Eclipse97526
12-01-2007, 11:58 AM
i figured this would be a good tutorial to write up . I will entail pictures at a later time, when other problems are ressolved, such as, well my car running like crap after i rebuilt the motor, lol. But i figured id write this after i got pulled over buy the GP PD ! Which shit, if your license plate is starting to peel, or your turn signal is dimm, they will pull you over and let you know, i got pulled over for no front license plate, and a tinted rear plate cover, and its toatly clear, i asked him about the tails, he said he was refering to the license plate cover, and to get it fixed, handed me a ticket and walked away. so im guessing these tails would be acceptable Anywhere. cause our cops are the most bored piggies . Well here she is.
hardist part is finding the Tinting spray, the BEST quality to use is
VHT Nite Shades
its a normal areosol can, but they only give you 7 OZ !!!! its weak, but if u buy all this. Aside from the tinting spray, you can LOTS of sets of lenses, i charge 100 $ and thats including the cost of shade, and pays for all my materials over again, and i could prolly do another 20 sets before i ran outta sand paper and rubbing compound. the expencive part is the tinting spray .
6 coats of nite shade and 3 coats of clear coat.
You could prolly do 2 sets of tails with 1 can of nite shade, unless you want it illegal dark.
Keep in mind when doing this, Please Please think of other drivers, and dont go to dark, if u want it really black, fog on 7 coats, No more, And fog, i mean, VERY lite coats. the light shines out pretty well, but some people wont pay attention... Anyways, You need the following
1 . Can of Nite Shades 19.99 Shipped.
1. Can of high quality Clear coat ( Compressed rattle can ) 6.99
2 . Range of wet sanding paper. buy the pack, that has like 400 800 1000 1500 Then 6.99
3. Buy a pack of 3000 grit wet sand paper 3.95
4. a Knife, Or razor, Something to scrap off plastic letters
5 . Bucket of soapy water LOL i dunno $ .05
6. Polishing / Heavy Rubbing compound 5 $
7. a nice synthetic wax, my Galants fav is meguires NGX Synthetic.
8. Polishing / and or lint free cloths.5 $
9. cleaning compount safe on plastics. ( prep all ) at autozone 6$
DO ONE LENSE AT A TIME.
First of all, i started off buy taking my knife, and removing the US DOT Numbers and all that us patent crap on the bottom of the lense. Making it pretty smooth, not all bumpy, i want a clean look.
Then i wet sanded the tails with the 400 grit sandpaper, Rember to get it wet with soapy water before sanding, Removes Alot less, and your paper lasts forever. Sand it down evenly, using a block. ( i used a special form fitting foam sanding pad, i love them ) Wet sand untill you cannot feel where the lettering was, and you have removed thoes little holes, you will see what im talking abot, dont remove them all the way, but take the raised ring down flat, and have it so the whole light looks nice and sanded,.
This is all in the Prep work, the more even and the more u wet sand this, the better the finish product will look.
Repeat the process with the 800 grit paper,. Dont rush, rember, it will look better Wink Dont spend as much time sanding with the 800 gritt, You already have a nice even surface, you are just making the sanding scratches smaller.
Repeat the process, with the 1000 gritt. Not as heavy or as long of sanding process.
Now let it dry out a little ., take her inside and wash it off with soapy water, removing all the white plasticy residue.
After this, i let it dry, and used " Prep All " a plastic safe cleaning compond that removes all dirt and greze, and evaporates fast.
let it dry very much all the way. Now they look very dull and crappy, and your going aww crap, Well take them outside. into a dust free area.
Now this Nite shade wants to clump together, and run, and look uneven and shitty, rember this is not spray paint, its tininting film in a spray can... So fog on a VERY light coat, You will not be able to see this coat, Just lighting go over covering the entire lense. 1 snall coat from about 12-15 inches away.
Wait 7 minutes. Come back and repeat that process. Fog on another second coat, this one you can go a little closer, 8-10 inches, But just barely spray it, " Fogging it on " this allows the tinting film to set up a bit, and stand up,( kinda like painting with mettalics ) But it dont dry completly so its all good...
wait 7 minutes. Repeat.
wait 7 minutes repeat.
wait 7 minutes repeat.
Now look at how your lense looks, you may be able to see threw it pretty good right now, This will get alot darker when it drys, But when the light hits it it will look a deep deep dark red, Go put a cover over the light, or window, so you can still see them, but like in the shade, See how they will look. Keep in mind. They will Dry and be much darker.
The ammount of coats depends on how thin and properly you fog it on, this can take 7-8 coats if done right, and light enuf coats. DO NOT SPRAY ON THE TINT TILL ITS AS DARK AS YOU WANT IT, IT WILL BE WAY TO DARK. Do not apply more than 8 coats.
Let set and dry for 5 hours, so you know its completly dry, Will take longer if its really humid . I let mine sit over night, cause this is the important part, It needs to be DRY ! its not normal spray paint ;) and will take prolly 12-18 hours to fully darken + cure, before ready for clear coat !!! if u clear it to early, it will crackle + mix with the nightshade and look blotchy and bad, and need re-sanded. Should be safe following drying procedures on the can, but i went extra to be safe ;) and it did get darker, and dry more.
Now get out your soapy water, and your 3000 gritt.
Sand away. I actually tinted mine to dark, and i sanded prolly 30-40 mintues on each lense to get it how i wanted. The 3000 grit barely takes any off, Keep it wet. Sand sand sand, Do NOT use the prep all or any other cleaning solvents or solutions on this lense. Simply wash with clean luke warm water with your hands and rinse untill all the residue is gone, make sure there is nothing on it thought.
Let it dry 100 % free of any water.
Head back outside. get your clear coat, I just used a spray on clear coat from autozone, the best stuff they had. Duplicolor brand, was like 6.99
hope you got good and accurate with the fogging tequnie Wink
Fog on a coat of the clear from the can, Now i lighting foged the entire lenses with 2 small foggy coats to begin with, Enuf to almost make the lenses look wet, but to barely cover them.
let set for 3 minutes.
Fog on another layer like you just did. ( run over them once real lighting, then go back over the first one again, after you spray a light coat on the other lense.
They should appear wet now. and look like, Way nice.
wait 3 minutes.
Apply the exact same thing, fog on 2 light coats .
I got lucky, This was all i needed, it had a few particles of dust that had fallen onto it while i left it set drying all night.
I took some turtue wax, Heavy Swirl and Scratch Rubbing compound.
Take a Lint free cloth
Swirl in little swirls, not pressing to hard, but working the compount onto the lense. Dot let this stuff dry, after a coat of rubbing compound is evenly covering the lense, Go over it again fairly fast, But pressing harder this time.
Quicky wipe it clean with a rag " Remove all rubbing compount, Set a coat of that was on here, and let it set about 30 minutes, come back with a polishing cloth, lint free of course, and remove all the wax. And you have some sexy sexy tail lights, that wont fail to weathering or hardly anything if this is done right, it will be basicly just like your carpaint. and waxes and shines just like a brand new paint job Wink
hardist part is finding the Tinting spray, the BEST quality to use is
VHT Nite Shades
its a normal areosol can, but they only give you 7 OZ !!!! its weak, but if u buy all this. Aside from the tinting spray, you can LOTS of sets of lenses, i charge 100 $ and thats including the cost of shade, and pays for all my materials over again, and i could prolly do another 20 sets before i ran outta sand paper and rubbing compound. the expencive part is the tinting spray .
6 coats of nite shade and 3 coats of clear coat.
You could prolly do 2 sets of tails with 1 can of nite shade, unless you want it illegal dark.
Keep in mind when doing this, Please Please think of other drivers, and dont go to dark, if u want it really black, fog on 7 coats, No more, And fog, i mean, VERY lite coats. the light shines out pretty well, but some people wont pay attention... Anyways, You need the following
1 . Can of Nite Shades 19.99 Shipped.
1. Can of high quality Clear coat ( Compressed rattle can ) 6.99
2 . Range of wet sanding paper. buy the pack, that has like 400 800 1000 1500 Then 6.99
3. Buy a pack of 3000 grit wet sand paper 3.95
4. a Knife, Or razor, Something to scrap off plastic letters
5 . Bucket of soapy water LOL i dunno $ .05
6. Polishing / Heavy Rubbing compound 5 $
7. a nice synthetic wax, my Galants fav is meguires NGX Synthetic.
8. Polishing / and or lint free cloths.5 $
9. cleaning compount safe on plastics. ( prep all ) at autozone 6$
DO ONE LENSE AT A TIME.
First of all, i started off buy taking my knife, and removing the US DOT Numbers and all that us patent crap on the bottom of the lense. Making it pretty smooth, not all bumpy, i want a clean look.
Then i wet sanded the tails with the 400 grit sandpaper, Rember to get it wet with soapy water before sanding, Removes Alot less, and your paper lasts forever. Sand it down evenly, using a block. ( i used a special form fitting foam sanding pad, i love them ) Wet sand untill you cannot feel where the lettering was, and you have removed thoes little holes, you will see what im talking abot, dont remove them all the way, but take the raised ring down flat, and have it so the whole light looks nice and sanded,.
This is all in the Prep work, the more even and the more u wet sand this, the better the finish product will look.
Repeat the process with the 800 grit paper,. Dont rush, rember, it will look better Wink Dont spend as much time sanding with the 800 gritt, You already have a nice even surface, you are just making the sanding scratches smaller.
Repeat the process, with the 1000 gritt. Not as heavy or as long of sanding process.
Now let it dry out a little ., take her inside and wash it off with soapy water, removing all the white plasticy residue.
After this, i let it dry, and used " Prep All " a plastic safe cleaning compond that removes all dirt and greze, and evaporates fast.
let it dry very much all the way. Now they look very dull and crappy, and your going aww crap, Well take them outside. into a dust free area.
Now this Nite shade wants to clump together, and run, and look uneven and shitty, rember this is not spray paint, its tininting film in a spray can... So fog on a VERY light coat, You will not be able to see this coat, Just lighting go over covering the entire lense. 1 snall coat from about 12-15 inches away.
Wait 7 minutes. Come back and repeat that process. Fog on another second coat, this one you can go a little closer, 8-10 inches, But just barely spray it, " Fogging it on " this allows the tinting film to set up a bit, and stand up,( kinda like painting with mettalics ) But it dont dry completly so its all good...
wait 7 minutes. Repeat.
wait 7 minutes repeat.
wait 7 minutes repeat.
Now look at how your lense looks, you may be able to see threw it pretty good right now, This will get alot darker when it drys, But when the light hits it it will look a deep deep dark red, Go put a cover over the light, or window, so you can still see them, but like in the shade, See how they will look. Keep in mind. They will Dry and be much darker.
The ammount of coats depends on how thin and properly you fog it on, this can take 7-8 coats if done right, and light enuf coats. DO NOT SPRAY ON THE TINT TILL ITS AS DARK AS YOU WANT IT, IT WILL BE WAY TO DARK. Do not apply more than 8 coats.
Let set and dry for 5 hours, so you know its completly dry, Will take longer if its really humid . I let mine sit over night, cause this is the important part, It needs to be DRY ! its not normal spray paint ;) and will take prolly 12-18 hours to fully darken + cure, before ready for clear coat !!! if u clear it to early, it will crackle + mix with the nightshade and look blotchy and bad, and need re-sanded. Should be safe following drying procedures on the can, but i went extra to be safe ;) and it did get darker, and dry more.
Now get out your soapy water, and your 3000 gritt.
Sand away. I actually tinted mine to dark, and i sanded prolly 30-40 mintues on each lense to get it how i wanted. The 3000 grit barely takes any off, Keep it wet. Sand sand sand, Do NOT use the prep all or any other cleaning solvents or solutions on this lense. Simply wash with clean luke warm water with your hands and rinse untill all the residue is gone, make sure there is nothing on it thought.
Let it dry 100 % free of any water.
Head back outside. get your clear coat, I just used a spray on clear coat from autozone, the best stuff they had. Duplicolor brand, was like 6.99
hope you got good and accurate with the fogging tequnie Wink
Fog on a coat of the clear from the can, Now i lighting foged the entire lenses with 2 small foggy coats to begin with, Enuf to almost make the lenses look wet, but to barely cover them.
let set for 3 minutes.
Fog on another layer like you just did. ( run over them once real lighting, then go back over the first one again, after you spray a light coat on the other lense.
They should appear wet now. and look like, Way nice.
wait 3 minutes.
Apply the exact same thing, fog on 2 light coats .
I got lucky, This was all i needed, it had a few particles of dust that had fallen onto it while i left it set drying all night.
I took some turtue wax, Heavy Swirl and Scratch Rubbing compound.
Take a Lint free cloth
Swirl in little swirls, not pressing to hard, but working the compount onto the lense. Dot let this stuff dry, after a coat of rubbing compound is evenly covering the lense, Go over it again fairly fast, But pressing harder this time.
Quicky wipe it clean with a rag " Remove all rubbing compount, Set a coat of that was on here, and let it set about 30 minutes, come back with a polishing cloth, lint free of course, and remove all the wax. And you have some sexy sexy tail lights, that wont fail to weathering or hardly anything if this is done right, it will be basicly just like your carpaint. and waxes and shines just like a brand new paint job Wink