Who has painted their gauge cluster needles?

[Night Wolf]

I was going to paint my needles red, but was wondering how the paint affects the reflection properties of the needles. Since they are not backlit and use the light shining on them from the front for illumination at night, I wanted to know if painting them will cause them to not light up well at night or not. Also, when the tach and speedo reach a vertical position, the light fades away towards the end of the tip, do these effects stay?

Here it is stock, I'd like to paint them red but if it is going to ruin the reflection quality at night, I don't know if I will.

[guibo09]

also interested in the answer to this. never noticed the dark spot when vertical.

[Night Wolf]

As they rise more vertical, the lite starts to fade away more and more, personally I think it is really neat.

I have a spare cluster that I had to use for parts, it is a Moto Meter tho, mine is a VDO, I remember the tach did not work when I installed it before using for parts, I wonder if the speedo will for testing? Actually either way I could still play with the needles and lights to see what would happen... but has anyone done it already?

[guibo09]

well the M3 needles are red from the factory, im sure they worked at night.

[der affe]

i would say mine isn't significantly less visible with the red needles at night.
it is different though.

i just taped off the portion below the needles and used a gloss red paint pen. i think the gloss red helps some.

some members tape it off and spray the paint, that was too much BS to go through for me. i am just as happy with the results

[ethirtydavid]

taping off and spray painting was too much BS for you?

..

[der affe]

not when you could just take a paint pen to the needle and tape off the gauge face itself.

there is more of a risk of getting overspray with the spray method.

paint pen is just an easier way of getting the same results.

i think it was Testors hot rod red i used IIRC

[tecks2k]

In to see a some night pictures of painted needles!

[sticksdaman]

I used a red sharpie when i was 17.... I am happy with the results. No issues with visibility at night.

[Night Wolf]

So they still light up good at night then... Do they still have the same fade effect?

Gloss red will reflect the light better then flat? So far we have the spray method, a paint pen and a sharpie..... which would yeild the best results?

I already rebuilt the cluster, my carbon fiber overlay and trim rings arrived today, so I am going to pull it again and install those... it looks like I'll end up painting the needles red. I'll be sure to post up night pictures of it! I may do it tomorrow after work, we'll see.

[der affe]

the sharpe method will fade over time depending on its exposure to sun


paint pen is pretty easy, no muss no fuss


spraying the paint is more work to mask, and the edges of the needle where it goes from colour to black in the center can be hard to keep the paint from peeling when you pull it. you must also do several light coats to get a consistant colour and shine/texture

all three will get it done, the choice is yours

YES the light still fades when the needles are at 12 o'clock

[thornado327i]

I have no problem with light faded on needles at night ;)

Since my tach stopped working I'll actually have the opportunity to do something about the needles. So far I lacked motivation - I seldom drive at night, and I not so "see" the needles - more I just know where they are at the moment.

[EDIT] Maaan - I just fixed about 5 typos here - need...more...coffee...must...get...mooaaaaarrr...

[gearheadE30]

I have painted needles in a flat red color and they work just fine at night. I actually pulled the needles off the hubs and stuck them on toothpicks to paint them just so there was no chance at all of overspray.

[Night Wolf]

Well, they have been painted.... and... upon backlight testing, it's a success! They light up nice at night, appearing a bit darker both in tint and brightness then the rest, but still ok. I did not drive the car, but I moved the needles by hand and they still have the same fading properties when they move vertical. The cluster was not fully built up, so I had to hold the halves together. The carbon fiber overlay had to be trimmed, still need to finish it up, and the trim rings are not fitting very well, the big rings seem to be a hair on the small side while the small rings are going to require the holes to be opened more, thats going to be alot of fun :roll: Plus, they sit too low, normally the gauges are flush against the back, but if the rings are installed all the way like they should, it would interfere, so I am not sure how I am going to fix that.

[Night Wolf]

Some pics so far...

Too much plain black and white, wait thats an 80's Michael song...the 80's were great for lots of things... Safety Dance, KITT, me, E30's etc.... but blah gauge clusters? Nah... time to kick it into the.....2009's....yeah...



Crude, yes. Works, yes.



I decided to go touch-up paint route. I figure if I am going to spend $7 on the darn thing, may as well be touch up paint that I can use on the car, so I looked at the selection from Advance Auto, and found a color that (I thought) matched - Toyota Super Red II. As soon as I got home and opened it, it was way too brighter and red-er. red for the car... I was a little disapointed, but then when I got to thinking about it, I bet it would be really nice on the gauges... so I went for it. This is after 1 coat, they got a total of 3.









Playing with the overlay (still needs work) and trim rings (still needs work)





So I took the cluster out, no plastic cover or anything, and it wasn't screwed together so I had to hold it with my hand... I had a hard time getting good pics as I had a longer shutter speed and was having a hard time trying to hold the cluster up, and the camera still, as such, I was unable to get a picture of the needles at a vertical position.



Overall I am *very* happy with the paint, I am excited to see them dance around now. I thought about leaving the econogauge white, but all the others would be red, so I wanted it to match, plus I think it'll look cool. The carbon fiber overlay is being a real pain tho trying to trim it correctly, and I am gonna have to spend some time with the trim rings to see how to get them to fit.