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| Tinted Tail Lights |
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Alllllllright...so you wanna tint the tails. Well, I got your tinted tail right here, byatch. There are two methods used to tint the lights. The first is to take the lights off the car and tint them as they lay on the ground. That was how I tinted the corners and they turned out great, so I decided to try the "on the car" method to see how it works. In short, it sucks. However, the basic ideas are the same, except when they're on the ground, you can use quite a bit thicker layers of enamel, which I like a lot better, since it allows me to get a smoother finish. When the lights are on the car, you have to use very light coats to prevent runs. But whatever. Here's how you do it when they're on the car. First, get two different kinds of sandpaper, one like 300-600 and the other from 800-1000. I used 320 and 800. They seemed to work ok. Now, sand up the lights evenly so they have some texture to them. Use the grittier paper. They should look something like what you see to the right. Next, you have to clean all the shit you can off the lights using some kind of window cleaner or even water. Do NOT use brake cleaner, as I tried it and it eats the plastic. Nice. It's a damn good glass cleaner, though, for future reference.
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Once the tails are scraped up and cleaned, tape off the borders of the lights as well as possible to prevent any overspray getting on the car. I suggest using more masking tape than I used, since I still got some shit on the body. Maybe I'm just sloppy though...who knows?
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Once everything is masked off, spray whatever tinting paint you have onto the tails in light coats from about 6-8 inches away until you're satisfied with the amount of tinting. Let each coat dry until it's pretty solid to the touch. There are two options for tinting spray. The first is VHT Nightshades, which can be found on Ebay. Search for "VHT". The second, and what I used, is Testor's Spray Window Tint. You can order it online here. Get two cans to be safe. Running out would suck ASS. Between coats, sand the lights with the less gritty sandpaper just a bit. When you like the amount of tinting you've gotten, it's time to clear coat. I used Testor's Clear Coat Enamel for this job. It didn't eat the tinting paint, so that was good news. I only needed one can of this stuff. Before I laid down the clear coat, I sanded again with the 800 grit paper to make sure it would stick well. I put about five light coats on there and let it dry for a few hours. Turned out pretty well, I think. Just be careful what you're doing with the sanding, make sure to let everything dry properly, and it's not too hard of a job......BBBBBByatchezzzz!!!
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