Who has painted their gauge cluster needles?

[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.

[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.

[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...

[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

[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.

[sticksdaman]

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

[tecks2k]

In to see a some night pictures of painted needles!

[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

[ethirtydavid]

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

..

[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

[guibo09]

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

[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]

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

[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.