DIY Smoked Tail Lights using Purple Zep

[PeeWee]

Found a video on YouTube. Couple of fellas used this technique to smoke their tail lights. Used Purple Zep to eat away the aluminum coating on the inside. Worked like a charm.

Here’s the video I saw.

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[Dodeboost]

How long did you leave the zep in there?

 

[PeeWee]

One of the tail lights took almost 4 hours to have it all be removed. The other one only took an hour. The longer you leave it in, the darker it becomes. The hardest part is cleaning out all the chemical, washing it out and making sure everything inside is completely dry. But I was able to do it in an evening.

 

[FunctionSpec]

Looks great! This is my favorite mod so far. Completely changes the look of the truck. The purple Zep took the chrome right off in like 15 minutes for me.

Pro tip for future modders: Use distilled water or reverse osmosis water to get a spot free finish. I used a heated blanket to evaporate all the leftover water out (did mine in the evening and needed to get all the water out and tail lights back on so I can drive to work the next day )

 

[pa-outdoorsman]

Looks great! This is my favorite mod so far. Completely changes the look of the truck. The purple Zep took the chrome right off in like 15 minutes for me.

Pro tip for future modders: Use distilled water or reverse osmosis water to get a spot free finish. I used a heated blanket to evaporate all the leftover water out (did mine in the evening and needed to get all the water out and tail lights back on so I can drive to work the next day )

Good tip on the distilled water. I just did mine, and while there are a few water spots on the inside of the plastic, truth is you would never see them unless you get real close and stare. I guess someone might, but it was good enough for me.

DRYING TIP: Lay a hair dryer on its side (use towel to position/prop) and blow high heat into middle port of taillight housing. This will circulate hot air inside and two side ports act as exhaust. After rinsing, I dried out both my lights in 15-20 minutes this way.

 

[Random]

I always wonder how someone figures this out. It's like the invention of the sandwich.

 

[Bokmingo]

That is a pretty awesome mod. Has anyone done the headlights yet with Zep?
Would love to see some videos (if any). Thanks in advance!

 

[Darnon]

That is a pretty awesome mod. Has anyone done the headlights yet with Zep?
Would love to see some videos (if any). Thanks in advance!

The headlights are more involved. You can't just indiscriminately dump Zep in since you'd remove the reflector for the LED headlights to function. So you need to split them open and remove the trim insert to ZEP separately and then glue it all back together.

 

[TooCloseForMissles]

So to each their own, personally I like be more visible from behind. Especially with the low impact needed to total the Maverick when rear ended. There is a reason my department keeps the back off our truck bright red…

 

[jwilson]

I always wonder how someone figures this out. It's like the invention of the sandwich.

Tell me more about this... "sand wich"

 

[Barracuda340]

So to each their own, personally I like be more visible from behind. Especially with the low impact needed to total the Maverick when rear ended. There is a reason my department keeps the back off our truck bright red…

Since your not darkening the red plastic itself, if you have LED high bright taillight bulbs, I don't see why it would affect it too much. Yes the silver reflective would be missing, however I bet on the Black Appearance Package the reflector area is black. Ford wont tint the lenses themselves. That would be a liability.

 

[mdl20813]

Since your not darkening the red plastic itself, if you have LED high bright taillight bulbs, I don't see why it would affect it too much. Yes the silver reflective would be missing, however I bet on the Black Appearance Package the reflector area is black. Ford wont tint the lenses themselves. That would be a liability.

^This. Once done, these are basically identical to BAP tail lights. The BAP lights just look like Ford skips the step where the housing has the "chrome" layer applied so this really isn't any different. I've had this done for months and there is ZERO light output change. Maybe (big maybe) if you have the stock halogen bulbs in but if you're running Lasfit or other LED bulbs it is a non issue.

 

[PeeWee]

^This. Once done, these are basically identical to BAP tail lights. The BAP lights just look like Ford skips the step where the housing has the "chrome" layer applied so this really isn't any different. I've had this done for months and there is ZERO light output change. Maybe if you have the stock halogen bulbs in but if you're running Lasfit or other LED bulbs it is a none issue.

In addition to this, compared to using spray tint, the built in reflectors are not affected, so visibility is not affected either.

 

[SlowTime2011]

Did mine a few weeks back, really improved the look of the back of the Maverick. The ZEP I used only took about 15 minutes to get the inside black.

I used used warm water from the sink for the initial flush, then rinsed with distilled water, no spots. The last corner that holds water is a pain. I attached small strips of blue lint free shop towel to a stick and reached into that corner.

 

[22MavXLT]

I like this and thought about doing mine. But I am actually wanting to go the euro taillight route when someone comes out with them. I think they would match the headlights well.

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