Appearance & Detailing Interior & Exterior Appearance Modifications
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Tail light dimple fix attempt

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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 03:40 PM
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Wink Tail light dimple fix attempt

Well my lt1 lights came today, put those on and now i have my old lights with the dimples. I was thinking and thinking and finally came up with an idea that might work to fix them.

I'm going to use resin to "fill" the dimples, sand it down so it's smooth and even, and then do a light coat or two of vht and I'm betting if it works, you won't be able to tell there were dimples in the first place. The resin should dry clear, but won't really matter anyways with the vht.

I'll post pics up when I start working on them.


Thoughts and ideas are welcome!
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 04:02 PM
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Post pics when u can

REMEMBER that as long as you have stock style filament bulbs in ls1 tail lights they risk being warped due to the heat that they emit...

If you want to ensure that they dont warp then you need to switch to led or preferably SMD bulbs like I did.
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 04:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Ls1CamaroGuy87
Post pics when u can

REMEMBER that as long as you have stock style filament bulbs in ls1 tail lights they risk being warped due to the heat that they emit...

If you want to ensure that they dont warp then you need to switch to led or preferably SMD bulbs like I did.
do you have the smd bulb number?
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 04:47 PM
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I'd love to get that number too! lol
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 04:57 PM
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Me three, along with the flasher used and how it was all put together please
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 05:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Ls1CamaroGuy87
Post pics when u can

REMEMBER that as long as you have stock style filament bulbs in ls1 tail lights they risk being warped due to the heat that they emit...

If you want to ensure that they dont warp then you need to switch to led or preferably SMD bulbs like I did.
I think maybe there was just a bunch of dud tails. Given the age and usage of mine you'd think they would have dimpled by now if that was the sole reason, but I've seen others with less miles with dimpled lights.
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 05:59 PM
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3057 28-SMD red. You will need 50 watt resistors as well if you wish to keep cruise control..
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 07:49 PM
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there was another thread about a month or so back where we were talking about the dimple issue. i'm not sure if it was you who brought it up or not, but i know someone there mentioned something very similar to this. Using some type of clear filler, and then sanding smooth like you said. i think there's a good chance it can make it look a lot better. it certainly sounds like a good idea to me.

i tried (and failed horribly) to fix them another way that someone mentioned in that same thread. i wont go into that though... im still a tad bit mad i ruined a light

good luck with it. post up the results, even if you fail, just so we know it doesn't work, so no one else repeats it.
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 08:15 PM
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what infamous dimples are we referring to?
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 08:37 PM
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just resin alone will crack
and will not stay stuck 2 the plastic
when it gets out in the sun and gets a lil heat on them they will look like its popping off
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 08:48 PM
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resin failed miserably. wouldn't stick to the plastic. looked really nice though. then i tried getting creative, i filled the lights up with water and held them over the stove. it actually worked lol the dimples are gone, but the plastic is all messed up. i'll still try and sand them down and see what some vht does.

but anyways, FAIL.
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 09:40 PM
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hey, at least we're trying. sometimes, that's all you can do...
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 10:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Ls1CamaroGuy87
3057 28-SMD red. You will need 50 watt resistors as well if you wish to keep cruise control..
thanks
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 10:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Trans Am Jam
what infamous dimples are we referring to?
camaro's are known for getting "dimples" in the tail lights, in which the lens pretty much sinks in in an area. caused by the light bulbs heating up the lens to much, and when plastic gets too hot it shrinks inward toward the heat source.

the dimples are not at all pleasing on the eye, and anyone who has them know's how annoying they are

Last edited by crimson_bird; Feb 9, 2010 at 10:46 PM.
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 10:40 PM
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Originally Posted by crimson_bird
hey, at least we're trying. sometimes, that's all you can do...
true dat!
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 11:25 PM
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I've seen more lt1 camaros with dimpled lights than ls1, and they all had snap over tail light covers. My buddys car had good tails till he put covers on it and then they dimpled. Maybe the cover insulated it enough that it stayed hotter causing it to dimple
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 11:31 PM
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yeah, there are a lot of cases where people had covers. i personally did not have any dimples show up for 2 years after having blackouts, which i only had on my car for several months before i accidentally broke one. and my brothers '95 has NEVER had covers, and it has some fairly large dimples. so you don't necessarily need covers for this to happen.
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 11:40 PM
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Ya you see em both ways, I've seen some that would hold a base ball. I geuss the bigger the dimple the hotter they get causing even bigger dimples
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Old Feb 9, 2010 | 11:53 PM
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hmm never happened to my lt1 tails..
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Old Feb 10, 2010 | 12:07 AM
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my brothers didn't get them until like the last year or 2, and his lights are original. so i dont know why they sprung up so suddenly when they hadn't for around 12 years. my lights on my 98 are also original and i didn't notice they had small dimples until a few months back
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