KRPTONT

Does and forum members know of anybody that will paint my rear tail lights for me. I don't trust myself to do it. I don't want them super dark just semi dark. Any ideas would be great. Have the covers now. Hate them. Thanks in advance.

K9KUZ

Please don't do it. And if you do, watch out for those "X" plates. The fine was $95, I know, now it's $125 or more.

KRPTONT

Ttt

b4i4getit

I don't understand what you are doing. The purpose of brake lights are to light up. If you paint the covers they will not. Is that what you want ?

petermj

He is talking about TRANSLUSIVE coating that darkens the surface but still lets the light through.

mcandrew67

I had mine painted when I had my car painted, they did 50% paint and 50% clear. It has a nice dark look to it, but when the lights are on you could never tell they were painted. Best of both worlds.

petermj

Check your local traffic laws, chances are very good it is illegal. If you really want to do it, you can find someone around you who tints the lights using translusive coating. I would not use nightshade spray because it will never equal the quality of tinted clear and cannot be buffed out to high polish.

If you want to minimize the chances of getting a ticket, I would have the painter leave the center unpainted to expose the red reflective area and just tint around it, this reflective spot is mandatory everywhere. If you do not care, have the whole light tinted.

The alternative is to get some tinted covers that are removable if you ever get pulled over, beats buying new set of lights.

azvetters

[Does and forum members know of anybody that will paint my rear tail lights for me]

I HAD Jhonathan "JW@JWMororing.com" paint mine
he did a great job, I just wanted to match my rear Led
3rd brake lights. he did 2 or 3 coat's,just what I wanted...

kedar

in Illinois the tail lights must shine red from a distance of 500 feet... this does not necessarily mean that the lights have to be red.

there are plenty of cars on the road that do not have red tail lights: Prius, Eclipse, some Subaru models and the Aventador come to mind.

WAwatchnut

Hmmm.... Pretty standard way of using VHT Nightshades spray is to tint the lens, and then paint clear over it. The clear coat can be buffed out to a high polish. It looks pretty darn good when done correctly.

Licit

Those look really good with a great shine to them.

Kadorja

You can wet sand and polish VHT nightshades pretty easily. There's a youtube video where a guy does both his tail lights with it. Takes some work but it's actually pretty forgiving. Just go with multiple light coats.

If you plan on going fairly dark with the whole tail light I would just upgrade to an LED system and spray it pretty dark. You can go pretty light and it still looks dark from a short distance.

wysiwyg

Check with your the corvette club in your area for a recommendation on a local body shop. I used a local body shop, recommended by a local corvette club member, to paint my tail lights.

They came out great - they look like mcandrew67's.
When the lights are on, you cannot tell they've been tinted.

ddanis60

i am also not happy with the covers. was thinking of using vht like i did with the side markers. and i had no problem getting a high shine. especially if you clear them after.

and also.. painting them would not ruin them. you should only be sanding them with 1500 to dull them and prep before paint. at this grit, if you removed the paint or nightshades at a later time with thinner, you could easily spray one or two coats of clear over the sanded red and i bet the taillights would shine better than the day you brought it home.

in for more replies

petermj

That sounds pretty counterproductive, adding black to clear would be a better way since you can apply multiple coats to deepen the shade vs. your way and getting just one shot. It is my understanding that there is no need for clearcoat on top of VHT spray, seems to defeat the purpose, not to mention extra time involved.

petermj

You will never get the depth you get with tinted clearcoat when using nightshade. Do as you please but I have tried both and would never bother with VHT stuff again. Keep in mind that nobody who tints the lights professionally uses VHT, that should give you and others a good clue.

petermj

Here, you cannot do this with VHT spray can. My old car, all the lights were black, matching the car. I decided to take a different route lately and will match the color of lights to the color of the cars I have which happened to be now silver and yellow. Black is fine on black but not on other colors, at least for me.

WAwatchnut

You don't get one shot. You tint it to the shade you want, and then add clear as the final step. One coat of VHT not enough? Put another coat on. When you get it to the shade you want, clear coat and polish.

Clear coat isn't necessary for VHT, but since you were complaining about the finish, and not being able to polish it, here's the solution.

And it's not counter productive. Each step has it's purpose. If you want to do it yourself instead of paying someone else to do it, VHT is a very good option. $12 in materials and you get the satisfaction of a DIY job that looks great.

Not sure what purpose it defeats? The VHT is for tinting, the clear is for finish and protection. You get the tint and the shine. Don't knock it since you obviously haven't tried it. There are other people with valid and viable opinions and methods too.

narfdanarf

+1

child_of_fire

dont get covers. unless you like attaching things to your nice ride with duck tape.

but if you want a professional to do the work, this guy does great work and comes highly recommended:

http://jonstintedtails.com/

his name is jon and you can tell him dave recommended him. he's done two or three of my cars. paints and clear coats as light or as dark as you want with quick turn-around time.