Window Tinting

[treed2 at u.washington.edu (T. Reed)]

I wonder if you can get those super-high-efficiency space-age super-bright
screw-in-like-a-regular-light-bulb flourescent light bulbs all packaged up
with a 12v-input power supply. If so they would put out plenty of light
and you wouldn't have the heat issue since flourescent bulbs run about a
bazillion times cooler than incandescent ones.

And with a cheapo 50 watt 12vdc->120vac inverter I bet you could get this
to work without having to look for a special power supply. Of course the
downside is you'd have this huge enclosure intruding in to your trunk a
couple inches since those bulbs are so enormous compared to automotive
bulbs. If you could get some smaller ones though I'd go for it. But make
sure you get the ones that are so bright you can't look directly at them
without your pupils bleeding, or else what's the point?

I wouldn't screw around with cutting or trying to modify the /lenses/ on
the rear lights. They're glued on and usually break/splinter if you try
to unglue them. A clearer lens will not only look out of place, it will
look terrible. It'll be missing those ridges that are on all the rest of
the lights (not that that's a bad thing.. they're ugly; but they it won't
match the other lenses). You need something that is at least translucent,
otherwise your shoddy hack-together job will be right there for the world
to see.

-Toby

On Thu, 25 Sep 2003, Calimus wrote:

> If I remember correctly, the US bumpers really don't have much space
> between the bumber cover and the metal.  Now you could cut holes in the
> rear valence if you have a 16v, but I consider that a major no-no.
> However, this thread got me thinking about trying to remove the plastic
> cover over the backup light area on the stock tails ans adding a very
> clear cover, then modifying the housing to use something like a fog
> light in blace of the normal bulb holder.  Heat wouldn't be that much of
> an issue since I can't see anyone having the car in reverse for more
> then 30-50 seconds.
>
> I know it certainly would require some mild to heavy moding on the rear
> tails though, but what are some if you folk's thoughts on something like
> that?  That way it keeps somewhat of a stock appearance while providing
> enough light to land a plane at night.
>
> William
>
> Dan Smith wrote:
> >
> > I don't have Euro bumpers but sounds like it'd work as long as the lights weren't obstructed and you don't have to worry about the lights getting crushed if your bumper moved. I've been thinking about cutting foglight sized holes in my US bumpers and mounting fogs in them, kind of like how the a3(?) jetta's front bumper is. This is assuming there is enough space on the backside of the bumper for the lights and it wouldn't require cutting through supports and whatnot.
> >
> > Dan
>
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