I currently have one of the blackout kits made of acrylic where you stick them on with double sided tape.

The tape leaves a gap, which in my case, has filled with dust/sand, and doesn't look too sweet. So, I'd like to tint them using a different method.

I'm contemplating the Nightshades spray stuff, probably followed by some satin clear coat. Or, maybe using some window tinting material and tinting them that way..

I guess there's also some new Plasti-dip stuff for tinting?

Any advice/opinions on advantages to any of these methods?

 

I had the same issue with the covers. Hated taking them off all the time to get the dust and what not out. So I had mine professionally painted/tinted by my bodyshop. Cost was about $100 for all of them. Did a great job. I don't have any experience with the DIY stuff for ya, sorry. Just another option for ya.

 

Check out Lamin-x product. Thick vinyl precut to fit the vehicle. Fairly inexpensive.

 

I used vinyl tint its very easy to use you can search youtube and see how its done, I would not recommend the spray tints any of them the results are bad its hard to keep all the tights the same shade and the plasti looks faded as soon as you put it on, the night shade stuff gets dull real fast

I ordered the tint from fleabay was like $25 shipped had enough left over to do the tail lights of 2 other cars for family members after tinting my tail lights, reverse lights, side markers and front turn signals, the process is easy soap and water in a spray bottle lightly spray the light then apply the tint and smooth it out I used a heat gun too for some lights, you might goof up the 1st try or two but it really is simple

item number on flebay 181434322937 is whats installed on my car you see in the pic, I had them tinted before but it was to dark so redone them with this tint its perfect plenty of light shows true during the daylight

 

Looks great

 

I did the Nightshades and Clear... did side markers, tag lights, brake lights, front turn signals, door reflectors. I'll get some pics tomorrow..
They have held up great so far, it's only been a few months but still look great... the brake lights are kind of a satin finish which I really like... it's different than most of the polished shiny look..
The first C5 I ever opened the door to look inside was a shock to see the hideous red reflectors in the door... although on the red doors they don't look bad... so I blacked them out...much darker than the outside covers

 

thanks!

I did that to my 87 pickup after about a year it cracked and flaked was horrible, I know my way around auto paint followed every thing to the T! some friends had bad results also with it

I been using the vinyl tint since 07' never really had a problem with it my last SUV 5 years and it still looked great, its simple to remove to if you get bored with it

 

Hopefully they have improved the quality of paints/tints over the last 8 years... we'll see. We did my grandson's pickup almost two years ago and they still look good... it sits outside all the time, but the vette is in the shop and only gets driven on special occasions...that might make a difference. I've also used the vinyl tint and wasn't happy with the fitment ... and I have worked in a decal/vinyl shop so I know how to apply it. It looked good from 10 feet away but, not if you got real close and inspected the edges and over the writing on the lens...
The tint does stay nice, and is a simple removal. The only other thing is I wanted to have more control over how dark or light I wanted to tint each set of covers. I hope it doesn't crack or flake...time will tell.

 

I'm planning to go with the nite-shades. I'm looking for more of a dark cherry look rather than black, so I feel like this is the best way to accomplish that. I don't know how well it'll work, but I plan to put a coat of clear plast-dip on first. If it works as I think (and have been told), I can peel it off if I decide I don't like it.

 

yours have more of a semi gloss but they still look good


mine are gloss



its a preference thing really, I like the gloss the vinyl has better. being yours sits inside you might not have the problems I did hopefully

 

Looks good bud!

 

tl; dr - went with rustoleum tint, wet sanded w/ 1000 grit and the clear coat on the DRLs, tail lights and reverse lights. Left the smaller fixtures with just the tint, no wet sanding and clear, as they looked good enough, IMO. Overall, very happy with the results.


Detail:

Finally got my lights tinted.

I purchased a set of the halo tail lights to replace the stock tails and figured that would be a good time for replacing the stick-on acrylic covers and actually tint my light fixtures.

I tried using the vinyl wrap. I may have gotten the wrong stuff though. I tried using window tint from my local AutoZone. I couldn't get it on very well. Tried a few different times, both using a hair dryer and not. This might be a better option if the lights are on the car, but I removed mine prior to trying anything.

So, I bailed on the vinyl and went with the Rustoleum tint spray stuff.

Here are some pics after spraying them. The finish is pretty rough. I pretty much blacked them out. I wanted to err on the side of too dark though, because I had planned on wet sanding and clear coating them after I saw how they were turning out:

Tail lights:



Reverse lights:




3rd brake light:



The 3rd brake light and rear side markers didn't look too bad after just the tint spray, so I didn't wet sand and clear them. I think because they are smaller fixtures, the poor finish doesn't show as much.

Here are some pics after wet sanding the tails and DRLs. I used 1000 grit:



The reverse lights got a little bubbly (I was in the garage, not a clean room :P ) when I sprayed the tint. I was hoping the wet sanding and clear would fix it, and it did a little.




DRLs after wet sanding:




Side marker with just tint, no wet sanding or clear:


3rd brake light, just tint, no wet sanding or clear:


Here is a tail light after wet sanding and clear coat. No further wet sanding or polishing after the clear. The video I was referencing on youtube said to wet sand with 2000 grit and then polish after the clear. But, I was happy with the finish as is, and didn't want to fork over more money for polish and pads.



This is a daylight pick with the lights on, showing how much light makes it through my nearly blacked out fixtures:




And, a few more finish shots with the lights on:






Sorry, don't have any good shots of the finish on the tail lights other than the one. They do look like they have a little bit of a semi-gloss, orange peel going on. Like Stroker mentioned, it's a preference thing. Personally, I like that look. It makes the glossy bumper stand out a little bit more, with the Corvette lettering. And, they go well with my flat black splash guards..

I haven't done any body work or painting in quite a while, but this was still a pretty easy project. The worst part was working up the nerve to start spraying the new halo tail lights. But, I'd seen a few videos for how to take it off if I wasn't happy.

I wasn't going to clear coat anything originally, and even thought about putting a clear coat of Plasti-dip on first so I could easily peel off the tint if I didn't like it.

Adding in the wet sanding and clear coating was only a few extra hours work and really paid off.

 

sorry to here your hard time with the vinyl tint, since i wrecked my 03z i bought a 01z and just did all the lights with the vinyl tint again once you get the hang of it its a breeze

your lights look awesome now since you sanded and cleared them!

these are the lights i just tinted with the vinyl

 

Lookin good Stroker!

A couple questions..

Do you know if the vinyl you got off fleabay was the same as window tinting material? Maybe different somehow?

Did you tint your lights while they were on the car?

I watched a couple videos on using the vinyl, and they were all done with the lights on the cars. It seemed to me, that it would be hard to get the vinyl to fit good around the edges of the C5 tail lights..

Do you have the weather stripping around your lights? How did the edges come out?

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with mine. A few different ways to go about it..

 

I was going to suggest filling the tape gaps on your existing parts as an easy way to solve the dirt and dust problem.

 

thanks!

It's vinyl tint not the same as window stuff, some cars I've done with out removing them and some like the c5 it's just easier to remove them, the edges are where the heat gun comes into play heat it up and stretch it to form how you need it to, on my car they came out pretty good. I do not have the weather strip thats water your seeing but will be doing that soon i hope

 

mix up a small batch of clearcoat and add a few drops of black until you get the color you're looking for

 

Years ago, I had Richard Todd of Corvette Enhancements tint mine. He used a process where a gel coat was applied, baked on and then sanded and polished to perfection. It's extremely durable and can be refinished if the surface is scratched. These look like they were originally manufactured like this. Unfortunately, I will be replacing the tails with a different tinted version that are halos LED's.

 

All of the tinting looks great, but guys/gals be careful because in my state tinting brake lights, tag lights, side markers(amber lights) is illegal. You may want to check with your state to see if it is legal to do so. I am a LEO and I personally am not worried about it, but Troopers and our Traffic Unit is. Just don't want you guys to get senseless tickets.