Tinting tail lights?

[TWOJZ]

hmm...

the centre garnish, I gave too many coats, which ended up being too dark, but thats alright, however, it wasn't shiny, so, I lightly sanded it, and applied a clear top coat, which is even less shiny.

what did I do wrong?

the side lights I put less coats on, and they're shiny. (without the clear coat)

 

[TWOJZ]

WOOT! double post, 10 minutes apart!

 

[DTPnU 10+ year member]

where did you guys find this night shade spray tint... like i said before i used to know a place that sales it.. but not anymore.. want to do my tailights and tuen signals...

Summit Racing sells it. Its $10 or so I believe, but thats where I get mine. Its about 45 minutes from Cleveland.

Heres the proper way to do it. Not sure if you did it like this but...

-Sand/rough up lights with 2000 grit

-Use Windex or alcohol pad to remove impurities

-Spray a coat of VHT

-Let dry for 15 minutes

-Sand that coat with 1000 grit or 2000 grit.

-Repeat last 3 steps until you get the darkness you want

-Do a final sanding with 2000 grit for the clear to adhere to.

-Shoot a coat of clear over it, then sand it with 2000, then shoot another coat and let dry and youre done!

If needed to remove, sand with 400 grit. Nothing else will work.

 

[TWOJZ]

Summit Racing sells it. Its $10 or so I believe, but thats where I get mine. Its about 45 minutes from Cleveland.
Heres the proper way to do it. Not sure if you did it like this but...

-Sand/rough up lights with 2000 grit

-Use Windex or alcohol pad to remove impurities

-Spray a coat of VHT

-Let dry for 15 minutes

-Sand that coat with 1000 grit or 2000 grit.

-Repeat last 3 steps until you get the darkness you want

-Do a final sanding with 2000 grit for the clear to adhere to.

-Shoot a coat of clear over it, then sand it with 2000, then shoot another coat and let dry and youre done!

If needed to remove, sand with 400 grit. Nothing else will work.

thats pretty much what I did, but the extra coats on the centre bit ended up not being shiny, so I sanded with 1200grit (all I had) before applying the clear coat, but the clear coat seemed very thick, and dried with an orange peel kinda effect, not shiny, so, I lightly sanded that once it was dry, and cut and polished it, which got me nowhere.

 

[DTPnU 10+ year member]

It shouldnt have been orange at all. It should look black or even a little purple effect. Interesting...did you hold spray about 8-12 inches from the surface? I have no idea what could have caused the orange. Try using the clear coat from Autozone/Duplicolor. Maybe that will work.

I used 3 coats and then 2 coats of clear...

 

[TWOJZ]

It shouldnt have been orange at all. It should look black or even a little purple effect. Interesting...did you hold spray about 8-12 inches from the surface? I have no idea what could have caused the orange. Try using the clear coat from Autozone/Duplicolor. Maybe that will work.
I used 3 coats and then 2 coats of clear...

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o192/DMXanswerand1/122407_180200-1.jpg

...orange peel effect...

 

[fbi90909 5,000+ posts]

you need to start all over. get the correct materials needed for the project. get sandpaper.. get 2-3 cans of clear coat..

remove all paint, i think you could use brake cleaner to remove it all w/o damaging the plastic of the tail lights..

after it's all removed wet sand the tail lights with 800-1000grit paper..

after it's sanded from a distance of 12-14 inches spray LIGHT coats. do not go over the same area of the tail light twice in the same coating session, and do not stop midway while spraying on the tail light. set up the tail lights so you can spray from one end to the other. basically lets say the tait lights are sitting straight up.. you want to spray from left to right, left to right, left to right. and spray from outside to outside, never start directly on the tailight always begin spray away from it.

now after you put one coat on. get a blow/hair dryer. set it on cool and medium speed. from a distance of 1-2ft blow onto the tail lights for about 5 minutes.. it will speed up the drying time to add another layer. after the 5 min add the next layer in the same method. very light coat froma distance of 12-14 inches from left to right left to right.

and repeat untill desired darkness. i went with 5-6 coats on mine. they are dark but not super black and very visible..

after you are done applying the tint let the tail lights sit for 5-6 hours. then start adding clear coat. YOU DO NOT NEED TO SAND IT AT THIS POINT.

once again spray the clear coat from a distance just like the tint.. 12-14inches..

add the first 2 initial coats lightly. then the next coat give it a little thicker wet coat. use at least 2 cans of clear on the tail lights.. or at least 1 can per tail light..

after you are done adding clear coat let the clear dry over night or at least 8 hours. after they have fully cured in drying you need to sand down all the orange peel. this is why i sid to use 1 whole can of clear coat. so that when in the sanding phase of removing the orange peel you won't sand down into the tint spray.

just begin to sand down with 1500grit. DO NOT STOP SANDING UNTILL ALL THE ORANGE PEEL IS GONE. after it's all gone sand with 2000 grit. after you are done with 2000grit you need to buff it with rubbing compound. take your time with it. after you are done with rubbing compound you now need to buff it with polishing compound. take your time with it again. then just wax them up and they should look fine...

you have to be patient with niteshade. and FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS.. you can get great results...

 

[DTPnU 10+ year member]

^^^You want to overlap each spray by 50%.

 

[TWOJZ]

thats a whole lotta words for not a lot being said!

anyway, perhaps a picture is needed.

this is the side lights, with, technically, one FULL WET coat, all I did before applying it, was wipe the lights down the metholated spirits... its very shiny, nothing more required.

and then, this next picture, is the centre bit, I lightly sanded this with 1200 grit paper, dried it off, left it to dry for a while, then wiped it down with metho aswell. After applying one full wet coat, it looked the same as the side lights, upon applying a second, lighter coat, it became dull, and not shiny.

Once it had dried properly, I lightly wet and dry sanded it, then applied about three coats of the clear coat, about 15 minutes apart... and it never got shiny.

I think the clear coat solvent disolved, and mixed with the tint spray...

 

[silvercookie 5,000+ posts]

it came out orange cause you got a fvcking idiot doing. now im gonna dump your thrread you piece of shit.

 

[TWOJZ]

it came out orange cause you got a fvcking idiot doing. now im gonna dump your thrread you piece of shit.

its not orange you **** //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif

 

[silvercookie 5,000+ posts]

ooo **** wat an offensive word huh.

i think im gonna go cry.

fvckin i was minding my own business in my thread and you had to dump it was it really fvckin neccessary like did i do anything to you or is that wat you do besides ******* to your mom masturbating?

 

[TWOJZ]

ooo **** wat an offensive word huh.
i think im gonna go cry.

fvckin i was minding my own business in my thread and you had to dump it was it really fvckin neccessary like did i do anything to you or is that wat you do besides ******* to your mom masturbating?

LOL!!!

someone needs help!

anyway, my offer still stands! haha

$6.50!

 

[silvercookie 5,000+ posts]

i need help?

yea ok .

 

[TWOJZ]

i need help?
yea ok .

so we agree, good //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif