brandominator

I'm sure this has been done before, but after seeing the awful write-up on vqpower.com (sorry if you made that), I decided I needed to make one. As I told some people, I ended up redding out the amber in my taillights, rather than doing red-clears. I think it looks awesome, and a lot more unique than red-clears; I should have pictures in the next few days. Anyway, here's the write-up:

1. Remove your taillights from your car: there are lots of directions for this other places, so I'm not going to bother.

2. Mask your reverse light (if you want to leave it clear, I did) with masking tape. Use tiny pieces to cover the curved part of the reverse light.

3. (You may want to use a tarp, or several pices of cardboard spread out on the ground, for this part) Using Testors Candy Apple Red translucent paint, spray a light coat of paint all over the taillights (so that everything matches) from about a foot to 18 inches away. Let this coat dry for approximately 10-15 minutes, and repeat until you have 4 coats on the taillights.

4. Let the fourth coat dry for 20-30 minutes, just to be safe, and then take the lights into a place where you can examine the paint closely. If you find any tiny flecks of dust/sand/whatever, go to step 5. Otherwise, go straight to step 6.

5. Using a very fine steel wool, "sand" down the lenses gently to remove any imperfections. When you have sanded the entire taillight, use a good cloth (like one you would use to dry your car after washing it) to wipe off the residue from the steel wool. Repeat until you have removed all the flecks in the paint, but be careful because if you rub too hard, or for too long, the paint will start to come off.

6. Using clear coat paint, give the taillights an even coat from one to two feet away. Let dry for 20-30 minutes, and apply another light coat in the same way. After 30-45 minutes, your taillights will be okay to reinstall.

If there are any questions, by all means ask. I think this looks a lot better than doing it with the red tape/tint; almost like it came stock this way. If I owe you templates, this week, I promise.

Ladzio

iTrader: (8)

Great, will save it to my favorites, will do it as soon as weather gets better

gtr_rider

iTrader: (50)

nice writeup

bearded

I would do this in a second if you post some nice pics!

wariow

iTrader: (3)

nice job on a write-up but
:

we need pics to guide us through, sometimes we misread something or skim through it and miss out an important detail so pics please next time.

MidwestMaX1

I know you said it's posted all over how to remove the tail lights, but I haven't seen it anywhere. Does anyone have a link to any sites that have an explanation of this?

myke321

Here's mine i did, I did notice that the tails lost the shine they had due tto the layers of testors. better looking the orange i guess.

Jepht20

iTrader: (10)

wax them and they'll have a nice shine.

MidwestMaX1

myke, did you paint yours or did you use tape?

bearded

He said he used testors which is a paint brand I believe. I would like to see myke wax the tails like JepHt said and get another pic....as it stands I am pretty sure I am gonna try this.

Anyone else got some pics of the painted out amber lights??

Jepht20

iTrader: (10)

pics on my homepage...



ignore the wheel gap

99Maxima5sp

Hmm, interested to see your version of All-reds. Heres mine...








-Eric

nostrixoxide

I'm sorry, but I didn't see anything in your write up about preping the parts before you painted them. Did you at least wash them to remove any dirt, wax, etc. I'm not sure if the durability of the paint job will last that long if you don't atleast clean the surface before you paint. The plastic lenses on the tail light's feel alittle too smooth in my opinion to just paint right over the top of them . I would recommend if you do paint on the outside of the tail light to atleast scuff them with some scotchbrite or 600 grit automotive sandpaper? I would even spend the extra $5 dollars to buy a can of plastic promotor. Plastic promotor will bite into the plastic & the paint "TESTORS" will stick to the promotor. I thought you might want to add that to your write up so the final product turns out alittle more professional & end's up being alot more durable.

As far as the shine is concerned, there are a few product's that will bring out the gloss. I wouldn't use a paste type wax just because it might build up & fill in any pour's in the paint's surface. If i were gonna use any kind of wax it would be one of those spray on waxes like "Mother's or Meguiar's" Otherwise I would use a "PLEXUS" plastic polish. It is safe on the paint & with not leave any haze or residue.

I know this isn't the quickest route to take, but I highly suggest if your gonna paint the tail light's that you take the lenses off anyway & spray the backside/inside of the lens. This way you won't have to worry about wheather damaging the paint & you won't have to worry about how shiny they are because the paint is on the inside & the plastic is shiny enough. Also it will make the paint look even deeper because of the thickness of the plastic lens.

nostrixoxide

Another thing that I think would look good is when doing this is mod mask out some thin cross pattern stripes across the white area also.

"More red & less white, but still white when illuminated"

myke321

I paint my tail while they were still on my car, I taped off the Revers lights, I saw some 3M high gloss wax at pepboy's the other day i'll try that stuff then put up some new picts.

MadChef

iTrader: (1)

Um, what makes the write-up on vq-power "awful"?

Huh? The tape method looks pretty good to me.


(pic stolen from nadir)

If done correctly, I think both methods look good.

As for the writeup, +1 on cleaning the tails first (can't imagine painting them dirty!),
and +1 on the request for some pics of your finished product

JacksMax

MadChef, where'd you get that tape from? There was another thread on tape here before where all that was found was some ugly opaque red tape. No one ever answered the question "where can I find the clear type red tape?"

MadChef

iTrader: (1)

Actually nadir_s answered the question on that thread, said it wasn't 8500, but should have said 8300.

JacksMax

???? 8300 what? Is that a part number? Did you get this at Pep Boys or some parts store?

gtr_rider

iTrader: (50)

Oh, I didnt realize that.. thanks for clearing that up

JacksMax

MadChef, where'd you get that tape from?

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

I added this to the How-To's

MadChef

iTrader: (1)

Well my answer assumed you had read either the thread he was referring to, or the how-to on vq-power...

Anyways,
Oracal 8300 Translucent Colored Film:
http://www.oracal.com/products/produ...cat_ID=2&pg=97

Go to http://www.oracal.com/locator/locator.jsp to find a someone who sells it. I get mine from Ameriban Boston.

ps I haven't received my 8300 sample yet, so I cannot say 100% that it's it. I'm just passing along what I was told.