[Lotus99]

So I've been toying with this mod for a couple of years, and finally ordered some light smoke precut sheets from Ebay for $20, so I was really excited, thinking it'll be a pretty easy mod.

The inside lights on the trunk lid took a few minutes each. Just lay on the film and squeegee out water. Easy!

But the outside ones - holy fook - took me 3 hours PER side! The final result came out great, but I would not do it again, on anything with compound curves, like our 3 series has. Especially with a precut sheet. Much easier to just get a bigger sheet where you don't have to do as much stretching to reach all the corners. Of course, I've found all this out after I was half way thru the mod and pulling out my hair...

When the instructions said "heat, squeegee, stretch, and keep repeating", it's not a joke. It's painfully slow and you get bubbles and creases.

It's a two person job ideally, because there's no freakin' way you can hold the sheet with two hands and stretch it while heating it, and squeegeeing. So I taped up this little holder on the hair dryer so I could hold it in my mouth while using my hands.

And I would definitely work from the outside edge to the inside of the trunk. It's easier to stretch the vinyl that way.
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This is how easy I thought it would be:

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But instead, now I realize because the E92's tail light has multiple curves on it, this is the right technique, which is the only way you can do it:

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[Blindside_137]

Yikes! Sounds like a nightmare!

Turned out well although I'm not crazy about the dark look.

I've been thinking about a light tint on my LCI tails. We shall see....

[Lotus99]

I'm not going all crazy and going black with everything, though chrome does bug me... The first thing I did was get black grills with matching paint surround, and got the orange reflector in the front bumper painted to match as well. Oh, and debadged the rear too.

Wheels are still stock, as is the window surround. Gloss black would look nice on the trim, but I can't be bothered to do that, or pay someone. Too many other mods in the to do list yet.

I've toyed with spraying the mesh grills in the bumper black too, but I might be going overboard at that point.

I'll see how it goes over the next few weeks. It did turn out a bit darker than I'd guessed, considering I got the light smoke and not dark smoke.
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The one thing I'm toying with (not at the moment, as I don't want to touch them!) is maybe cutting out the signal strip like the guy below, to have some contrast. Not the reverse light though, as it breaks it up too much.

What do you think of that?

[DC_Oldboy]

Originally Posted by Blindside_137

Yikes! Sounds like a nightmare!

Turned out well although I'm not crazy about the dark look.

I've been thinking about a light tint on my LCI tails. We shall see....

Don't do it! Leave. Your. Taillights. Alone. Lol.

As for the OP, don't really like tinted tails either but you did a great job on it.

[Lotus99]

It'll be really easy to peel off with some heat, if I change my mind. Vs. a spray method. It doesn't look as dark as the last pic when you look at it outside. That pic was taken in a garage.

I won't feel bad taking it off, if I do, because the product cost was only $20, but I will try not to think about the 6 hours I spent on it, LOL.

[Blindside_137]

Yea if I did it with the pre lci tails I would cut out the turn signal area. It looks odd with wverything smoked.

[techwhiz]

Here in Ca. if you ever get rear ended and you have non-DOT approved lights or film you can be found at partial fault. YMMV and it depends on where you live.

[bimmette]

Woah, good job but, man, that is dark, especially for here in BC! Pretty risky!