dannytexas

I finally finished trying my hand at smoking the 3rd brake light on my 2013 FX4.
It turned out decent for a DIY project. I have also ordered some OEM smoked tail lights from a member on the forum, have not received those yet. I'm sure the tails will be much more professional done and look way better but for a 3rd brake light that is sorta of small I think it will be fine.

I prepped the lens by wet sanding with 600 grit and then thoroughly cleaning and drying it.
I used Rustoleum tint (Home Depot) and sprayed about 4-5 coats on it originally. Once it dried it was way too dark and you couldn't see the lights through it.
I then taped off the edges where light doesn't show and sanded the center to remove tint. I used 600 grit and wet sanded all the tint off the actual middle where the light shine through, I left the edges blacked out as they don't transmit light and are just solid plastic borders.
I then reapplied the tint and only did 2 light coats on the center section which worked out to be perfect.
Since I now liked the level of smoke I finished by clear coating 5-6 times then buffed and polished.

Since the lens is darker than the OEM clear lens (obviously) I added some LED bulbs from Superbrightleds.com and now they are about where the OEM brightness was before the smoke.

I was leaning towards the Recon unit but after hearing a few complaints I thought I would just work with the OEM unit I already had. I know it fits and I know it works so its the best solution for me.
As a side note since there is no blinking lights in the 3rd light I didn't need any resistors or other modifications for the LED's. I just bought correct size LED's and plugged them in the existing sockets.

So, does it look cheesy or think it will fly?

Pic 1 is brake lights so the red is about the same as the OEM tail lights.
Pic 2 OEM non-smoked 3rd brake light
Pic 3 Finished smoked with n/lights
Pic 4 All 3 lights with smoked lens
Pic 5 Cargo only lights

Brett2013fx4

That looks really good, makes me wanna do mine lol, I alreadyfgot the led cargo lights but I'll agree the stock light needs tinted to match the fx4 lights

dannytexas

Thanks Brett!
It was easy and cheap, two things I look for if I'm going to attempt something myself.
D

BROC23

that looks great dude!! nice job!

Rugger

I've been looking at replacements on eBay, but this is way better. Looks awesome. Thanks for addressing the number of coats you put on the lens.

dannytexas

No worries Rugger, I hope it helps.
If you need more specifics or have any questions I'll be happy to help a fellow Texan.
D

2013FX4RD

It looks like the lens is a bit crooked after replaced? Maybe just the light reflection?

Looks 100% better than stock though! Nice job!

STingray1300

"I finally finished trying my hand at smoking the 3rd brake light on my 2013 FX4..."

Really? Cool! How hard was it to keep that sucker lit? Did it give you buzz?

Sorry... I just couldn't pass that up...

TeamZambo

That looks great!

I tried taking mine off and it would not budge, so I just left it alone.

dannytexas

Good eye and you're right. I had not mounted it yet with the screws as I was testing a few different LED's for brightness. The originally pics I took were with it just loosely set in place so it was not perfectly seated.

Here is a pic of it completely mounted with screws and the screws I painted black too. The silver factor screws stood out big time against the smoked lens so I just used testers (model) paint in black to help cover them.