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Back To Mods Section Clear/Modified Taillights
  At this time I don't know of any companies that make/sell clear taillights, blackout covers, or any type of modified tailights for berettas. Feel free to e-mail (mail@berettastuff.com) if you know of any companies that make them. Since no one makes them, you'll have to try and make some on your own. Basically all you have to do is take them apart. That's what this page is about. How to take them apart. Once you have them apart, it's up to you to customize them to your liking. Personally, I still have the stock taillights as I'm not much of a fan of the clear taillight look, but it's your car do whatever you makes you happy. On a side note PLEASE stop bidding on the so called "clear" taillights on ebay. What you see here is basically all your bidding on. Don't waste your money. Removing Taillights From The Car First you have to remove the taillights from the car. To do so, remove the wing nuts on the inside of the trunk. There are 3 wingnuts for each side. Now the taillight should be loose and you can pull it away from the car enough to get behind to undo the bulbs. There's 5 sockets to remove from each light. 1 just twists out and the other 4 you have to push a small clip down and twist at the same time. (It's easy, you'll see what I mean once you get back there..) Now the taillights should be free and you can take them off the car. Taking Taillights Apart Now that you got them off, you can start to take them apart. On the bottom edge of the taillight you'll see 2 clips that hold the two main pieces of the taillight together. Lift those tabs, and then start to carefully pry the taillights apart. They aren't gonna just open right up, you have to work at them for a little bit before they come apart. Once you finally get them fully apart you can work on taking out the lenses. There is the clear lense and the red lense. TAKE THE CLEAR OUT FIRST. Again you basically have to work it out by carefully prying at it..Once you get the clear out the red just pulls out easily. The only other piece left is the small reflector that's on the outside of the taillight which is just held on by two nuts. Now the taillights are completely dissasembled. Customizing The Taillights Ok so you have them apart, what's next? Time to customize them. The easiest thing to do is just put the taillights back together without the lenses, and replace the white bulbs with red ones. Some are satisfied with this look, some think it looks cheap, it's your call. Others are now adding some type of round reflectors (trailer lights) over the bulbs to give the taillights more of an altezza look. (See pic at top of page) Doing it this way also gets rid of the need for red bulbs which some people seem to have trouble finding. Another thing you can do is pickup a can of "frost" spray. You can get it for like $3 or 4 at the Home Depot and is pretty self explanatory. It kind of clears out the taillights, but if you take the lenses out there really isn't any texture left. Either way once you have them taken apart there's no limit to the different things you can do. Just be creative. Have fun. Feel free to email me pics of your "experimental" taillights and I will add them here.. Notes Most likely your customized taillights won't be legal, and won't pass inspection. You might want to pick up an extra set of stock ones just in case.. Tips
- Get 1 or more extra sets of taillights from a junkyard. There's a very good chance your first time taking them apart you WILL break them. They are fragile and the plastic doesn't hold up real well.
- You can use the same ceiling material from the clear side markers in the taillights to make a decent clear tailight. (See pic at top of page.) - There is different color taillight sprays available. The most popular brand is VHT NightShades but Foliotec also makes a couple. Pictures Pic 1 - All The Different Pieces Pic 2 - Taillight With No Lenses Pic 3 - 2 Main Pieces After Initial Seperation Pic 4 - Stock Taillight Pic 5 - 2 Clips To Undo (before you start taking them apart) Pic 6 - Car With "Clear" Taillight Pic 7 - Car With Stock Taillight 
 
 
 
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| ©2001 M.M. |