DIY DIY Tinted Tails VHT (shapes)

[07GTIMYFAST]

I decided to contribute alittle back to the communuty that I have learned so much from.

This is a DIY on how to Tint your tails with VHT nightshades and make shapes that show light.

Time: This is an all day project to do it right, alot like watching paint dry... literally, Patience.

Supplies Needed:
1. Taillights (you car)
2. Sandpaper, 1000 grit, and 2000 grit (wally world)
3. Painters tape, 1/4" or 1/2" (wally world)
4. Brown paper bag and newspaper (your local package store has brown paper bags)
5. Dish soap (also house)
6. Spray can clear coat (wally world)
7. Wax, your choice on brand (Wally world)
8. VHT nightshades (Online or Some local audio/tint shops payed $15 for 2 cans)
9. Rubbing alcohol (Wally world)

Procedure:

1. Start off with your taillights, Mine are R32 lights but you get the point. Sand all the raised plastic off the taillights anything sticking up off the base plastic. I used 1000 grit sandpaper and it took some elbow grease 800 might work better.



2. Sand the entire light with 1000 grit sandpaper to give the paint something to attach too.

3. Clean the light with rubbing alcohol and a clean cloth. (Be mindfull not to touch the plastic to be painted after you clean the light.)

4. Decide what shape you want to make for the light, you can do anything your artistic mind wants even a pony.... but I did 2 circles one big for the outer light and one small for the inner reverse light.
Tape off the shape with the painters tape (a steady hand is good but take your time and it will work.). Use an xacto knife or razor blade to carefully straighten any burrs. Cut a brown paper bag to cover the inside of the shape and tape it on leaving no gaps.


5. Spray the entire lense with the VHT in very light, even coats. (I did 3 coats then removed tape and did 3 more totaling 6 and 3) Let dry for 10-15 minutes between coats.
HINT* Go darker than you want the final product to be, wetsanding will lighten it up


6. After letting dry for 30-45 minutes remove tape and brown paper carefully without touching the lense. (razor blade lifts one edge)

7. Repeat step 5 covering the entire lense this time.

8. Set aside let dry for atleast 2 hours



9. After drying get a bowl and fill with dish soap and water, take the 2000 grit sandpaper and soak it in the soapy water.


10. Procede to Sand the lights evenly making sure to smooth any imperfections and any "orange peel" out (Dipping the sandpaper back in the soapy water several times). At this point the lights will look like crap.


11. Clean the lights WELL with rubbing alcohol, let dry. Grab your clear coat and spray light coats as before allowing 10-15 minutes between coats. I did 5 coats, Let dry for atleast 2 hours


A dorm room is a perfect paint booth


12. At this point I let the lights dry for another hour and a half and wetsanded again (not neccisary but I'm a OCD with my car) then cleaned with alcohol and applied a heavy coat of clear.


13. Now let them dry for atleast half a day so the clear coat can cure.

14. Grab your favorite wax and wax the lights (I did 5 coats of wax) You can also buff the lights at this point.


re-install the lights and enjoy

Wax the lights when you wax the car just like it is another painted peice of the car.

Keep in mind I had R32 lights which are already darker to start with, Looking back I would have done something darker like a 9 outer/5 inner coating.

Daylight sitting:


Daylight Brake lights:


Night running lights:


After a year Just chilling:

[zeonic]

good post i would have sent you my regular tails and bought all the supply's you needed to tint em to trade for those R32 ones you used

[07GTIMYFAST]

Haha, Long story but basically some kids broke out 2 of my stock ones at my school and broke off my rear wiper blade, court system decided they needed to buy me new ones, Used the money to buy a full R32 set and a few other things.

[zeonic]

Originally Posted by 07GTIMYFAST

Haha, Long story but basically some kids broke out 2 of my stock ones at my school and broke off my rear wiper blade, court system decided they needed to buy me new ones, Used the money to buy a full R32 set and a few other things.

lol. the system worked for once

[07GTIMYFAST]

Originally Posted by zeonic

lol. the system worked for once

Ya usually I have my own system of taking care of things like that but my job would frown upon me getting arrested for kick'in ass.

[Teh Chr!s]

Good Stuff Man .... Wish U Woulda Let me Known About The R32 Lights ... Woulda Traded U my Tails I Tinted With This Stuff ... Ima Put A Link To This In The DIY Section

[Nuggzie]

Great post. This is something Im going to do in the next week or 2.

[kryptonkid07]

i need to re-do my lights.. i was in too much of a rush when I did mine.

[Teh Chr!s]

Originally Posted by kryptonkid07

i need to re-do my lights.. i was in too much of a rush when I did mine.

Yah Me Too

[cbursten]

Originally Posted by 07GTIMYFAST

You look like the type that would put an outline of a pony on your tail lights.

Seriously though, very nice DIY and excellent write up.

[07GTIMYFAST]

Originally Posted by cbursten

You look like the type that would put an outline of a pony on your tail lights.

Seriously though, very nice DIY and excellent write up.

Thanks

[BillyBob]

Most informative and easily relateable picture in the writeup. LOL!

[Nuggzie]

Thanks to this write up, I got to thinking and I might try an experiment...


I have 2 sets of vinyl FAST decals, about 4" around...





Im thinking that instead of doing a circle type shape, I may use the FAST. Im thinking 4 coats with it, 4-5 without. Im hoping when its done, and you look hard you can see the FAST logo embedded in the light. Thats my hopes at least. Im going wait till I can buy a set of tail lights first, incase it looks like crap.

Whatcha think..?

[BillyBob]

I'd make the fast outta masking tape.
Once that vynil attached to the light, it may be a byatch to take off. Not to mention you may need to use something to "persuade" the vynil to come off, which may scratch the finish you just did.

[Nuggzie]

I was thinking about that.... I might just stick they vinyl to a few strips of painters tape then carefully cut it out....

[07GTIMYFAST]

I would probably go 6 with and 3 without to make it stand out alittle better. I would lay down painters tape on a piece of plexi or somthing smooth and then stick the vinyl on top, trim around and pull the thing off in one peice, then just stick it on where you want it.

[Fat Chris]

Nice work sir. I want to do this, but the PoPo's that make the roubds at the bar I go to said they would pull me over in a heart beat if I had tinted tails.

[07GTIMYFAST]

Originally Posted by Fat Chris

Nice work sir. I want to do this, but the PoPo's that make the roubds at the bar I go to said they would pull me over in a heart beat if I had tinted tails.

It is perfectly legal to tint the tails, as long as they can be seen from 500 feet away in most states. Thats why I left the circles lighter, thats the only place the light shines thru anyways.

[lumns]

i just did mine two weekends ago. closely followed these directions. Didnt do shapes and placed only three coats on.

after doing the tail lights i had to do the emblem.

will post pictures tonight.

[Teh Chr!s]

Originally Posted by lumns

i just did mine two weekends ago. closely followed these directions. Didnt do shapes and placed only three coats on.

after doing the tail lights i had to do the emblem.

will post pictures tonight.

Good Sheet

[lumns]

Originally Posted by Teh Chr!s

Good Sheet

[Teh Chr!s]

Originally Posted by lumns

Looks Great Man ;p

[07GTIMYFAST]

looks good! did you do 3 heavy coats? they look pretty dark to be just 3 light coats. and did you wet sand?

[lumns]

the first coat was light, second coat med and the third heavy. I did wet sand but have not waxed

[07GTIMYFAST]

every wax them things?

these still look great. such a cheap and easy mod.

[09GTIGuy]

Great write up , sick mod. Anyone know how to take off the side markers ? also I should probibly ask how many coats for the sidemarkers to dark those out as well ?

[07GTIMYFAST]

Originally Posted by 09GTIGuy

Great write up , sick mod. Anyone know how to take off the side markers ? also I should probibly ask how many coats for the sidemarkers to dark those out as well ?

you push in on the very front of the marker, it will feel like it's going to break then it will pivot and pop the backside out and you can pull it out from there. If you have the $ I would get color matched side markers instead,I had them on my UG and it looked sooooo much better. the stock markers would probabaly need 5-8 coats because they are yellow covers

[07GTIMYFAST]

calling nuggzie..... post pictures!

[Nuggzie]

Mine got messed up the first round, painted them outside and all sorts of crap stuck to them on the first 2 coats. Wet sanding did not get rid of them so I decided to start over. I sanded them down again last night and will be painting them tonight and tomorrow. Constructed a paint booth in the basement so we'll see how that goes. Will post pics when done.

[07GTIMYFAST]

Originally Posted by Nuggzie

Mine got messed up the first round, painted them outside and all sorts of crap stuck to them on the first 2 coats. Wet sanding did not get rid of them so I decided to start over. I sanded them down again last night and will be painting them tonight and tomorrow. Constructed a paint booth in the basement so we'll see how that goes. Will post pics when done.

ahhh that sucks, I guess it was some major stuff stuck in there huh? Notice I painted mine in a dorm room lol, but the window was open and I got some little grains in mine that sanded out.

[Nuggzie]

I've got everything working just right except the last coat of clear. 3 times now it has orange peeled on me, cant figure it out. I decided to order some matched side markers anyway so I'll keep workin at these and maybe sell em off.

[07GTIMYFAST]

are you doing a heavy or light last clear coat?

[Nuggzie]

Last coat I go heavy on, as you posted in your write up. This time I may just do many of the light coats since that seems to minimize the roughness. I have painted a lot of stuff in the past and never had this much of an issue with clearcoat. Im wondering if the clearcoat itself is causing the issues, may try different stuff.

[07GTIMYFAST]

I'm thinking it might be the clear aswell. If you can't get it figured out you can do extra clear and just buff them lightly and it might come out.

[Nuggzie]

Tried the buffing and its a tad better but still not something I would put on my ride... FAIL *sigh

[NJredGTI]

this may be a dumb question, but why not just get the adhesive blackouts?
http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-...hts/ES1873384/
they may not be able to do shapes, but it seems a $h!tload easier...

[xcrazydx]

Originally Posted by NJredGTI

this may be a dumb question, but why not just get the adhesive blackouts?
http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-...hts/ES1873384/
they may not be able to do shapes, but it seems a !tload easier...

Putting film on these tails is the niggest PITA job I have done on my car so far...I would have rather painted them

[07GTIMYFAST]

Originally Posted by NJredGTI

this may be a dumb question, but why not just get the adhesive blackouts?
http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-...hts/ES1873384/
they may not be able to do shapes, but it seems a !tload easier...

man.. heat gun stretching that over the round tailights has to be a PITA and getting it lined up perfectly while trying to stretch them.. ugh...

it really cost me about $20 to paint the lights including sandpaper, clear, and vht. and I could make them as dark or as light as I wanted them. Its not really that hard, just time consuming

[xcrazydx]

Originally Posted by 07GTIMYFAST

man.. heat gun stretching that over the round tailights has to be a PITA and getting it lined up perfectly while trying to stretch them.. ugh...

it really cost me about $20 to paint the lights including sandpaper, clear, and vht. and I could make them as dark or as light as I wanted them. Its not really that hard, just time consuming

I can't even think of the words to describe how irritating and difficult this was for me. I am also horrible at tinting windows so that is a huge factor in my attempt at this.

[NJredGTI]

Originally Posted by xcrazydx

I can't even think of the words to describe how irritating and difficult this was for me. I am also horrible at tinting windows so that is a huge factor in my attempt at this.

Well, I won't be getting those, then. Thx.