well guys, i've had my 8 since march, and today i got around to doing my first mod. i ordered the Lamin-x smoked taillight cutouts, as well as the yellow fogs. i'm not a huge fan of how the stock taillights look... too "busy" if you ask me (or jeremy clarkson). next week i'll be doing my second mod, which is a header and catless midpipe.

for the record, this install SUCKED. i have never, ever wanted to "cut my life into pieces" more than i did during this install. ****. ever. doing. this. again.

props to lamin-x and all for making a high quality product, but RX-8 owners get the shaft with this because the taillights are such a funky shape to stretch vinyl over.

i'm extremely pleased with how this turned out, and opinions are welcome.

oh, and the car was debadged when i bought it (except for front mazda emblem). i'm kind of on the fence about whether to put them back on again. i kinda like it.

first, the yellow fogs:

 

looks good, but not a fan of smoked tails on Sunlight Silver

 

yeah, i understand.

what about 'em don't you like, exactly?

(they're actually not near as dark IRL)

(shutter speed)

 

SS is a relatively light color, so the dark tails stand out to much. This is just my opinion though. If you like it thats all that matters

 

^I mean...It doesn't look bad, but I always like the look of the stock tails better than when people smoke them..The stock tails give the car more character.

 

no hurt feelings here.

i love 'em.

tomorrow i'll get some better pictures during daylight.

 

HUH??? HUH???

maybe i'm just trying to respect my elders

 

looks like a good job on the taillights. clean.

 

who said rx7 taillights looked nice?

 

is that the charcoal or smoked? i do agree it does look different on silver, but job well done. I know first hand how hard it was to apply these, i threw mine away and went to bulk film. haha

 

I love the look of smoked tails.
Too bad they are illegal here in Cali

 

^^ just about EVERYTHING is illegal here in CA.

smoked tail lights rock

 

Props, I gave up doing mine after 3 tries. Maybe it was just cheap stuff and it kept ripping.

 

i smoked the tails of my gti, and im def doing them on my 8...how do you think they will look on winning blue?
also, how is the rear debadged??? the badges are "drilled" into the car!
i loved the clean look of a debadged rear....anyways, sweet car bro

 

Looks good bro. Time to get a bodykit.

 

They are most likely illegal in all 50 states but california is one of the few states that enforces the laws. California uses the federal regulations for most of its equipement laws and the federal laws are applicable in all 50 states. Just becasue your states vehicle code does not spell out that it is illegal does not make it legal.

Now, if your local police dont enforce it, then go for it. Heck they look good, so why not right?

 

Mine was in CA. I had mine smoked. it was alright for me. Cops didn't stop me. I like em smoked. Only problem I have now is water in my tails after washing.

 

^ i have that problem too, after washing. i need to find where it's getting in and silicon that up real good.

i wasn't ever worried about the lamin-x ripping. it's some high quality stuff, but i'll be damned if i didn't almost give up 4 times. the foglights were easy, though.

luckily, i live in tennessee and we don't have to worry about such frivolous things as "equipment laws" or "regulations." i could take my entire exhaust off, strap it to the top of my car, and do burnouts at every redlight and no one would think twice about it.

 

they came out great.. like how it'snot completely blacked out

 

yeah, like i said... they're actually a lot lighter if you really look at them instead of a picture taken at dusk. the only thing this really did is cancel out all the reflective surfaces inside.

 

it's the smoked. charcoal seemed too dark.

 

Awesome job, I want to do the exact same thing to mine. I'm just afraid they will come out too dark.

Nice debadging job as well. One day I will cough up the money to the body shop to debadge my car.

 

the foglights and taillights were about $75 to my door from lamin-x.com, fyi.

 

looks good, now its time to smoke the sidemarkers.

 

whatever you do, DO NOT drill holes in your tail lights no matter what anyone tells you. just take out your tail lights and you'll see the original gasket material is not thick enough and water gets in through it. you can order new gaskets which are different from the original ones or make your own somehow.