Changing colour of Gauge Needles

[ethand]

Heyas, I know I've seen someone somewhere (Unless it was a dream!) who had an OEM gauge cluster, but they had somehow changed the colour of only the needle to red, and it looked mad... Now I've spent 2hrs trying to find it (I could've sworn I had commented on it, but cant even find it in the list of my recent topics!) but have had no success!
Now, my question is how did they do it, and what did they use?! I know you're (maybe) out there somewhere!! Haha
If anyone knows who it was/how to do it, please let me know. I'm also interested in whether it still lights up at night or not - I know the OEM ones light up, but I don't want to loose the ability to see them at night! (My dad will soon be driving my car while I'm away, and he lives in the country, so it's really important that is can still be clearly seen!)
Cheers
Ethan

[RobMinhas]

Probably painted right? I'd assume red night shade would do it, keeping the light up functionality as well.
EDIT: I just took a look at my spare gauge cluster and I'm certain red nightshade or a light coat of red would do it, maybe even red nail polish or sharpie.

[ethand]

Hmmm red nightshade... that's not a bad idea... I might give it a shot on my spare gauge cluster first!
I didn't even realise Nightshade came in red... but then, I'm not sure how I thought people tinted their tails red, then... haha... I'm CLEVARRR!!! haha

[RobMinhas]

If I feel motivated I might try it on my spare cluster, no one hold their breath though haha.

[Evo_Spec]

IIRC we don't get light up needles on usdm clusters so it doesn't have to by transparent paint, at least mine and tavis's don't light up cause i know tavis used nail polish on his needles

[youdirtyfox]

Fuscia pink nail varnish ftmfw

[RobMinhas]

IIRC we don't get light up needles on usdm clusters so it doesn't have to by transparent paint, at least mine and tavis's don't light up cause i know tavis used nail polish on his needles

Good, I just assumed I broke something haha

[ethand]

Haha mine dont really light up necessarily, but they are well illuminated by the lights when in OEM white.
I tried using a product similar to a red Nightshade on my spare cluster. I'm not sure if I just put it on way too thick or not, but it is impossible to see the needles in the dark with the lights on... I'm pretty happy with how it looks in the day, although, because it came out so dark, I'm not sure if I would have trouble seeing them even in the daytime...
Because my dad will be driving my car while I'm away for 12 months from September, I got him to give his opinion, and he said he could hardly see them even in the daylight, so it's a no-go for now. I now have the product (and knowledge of other's similar efforts), so I may just try this one again when I get back & don't have to care about other people's ability to use the car
Here's the pic of the needles in my spare cluster sprayed:


There was no point in showing them "illuminated", as there was nothing to see... Here is a pic of the ones I'm re-installing in my car, complete with red backlights THAT WORK!!! Hahaha

[MrMazda92]

That looks AWESOME!

[WhiteFinish]

I painted mine 2 months ago in flurorish (don't know how to spell it) orange.

Just buy some sort of nailpolish

[ethand]

Haha which ones do, Blake? The top ones are the AUS-spec spare ones I painted, the bottom ones are just JDM stock, but with the red backlighting (which only works now, not like 12 months ago when I first attempted to get it happening!!) Note the difference in redlines between JDM and AUSDM...
Yeah, WhiteFinish, I just want to keep it able to light up like it does in stock, but even with the "translucent" red coating, it just doesn't shine through enough...

[DeepBlueMX3]

Mine w fluorish orange(spray) needles, CF, Glow, and chrome rings.

[ethand]

Sweet, thanks for the pic, Deep!
Was flourish orange also just nailpolish, or was it like a spraypaint? Do they still light up?