aftermarket tail lights?

so, after having done the headlights, im thinking of changing the taillights a bit to match.

i've looked into a lot of aftermarket headlights, and these are the ones that stuck out:

crystal clear + reds: popular aftermarket taillights. made by various brands, including hella. found in most US/UK/europe aftermarket shops, and eBay too. come in either a solid backing or a crystal backing, like that seen here. were originally the taillights i really wanted, but i've got my eyes on something else (possibly cheaper too :) ). second picture is a modification of it - crystal red indicating lights rather than the original clear. this look can be easily achieved by either spray painting, tint, or vinyl overlays (more on this below).



vr6 factory smoked: would be a no-brainer choice due to local availability (stock on all VR6 - come across a fair few wrecks too, so can easily be had for good money). however, i'm not really fond of the whole smoked look. reminds me of ricers with their corollas and integras. plus, my headlights aren't smoked - it just has a similar look due to the black surrounds. imo that's the best looking.


hella all reds + smoked reverse section: expensive option, since i'll be needing to get new taillights (genuine hella reds + modification to the middle strip). however, i just came across a great auto-vinyl/graphics site - empiregfx.com - that stock vinyl overlays for pretty much all the light/reflective parts. i'm most interested in the indicator crystal red overlay, and the smoked reverse overlay. if i apply those two vinyls onto my stock GL taillights, they should give me the same effect. the links following the pic below shows the quality of these vinyls after installation. they're on a jetta though, but you get the point - they use the same kind of vinyls.


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/rayray086/VW%20Golf/overlay_01.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/rayray086/VW%20Golf/overlay_08.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c67/rayray086/VW%20Golf/overlay_04.jpg

also, rapidparts.com supply these kind of headlights too, but the price is ridiculous.

[edit: just got into contact with the owner of empiregfx - he posts to sydney, australia, but he's charging $20 for a pair of vinyls - the two pairs of vinyls for indicator and reverse means $40USD for what you can compare to as stickers... well, it's cheaper than getting totally brand new hellas, and a guy from vwvortex was selling his taillights for 40 pounds, so whatever i do, this will still be the cheapest option, though maybe not the best value. i'll see what the shipping cost is first!]

very nice!