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Passat B7 tail light mod idea. Thoughts?

22K views 31 replies 17 participants last post by  JBG117 
#1 ·
Hi,

My friend was looking at my car and he suggested that I modify the tail light to get a more aggressive look.

He suggested tinting the tail lights then adding brighter LED bulbs to get more contrast and also painting the top of the light to make it look smaller like most modern cars are doing.

He sent me this rough photoshopped images.

Thoughts?

http://imgur.com/a/UlBGF

Thanks
 
#2 ·
What year NMS?

IMO, the OEM taillights on the NMS Passat are TERRIBLY dim. With a film of dust/dirt, and sunlight, brake lights are dangerously dim.

Tinting? Bad idea. Already very dim, unsafe in my opinion.

Increase brightness? A vendor here will weigh in, claiming increase in brightness, no voltage issues. You can purchase brighter bulbs, but be careful that they indeed WORK properly.
 
#3 ·
I got a 2013 VR6.

The tint would be very light, like the late model cars, which have sorta darkened taillights.

The tint's main purpose would be to hold the paint that covers the top of the taillight in the image.


What do you think of paint matching the top of the taillight, to make the taillight altogether look more vertically shorter and more aggressive?

I included what i'm talking about in the imgur link
 
#5 ·
There are several folks who have already painted their rear housings to look like the audis. Slightly smaller. I did a photo shop of the 2016/17 led lights and it looks great. Its just more than Im willing to do to the car for looks. Has to be body color. Maybe you can get close with vinyl depending on the color of your Passsat. Otherwise LED bulbs with DEAutoLight will be brighter. Lots of folks did it. Hit and miss if you buy ebay bulbs.
 
#6 ·
Thanks, good to know.

Yeah I was thinking body color.

Called up a couple of shops, they said they could do it but no guarantee.

I'm thinking of using slightly dark tints, then scuff up the top part so that it adheres better, and paint it.
 
#8 · (Edited)
never thought of the paint idea but did use the Laminix film on my 13 believe its called tint for the color name. wanted a GLI ish look and like the way it came out. i did also upgrade to the LED bulbs from DEautokey, driving behind it while my wife drove the car and have no concerns with the brightness. have you thought about doing a vinyl that matches? might be a cheaper way to see if you like the look?

some shots....

driver inner unit tinted


driver inner tinted with lights on compared to driver outer untinted


passenger sides stock no tint




outside in sunlight
 
#14 ·
@RJB121

Thanks for the photos, good to see. That tint definitely changes the look of the car for the better.
I have the LED taillights from Deautokey as well, so i'm not too worried about my turning signal being seen or the brake lights.

I was thinking about vinyl, but I don't think it will match the gloss color of the car. I'm scared it will just end up looking tacky.
Thanks for the feedback everyone, we appreciate it.

We test our LEDs to make sure they are bright and can be seen, the most important part is the contrast between brake/tails, many times we have emails from people who purchased LEDs and say that they cannot tell when the brakes are activated due to the brightness being the same as the tails, this is very dangerous.

Brake/tails can be found here:
http://deautokey.com/product/passat-b7-complete-brake-osram-led-bright-error-free

All LEDs (tested for the passat b7 to work with no issues - reverse won't cause errors or any radio interference for example):
http://deautokey.com/category/shop-by-car-model-vw-passat-b7-nms-2012
 
#9 ·
@RJB121

Thanks for the photos, good to see. That tint definitely changes the look of the car for the better.
I have the LED taillights from Deautokey as well, so i'm not too worried about my turning signal being seen or the brake lights.

I was thinking about vinyl, but I don't think it will match the gloss color of the car. I'm scared it will just end up looking tacky.
 
#10 ·
I was thinking the same thing, body color will be difficult to pull off, dabbled with the picture below to see if a dark tint just on the upper portion would work, given that its non functional with the newer led housings.

 
#28 ·
Based on a guy who converted his TDI to a facelift look, the corners will work, but the trunk lid needs to be replaced to get the newer inner lights as they are shaped different. Bumper cover replaced if you want the reflector inserts on the new car.

His words about the mod:

"Oleg Lapatskiy This is 2015 SEL which I updated to 2016-2019 rear end and front end. Quarter panels are the same, practically you can just replace quarter tail lights but it will still look ugly with original 2012-15 lid and inner regular lights. Either way if you put these OEM LED tail lights you have to replace BCM (body control module) and run extra wires to them from BCM plus change plugs from 4 pin to 8 pin and reprogram BCM to change lighting parameters in order to work."

"Oleg Lapatskiy Andres Felipe C' only quarter lights, but if you want to go 100% OEM route like I did then you have to replace Trunk lid, inner lights, bumper cover assembly and BCM of course..."

Sounds like a ton of work for the rear tails.

The fronts are even more rediculous:

"Oleg Lapatskiy Frond end definitely more work, new fenders, hood, bumper assembly, grill, headlights, fog lights, radiator support I kept original from 2015 and just added spacers on both side to connect headlights (not worth it to replace for 16-19 one). New fender liners, plugs for headlights, headlights support, 3 additional wires from BCM to headlights for 12-15 models and 4 wires for 16-19 halogen models. The top fender support was the only thing that involved shop with welding because 12-15 has 3 inches longer support than 16-19, so had to buy only top skin from dealer like $120 each and weld to the same spots and cut bottom piece to make same length as top, the reason why it’s better to weld it because otherwise your hood hinges wouldn’t fit there and in order to make it work it’s easier to weld entire piece of skin vs modifying old one which already has bolts in it welded for hood hinges."

Hope this helps. If you are passionate enough to convert a pre-facelift to a facelift look. :) Lots of work........
 
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