off of my old taillights I used an orbital sander. Started with something low like 600 or 800 grit to get the majority of the tint off (be careful as the orbital sander with low grit will cut through the tint very quickly and if you don't pay attention will start chewing away at the plastic). Then I moved to sanding by hand with 1000 and 1500, and then wet-sanded with 2000 grit. Then to bring back the shine I hand-buffed with rubbing compound, then polishing compound, and then finally with wax. After that they looked brand new.

I'm not sure if you need to make them shine before re-tinting but I would think it would help some to make the new tint shine better after being applied.

 

Well, it is light enough that the light does shine through, and it looks fine, but it is just a little bit dim, is all. What kind of LED bulb should I use and where could I possibly find one to replace the stock brake light bulb?