The headlights and taillights look awesome man! I love the look. You did an amazing job on the headlights. I think I will try the heat gun method when I open mine up.

As far as safety goes I think you won't have much trouble. I had professionally painted black ltaillights on my SC300 for a few years and never had problems. If you paint it right you shouldn't lose too much visibility. Most people I see do a bad job and lose 80% or more visibility. Since your LS has LED's you should be fine as far as safety goes.

The only thing you need to watch out for is police in case it is illegal in your area. Also, if you get rear ended you could get in trouble. The person could lie and say they didn't see your brake lights. I never had any trouble during the years I ran my black taillights.