Red VHT for tail lights

I've been thinking about doing something with the tail lights on the Abarth for awhile. The Turbo lights have a black trim, vs the chrome trim on the Abarth and regular models, but don't want to spend big $$ to replace them. I thought about Plastidip around the edge, thought about VHT black-out but didn't want the hassle of tickets or accidents.

Then someone reminded me they make a red VHT. Hmmmm.... I could even mask a 1" spot for the PIAA backup lights I installed using labels from work. Presto. A few hours of work including clear coat:

It's a minor thing, but damn I think it looks so much better. I already dipped the chrome bits front and back, and just sprung for real carbon fiber door handle covers. Chrome be gone!

I saw that on Instagram, looks good.

That really looks good. Why can't oem's make non gaudy/hideous lights anymore? Thats what SHOULD be staring me in the face in traffic, not altezza meets Daewoo meets jaguar.

The stock lights weren't that offensive. Doesn't look bad but it sort of reminds me of a cicada now, looks like you did a good job.

easily 20x better looking, there are a lot of new car tail lights that just look awful, thank you for your effort to correct that!

I would've kept the reverse light cutout the same size but the chrome trim definitely had to go. Good work!

Looks awesome!

In reply to ssswitch:

I thought about trying to get fancy with masking, but I had 1" circle labels at work I could use to put exactly where the blue PIAA bulbs peek out.

Probably "technically" an inspection fail. But it does look better in a kind of retro way.

Looks good to me..

Definitely more of a rally look to it. I probably would have gone with blacking out the chrome and red-tinting the rest the way you did, just to reduce the amount of red area.

looks fantastic, high five for the great idea