Removal of tail lights

[Germann]

Hey folks. I bought a black 2010 and wanted the look of Camaro Black, for those of you that saw those SEMA pics. Anyway, to test the look, I used window tint to tint the windows and the tail lights, left on the black steel wheels but painted the beauty rings black. Perhaps I can post photos later. Anyway, I determined I liekd the look and decided to make it permanent, so I set about removing the tint from the rear tail lights so I can remove them and "smoke" them black. Previous advice on removing the tail lights over-simplifies it.

First you remove the black plastic molding to get access to the tail light assembly. This is held in place by three plastic pop-rivet looking things. They are two-piece. Using a screwdriver, pry up the center piece (its ok if you pull the center piece out completely) then you can remove the whole "rivet".

Second, you can work on removing the bezel. Work slowly. There are clips on the bezel which you need to push toward the hole with your finger and at the same time pry the bezel outward. Some are hard to reach, but if you go slow, they come out easy and WITHOUT breaking. I wanted to leave the Bezels off as it gives a deeper set look to the tail light assembly. However, I can see gaps around it which would most assuredly let water in. Some will argue its only plastic, who cares, but I dont want water inside or around any wiring, so Im going to paint the bezels while I have them out and re-instal them satime black.
Third, you will need needle nose pliars to likely get the tail light assembly initially loosened. Mine were loose anyway, but needed a quarter turn to get finger-loose and needle nose worked great for ones hard to reach. Hope this helps some folks make their car their own. You can easily do this yourself without breaking pieces in about an hour.

[Hylton]

Water gets back behind the tail lights anyways due to the trunk drip rails. Put some water in the rails and watch where it goes.

[Germann]

Indeed it does. Watched it run. But after checking out the deep well look of the lights without and with, I opted to re-install the bezels, after painting them black.

[Germann]

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/p...1305074&ref=nf
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/p...1305074&ref=nf

[srevoal]

That looks really great. Are you going to black out the bowties? your car looks a lot like what I am planning. I even like the black steelies.

[Germann]

Thanks. Im out of money for now, so I had to keep the steelies for now, but did keep em in the theme. Im thinking of painting the bowtie black as well. Thanks for the appreciation. Its not much but at least making an attempt to make her unique.

[Hylton]

Looks great man! Definitely looks like it menas business all black out in the back. Good job!

[Bone]

I removed the chrome bezels and replaced them marine rubber gasket. Just to fill in the gap around the tail lights.

[FL1CK]

Stop hijacking peoples threads, and it doesn't look good!

Originally Posted by Bone

I removed the chrome bezels and replaced them marine rubber gasket. Just to fill in the gap around the tail lights.