tail lights

**AfterYou** · 10-10-2010, 10:14 AM

I decided to black out my red firebirds tail-lights

Im going to take them off, mask off what i need to, wash, sand, rewash, then appy a VHT nite-shade paint, Any suggestions on doing this... to keep everything smooth and even, and not completely mess up?

tips?

**cammed goat** · 10-10-2010, 10:37 AM

Do this at your own risk if your local police dept gives tickets for obscure taillights.

**AfterYou** · 10-10-2010, 11:05 AM

Oh dang! I didnt even think about tinting them being a legal issue, Ill talk to somebody at our station about it, and if they say its okay, ill have them right/sign with their name stating its okay, theyre office is ~1 min away, but for 13 bucks a can idk if i wanna do it :P

**bberretta** · 10-10-2010, 11:55 AM

My suggestion would be to get brighter LED bulbs if you are going to tint them. You can get away with tinting them as long as the lights are bright enough.

As for the "how" to do it, here's how I "refurbish" my own headlights and taillights on my vehicles:
I'd make sure they were perfectly smooth before spraying them- EVERY imperfection will be seen after you tint them. Sand with 1000 grit, then 1500 then 2000. When you sand it with 1000 and 1500, make sure they are evenly cloudy looking. Any nicks or cracks and they'll be seen in the finish. Scuff marks can be sanded out. Wipe them down with a light reducer or wax/grease remover (do not use thinner! Too heavy a reducer will melt/discolor the plastic). This is where I usually would use a plastic polish (like Meguiars Plastix) and buff out the sanding marks. If I were tinting them, I'd spray a light coat on, wait, then spray a second coat. The more coats the darker it'll be, so be careful. As long as your prep them well, they should come out slick.

**az gt eater** · 10-10-2010, 12:15 PM

Don't spray them until you can't see the red anymore. That is waay too dark. And if you do them correctly, there is no obscuration issue. The problem with VHT is that light will not enter the light from an outside source, reflect off the refractors and bounce back out. So, basically when it is parked, the headlights off other vehicles will not show back and makes your car hard to see.(No reflectivity) If you do the vht light enough, it looks awesome, and the lights work great,even during the day. Be careful with the vht bug, you'll end up sparying all of them like i did.