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Kinda Murdered out

VENOM04

Well-Known Member
Im sure alot of people know how to do this but even i was skeptical, so this was an experiment just to see how it would turn out. They would have turned out perfect but on the very last coat of Clear Coat i had to mix brands because i ran out of the one i was using so i used another one i had laying around and when i sprayed it on it like started to eat away at the other kind of clear so they still look really good just not as shinny as i would have liked them. Well enjoy.

First i didnt want to ruin my nice factory tail lights so i went on craigslist and got a set for $40 bucks over in Fresno from some dude that wrecked his car.

Then got some "VHT Night Shade" from Summit Racing, Some Clear Coat and some Meguires Clear Plastic Polish.

Taillighttinting003.jpg


Then i got some water proof sand paper for wet sanding. I went with 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit.

Taillighttinting003.jpg


My next step was to clean the entire tail light assembly then wet sand using all grits of paper and here's how it ended up looking.

Taillighttinting002.jpg


After you get both lights sanded you need to completely re-clean them and get all of the plastic residue off. I just used dish soap and hot water. Then let dry. After the drying you can apply the first coat of Night Shade. On the left is a light with one coat of Night Shade and on the Right is the one that is still just sanded.

Taillighttinting005.jpg


Here are the lights after two coats of the Night Shade and two coats of clear.

Taillighttinting006.jpg


Now after they dried (once again i dont know what i am doing THIS IS AN EXPERIMENT) i decided to wet sand them again so i could get them even darker by applying more coats of Night Shade. So here is one of them after applying the two coats of Night Shade, two clear coats then wet sanding them again once again using all grits.

Taillighttinting008.jpg


and here they are both together

Taillighttinting007.jpg


After wet sanding them again i applied three more coats of Night Shade and two more clear coats of clear wanted three but ran out so i mixed brands and used another one i had laying around and sprayed them and it started to like eat the shine away but here is a pic of them before it started to eat at the shine.

Taillighttinting009.jpg


After all that i used the Meguires Clear Plastic Polish and some Meguires tech wax to buff them out a bit.

Taillighttinting010.jpg
 

VENOM04

Well-Known Member
Well ****. Photo bucket went down so i couldnt get the rest of the pics out and i screwed up at the top. I meant to show the sand paper and not the VHT Night Shade and crap again. Sorry....
 

Gibs

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Global Moderator
I think they look great with that stuff on them.
 

yosemiddysam

Well-Known Member
Donator
Interested to see if your lenses dent in like mine did...... I absolutely hate that fact that they did. If you take a long 3+hour drive with your headlights on they just might get too hot and dimple.
 

VENOM04

Well-Known Member
ok well photo bucket is back up so here are the rest of the pics.

Here are my original tail lights

Taillighttinting004.jpg


and here is the final product.

Taillighttinting011.jpg


Taillighttinting012.jpg


Taillighttinting014.jpg
 
I

Ichiduo

Guest
one thing i would've done differently... taped over the reverse lights before tinting so that way i can actually see when i back up. lol!

other than that, awesome job. :)
 

VENOM04

Well-Known Member
well contrary to popular belief you can see just fine. They are plenty bright. And i wanted to completely black them out so i did. When you decide to take the time to do it and you leave the reverse light taped off lemme know how it turns out. But lets see i wanted it as black as possible so i did. i didnt want to ruin my original tail lights so i didnt and i didnt feel like paying ford or american muscle ect. over $100 for another set and i wanted to do it myself not buy someone else's so i got the next best thing. A cheapo $50 pair off of some dude in fresno. and the reverse part of one of them was ****ed up and the chrome on the inside of it was kinda fading so i went all black.
 
I

Ichiduo

Guest
fair enough... :) if i find an el cheapo set of stocker tail lights for a 99-04, i shall do my own with the reverse taped off. :)
 
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