Did some chops of my taillights to see what direction I wanted to go with them.
I initially had planned to paint the chrome housing black, but after really looking at them I don't know if that would be the way to go.
I was thinking of doing a few light coats of VHT Night Shades, as another user on the forum did it to the same tails and I like how they look.

The stock chromey look is growing on me but I'd like to get some other opinions.

Here's how it looks now:


And my quick blacking-out chop:


And about how dark I'd want to go with Night Shades:

 

I like the they way look now, never was a fan of the blackout and smoked flavors. Also, what aftermarket lights are those? I never could find anything that looked nice and fit for the 06's.

 

They're the TYC tails for the 04-05s. I had to modify 1 wire to get it to work.

When I took them out of the box I thought "these look great." As soon as I got them on the car I thought "Too chrome."

I've been trying to convince myself to keep them the way they are, and everyone else likes em as is.

Grant314 smoked his on this post:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=214332

I would be smoking them that lightly...but still indecisive.

 

I think a combination of #'s 2 and 3 would look good. You have a charcoal colored ride so the smoked look would go well. I would do a real light smoke, try to match exactly what you have on the photochop

 

The smoked tail still had the blacked-out chrome layer on it...so it kind of gives an idea of how combining the 2 would look.

 

If your gona paint em, then just do the black-out and not the smoke. That way your lights stay nice and bright. Either way, they're still awesome tail lights. I'd replace mine, but I'm going be getting a new xB sometime this summer so no point now.

 

After doing some valentine's-run-arounds today and constantly looking at the back of the car, it's starting to grow on me. Still kind of "eeeh" but the look is growing on me... at least it's not super "euro" like those cheesy auto zone tail lights I see all around town.

But uh, does anyone know if this is working as intended?
The upper, bigger, red light is the main rear light as well as the turn signal.
The lower red light is for brakes.
White light is backup.

When I modified my wires, this is how it turned out. I'm just wondering if I got the brake and turn signals mixed up. I like how it looks now, having the dedicated brake light, but was wondering if this is how it's supposed to be.

 

here are my tycs Blacked out

 

Dang, that looks really good on that blue with the tint and wheels....

...but it's also an instant fix-it in my town.

 

they arent actually that dark light shows through just fine

 

yeah freakin fix-it... good ol CA lawmakers... good enough to make tons of laws but now penny-less to enforce them ;)

 

Regardless, they'll hit me with a fix-it if it's too dark.
My sister's boyfriend runs around with his tC's lights on all the time to try and avoid a fix-it.

 

Yup, doesn't matter how dark or anything, just having something over them is against the law.

 

That blackout looks great with that color scheme, but I would definitely just go with a light smoke (if anything) if you are concerned about tickets. Also, the TYCs have such a unique design compared to the OEM tails, why tint them so dark that you can't see them? Just a thought..
I tried tinting mine just enough to where the chrome of the tails had about the same shade as my wheels. Turned out pretty good, and the tint is light enough to where you can't really tell that they didn't come that way in the first place.



Also, about your wiring: I could be wrong, but I think the main light is "supposed" to be the brake light as well, and just gets brighter when you hit the brakes. The lower red light is "supposed" to be the turn signal. But, if you have functioning brake lights and turn signals, I guess it doesn't really matter which bulbs they are .

 

I think painting the chrome black would look great! That's what I'd do if it were mine.

 

That would def. look unique! Though, I don't think its as easy to open up the tails as it is with the head lights. The tail light housing isn't held together with bakeable epoxy.

 

Well, I tried to get it to go like that but my "main" light ended up being brakes and turn signals too...figure that out. So I got the wiring set up in a way where everything works...I guess it'll just add to the uniqueness.
The tinting looks great. That's what I'm looking to do..just get the chrome to be less flashy but still look like it came that way.
By the way, what color is that? I really like.

And about removing the tail light housing...that's what I'm most afraid of. I don't know how easy it would be and if breaking the seal would incur any potentially bad side effects.

 

flint mica

 

O RLY? When I was shopping around for xA's I saw a flint mica and I don't remember it having that awesome of a color.

 

hmm i dunno. the paint has multi-colored flakes in it, so the color does look slightly different depending on lighting conditions and surroundings. or it could just be my camera, heh. Also, the tinted windows definitely made the car look better, color scheme-wise.