well the stock paint on the needles scratches off and/or you can wetsand it till its clear. you can then use sharpie to color the needle and i took some white out and covered the sharpie so the needles are opaque. looks pretty good. i am curious how they will light at night though. from what i could do with a small led flashlight, they seem dimmer. hopefully the multi-led bulbs brighten them up a little.
fyi stock 4th gen gauges will light up blue with white leds. it will also retain the red markings this way, blue leds will lose them. the backing of the numbers are blue and with incandescent bulbs being slightly yellow, you get the green illumination at night.
white leds - note red lines
blue leds - needles don't change much since they are painted and the light is reflected onto them but red lines go blah since blue light passes through and is filtered by the red
blue truck needles - don't reach tick marks but look damn good
here is mine
i am going to redo the needle and wetsand it before i sharpie it again. i want to get it just a little bit cleaner before i apply anything and maybe get a better sharpie, only had a fine point
then get a nice, even coat of white behind it. i'll update with the new results when i am done and satisfied.
edit: chris, thanks in advance and they look freakin awesome! i also painted my bezel flat black and am trying to clear up the plastic cover. definitely worth it IMO and they can do some cool things with the markings or even go to 200 mph. now with matching hvac, headlight switch, and shifter plate (going to have to change the gear indicator
) it should look pimpppp