Tinted the Tail Lights, Pics

[Travis2000LS]

Tinted the tail lights on my car today.
And let me tell you..

What a B*tch..

I followed peoples techniques on the VHT Nite Shade product.

I Sanded the tails and Side markers with 1000 to 1500 to 2000, then sprayed on the Nite Shade. I say It looked pretty good just had some orange peel. So I was like ok Time to wet sand again, 1500 to 2000 to 2500. Then used some Ultimate Compound.. And it looked like arse.. There was no gloss whats so ever.. I tried Machine buffing the tail light.. Wow what a failure, had to respray that one because it ate away the tint. So then I cam to the conclusion that I couldnt use a compound to get rid of the Hazy or matte looking finish.. So I saied hey.. what the heck.. Let me spray em one more time and let em sit after wet sanding it..

Tryed it and hey.. look a gloss and a almost smooth finish.

So 5 hours later of Sanding, Buffing, Removing and Installing both the side markers and the Tails they are done.

They are by no means AMAZING, but.. they get the job done. Not really digging how dark they are but Itll grow on me.

Light shines threw it as though they wernt tinted so Police I dont think will have a problem.

Tell me your thoughts.


Video :

http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/Darnhippys/?action=view&current=VID_20110808_204916.mp4


Pics:

 

[tripwire1124]

not too shabby...a little dark for my taste. but looks good

 

[Travis2000LS]

not too shabby...a little dark for my taste. but looks good

I went into the project not wanting them to be dark at all just smoked a little.

BUT Ended up doing it too dark. Oh well. It kinda gives it a mean look imo

 

[BlackLS06]

why not just use a film?

That way you could pull it off if you didnt like it.

 

[Travis2000LS]

why not just use a film?

That way you could pull it off if you didnt like it.

Wasnt sure how to get it, where to get it from, how to apply it, how hard it was to apply so on and so forth.

 

[BlackLS06]

You would go to a tint shop and ask them to tint the tails.

Ive heard of it being done for as cheap as $25 per tail.

Or they sell it at walmart if you want to try it on your own.

 

[Travis2000LS]

Also tried my hand at window tinting. I suck at it to be blunt lol. So not into tinting taillights lol

 

[BlackLS06]

Yeah i would go to a shop and get them tinted.

Not sure how well that stuff will hold up without being sealed.

 

[Travis2000LS]

You would go to a tint shop and ask them to tint the tails.

Ive heard of it being done for as cheap as $25 per tail.

Or they sell it at walmart if you want to try it on your own.

Shops around here cost a arm and a leg for tint.. '

But wow 25$ a tail, thats good. Ontop of that Id have to go to Sommer Sound or somewhere that really deals in Pro tinting to do it, and they deff arnt cheap here. and Im not into spending 40 to 50$ per light. One day Ill get new tail lights and have em do it but for now thisll work

 

[jdmans101]

looks good man, makes it look a lot more aggressive. Used vht on my tails and it was a bitch to get them shinny and I still have some perfecting to do just to lazy to get to it lol. I put a lot of clear coat and then buffed and that seemed to work the best for me.

 

[BlackLS06]

Stands out a lot on white.

Looks cool but i like the two tone look on mine.

 

[De-marko]

Looks good! I had a friend do the same thing on his 100% blacked out LS.

As far as film tinting the tails it seems the Gen 1 would be a PITA to do.

 

[Travis2000LS]

looks good man, makes it look a lot more aggressive. Used vht on my tails and it was a bitch to get them shinny and I still have some perfecting to do just to lazy to get to it lol. I put a lot of clear coat and then buffed and that seemed to work the best for me.

Thanks buddy, Yeah.. its probabley bad that I havent used Clear coat yet..

Later this week or so ima buy some clear and take em out and clear em.

question is, Do i need to Wet sand em again to clear or leave em the way they are.

 

[BlackLS06]

Looks good! I had a friend do the same thing on his 100% blacked out LS.

As far as film tinting the tails it seems the Gen 1 would be a PITA to do.

Oh i forgot that.....the tails arent flat are they. Those ridges would be a problem.

 

[jdmans101]

Thanks buddy, Yeah.. its probabley bad that I havent used Clear coat yet..

Later this week or so ima buy some clear and take em out and clear em.

question is, Do i need to Wet sand em again to clear or leave em the way they are.

I just cleaned really good and put the clear on, never wet sanded mine and they turned out good, did the same with my headlights. I used dupli-color clear from auto zone, I tried some stuff from some other brand and it was crap so pick a good one.

 

[Travis2000LS]

Thanks all for the comments! Makes me feel proud and better about it lol. Didnt want people to say hey that looks like arse! lol

 

[Soopa009]

Lose the chrome surround and it will look a lot better I think.
But still looks good regardless

 

[SlickLS]

I went into the project not wanting them to be dark at all just smoked a little.

BUT Ended up doing it too dark. Oh well. It kinda gives it a mean look imo

For a lighter finish, just wet sand evenly until you reached the desired tint. Then shoot two coats of clear and they will shine hard.

 

[Travis2000LS]

For a lighter finish, just wet sand evenly until you reached the desired tint. Then shoot two coats of clear and they will shine hard.

Thanks man, Deff will try it later this week when I have a day off. Just not anytime soon because im sick of looking at them lol. Once you stare at a certain part of your car for more than 3 hours and mess with it.. It gets really annoying especially with no finger prints left!

Lol. Thanks for all the info guys.

Ill post more pics once I sand em down a little more and Clear coat them!

 

[Andrizzle]

I concur what Slick said. Sand it lightly and you will lighten it up and make it smoother.

 

[jolinc01]

Thanks all for the comments! Makes me feel proud and better about it lol. Didnt want people to say hey that looks like arse! lol

Hey those look like arse! Actually I think with some clear they'll look really good.