hlaalu

iTrader: (3)

I've never heard of lights without any covers caving in, interesting. I wonder if it gets hot from inside the light? I just figured it was heat trapped in between the black cover and the tail light but I guess not. hmmm

Ls1CamaroGuy87

iTrader: (7)

Its mostly from the inside, those brake bulbs get HOT

crimson_bird

iTrader: (4)

^yeah it could be from the inside. i just know that it's not only from having covers.

WELL, I TOOK ONE FOR THE TEAM. it wasn't pretty, and it left me with a light for the trash can. but i tried.

ill post up pictures in a little bit

hlaalu

iTrader: (3)

oh boy what happened?

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

If it was heat from the bulbs inside you'd think older cars with more miles would be more prone to it. But my car is a 98 with 138k miles and neither of them are melted at all

hlaalu, maybe what you could do is do a light VHT tinting. Not enough to go totally black (or you'd still get trouble from the police) but just to darken them. That's what I did on my car (can see it in my sig pic). Darker, but still can see the white, yellow, and red. Did it this past summer and no trouble yet. Need wetsanded to get more glossy looking but I have no idea how to do it and don't want to mess them up.

9911UZ28

iTrader: (4)

My passenger side looked melted when I bought it. Right now I have covers over them, but I am thinking of buying aftermarket tail lights, just not sure which ones would look good on a pewter car.

hlaalu

iTrader: (3)

Interesting. How much night driving have you done with your car? I would imagine the more someone drives at night the more the lights are on and the more heat.

And yeah I like that touch of tinting on the lights, looks real good

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

A fair amount. Not sure about the first 105k miles on the car before I owned it (car has 138k now, I've put 32k since I got it a little over 2 years ago), but since then when I was in college I'd drive back to school from home on the weekends usually at night (1 hour trip) every or every other weekend. Drive to work with the lights on in the morning, and typically on the way back from work too this time of year (2 hours each day). So they are on a fair bit. During the winter, almost constantly because of weather.

Ls1CamaroGuy87

iTrader: (7)

^^I think its mostly from driving in the sun and applying the brakes. This makes me a little paranoid about my tails that I bought recently, even though I am staying away from blackout covers. I am thinking of switching to SMD towers, but its pricey and I have to buy a flasher to keep cruise control working.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

My car sits outside all the time (I have no garage) so the tails are subjected to lots and lots of sunlight.

I wouldn't be too worried about it honestly, seems that the majority of the melted lights I've seen have been either the LT1 style (seems they are more prone to it?) or lights that have had blackouts on them.

Ls1CamaroGuy87

iTrader: (7)

^^I see what you are saying, but its not from direct sunlight. I believe its mostly from using the brakes as ridiculous as that seems, and that sun light and covers simply speed up the process. Although it is more unlikely to happen to my lights, I will probably still replace the stock bulbs with SMD towers to completely avoid the problem.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

Hm so perhaps the city drivers have this happen more often? I have been doing around 90% highway since last September.

camaroboricua

iTrader: (23)

I have a cracked LT1 T/A tailight and I was looking around at pep boys and found JB weld that according to them dries "Crystal Clear". I was going to try putting in on the crack kind of like doing a windshield repair. Then block sanding it to the countour of the light and polishing the mess out of it. Of course I was going to try this on a spare light before doing it to the one I need. And for $6 for the JB Weld I figured the idea was woth a shot.
I still havent done it though, but I figured I could share the idea anway.

02gtp4now

iTrader: (7)

i think it could happen to cars that are daily city drivin, stop and go traffic with alot of braking