Smoothed and Blacked out my Tails

[ls1camino]

As most of you know, Nymphadora is mostly blacked out with small chrome accents here and there. When I first bought her, the first "mod" I did was buy some AVS Tail Shades. I preferred the smooth look over VHT'ing the tails and having the reverse lights be an eye sore. So over the past year, my Tail Shades have gotten scratched to the point that I decided to take them off and VHT my tails.

I spent a lot of time looking for the best possible way to fill in the reverse lights while still keeping them functional. I obviously needed something that would hold shape till it dried, and could also be sanded. I settled on filling it in with Super Glue. Needless to say, this failed. I completely trashed a spare taillight I had sitting in my garage. It wasn't pretty. I then toyed with the idea of just doing away with the reverse light altogether. I mean, I don't DD her and when I do drive her, I park so far away that reversing need not be done when I'm leaving. The only reversing I do is when I come out of my garage/driveway and even then I live on a slow residential street. I weighed the Pros and Cons of doing this and after two weeks of debating with myself, I started my work.

I took my perfectly MINT tail lights off of my baby and got cracking. It was funny...I ruined the first batch of Bondo I mixed up because I couldn't bring myself to put it on my tails...I had to have my fiance stand over me to make sure I started . Well, after I started I couldn't stop. I probably spent 3 weeks sanding and reapplying Bondo because I would sand the Bondo lower than the plastic. I eventually got it the way I wanted it and got out the filler primer to seal the elements out. After it was primed, I had to reapply a small amount of Bondo to fill in the minuscule ring left by the reverse light (I then had to tape it back up and primer again.

When the primer was dry, I sanded it down so it was level with the rest of the light. I then sprayed the primer area with black paint (no tape, just eye balled it). After the black dried, I started applying the VHT. I decided to use 1 can per light so I wouldn't have to worry about getting it even, and I also wanted them really dark, so it was a win-win situation. Note: My fiance is getting my LED Lights for my B-day, so light coming through won't really be a problem. After the VHT was on, I applied about half a can of automotive clear coat. I then wet sanded them down with 2000 grit sandpaper. Next, I buffed it to a shine with Meguiars Scratch-X. Last I put a coat of Turtle Wax on so they don't get scratched in the process of putting them back on the car. I'm sure I'll use NXT Tech Wax when I detail the her in the Spring.

Enjoy

Before:


After:
Are they LT1 Lights???


OMG...they aren't....how'd he do that?


During:
Scuffing up the plastic:


Adding Bondo as a filler:


Smoothed and Primed:


Blending Primer to Plastic:



Black Paint for the Primed Areas and the first pass with the VHT:


Second, Third, and Fourth Layers of VHT:


1 Can of VHT per Light...Clear Coated, Wet Sanded, Buffed and Waxed:



I'll get some on-the-car shots tomorrow after I install my new (to me) 9" and Adjustable Torque Arm

[Bouvers]

nice work

[third_shift|studios]

no back uplight eh? interesting.

[JoshieDoom]

Damn I would have traded you taillights. My reverse lenses are shot.

[SS02]

In Omaha they would pull you over like that!

It could look really nice, PICS.

[cammed goat]

no back uplight eh? interesting.

Unless...he's gonna make the center panel one backup light.

[JLRZ28]

Dang, looks sick. Get some pics up on the car asap!

[GOR1LA]

PICS PICS PICS...can't wait to see them when they are on the car!!

[ls1camino]

Here you go guys:





If you look at the inside of the passenger light, you'll see two "fisheyes", or airbubbles under the paint. I was pissed when I saw those. I tried my best to keep my fingers off of the lights while I was painting, but I guess I wasn't careful enough. I have to take it off, sand it down in those areas, and repaint. Luckily, they are located where there is straight black paint, so I don't have to worry about evening out the VHT.

Edit: Oh, and ignore the dirtiness of my car, like I said, It's been sitting in my garage for 3 months

[Cayenne97]

Looks nice. Good job!

[KahanaReef]

It does look good

[stephen02ws6]

looks nice. what are you doing for reverse lights?

[SS02]

It does look very bad @ss!

[ls1camino]

looks nice. what are you doing for reverse lights?

Nothing at the moment...an idea may strike me sometime in the future

[SS02]

Nothing at the moment...an idea may strike me sometime in the future

Just never back up???

[ls1camino]

Just never back up???

Like I said in my first post, I almost never have to because I always park so far out in parking lots that I just drive away without having to back up.

[Cayenne97]

Like I said in my first post, I almost never have to because I always park so far out in parking lots that I just drive away without having to back up.

You should be okay w/o rev. lights as long as your careful. It's not like people can't physically see the car moving backwards.

[stephen02ws6]

just leave yourself enough room around you to whip a 180. haha. it all depends how dark the area is if the brake lights are bright enough to help for now.

[third_shift|studios]

shoot some at dusk with the lights on. looks sick, bro!

[third_shift|studios]

somthing else to consider-have no idea how you'd support it all from breaking apart during install. Maybe use jayleno's 3D scanner/plastic maker LOL!