So I decided to tint my own tail lights....

[born2drv]

Didn't work out as well as I hoped

What I first did was hit it with 400 grit on a sandblock to get rid of the numbers/characters on the reflectors (I hate it when those stick out in tinted windows).

Then I proceeded to sand down the rest of the lens with 800, 1000, 1500. It got butter smooth to the touch but there were still visible scratches unfortunately. I decided to tint one anyways and this was the result.....

Big pic:
http://www.born2drv.com/gallery/other/IMG_3684?full=1

Big Pic:
http://www.born2drv.com/gallery/other/IMG_3683?full=1

It's hard to see in the photos, but in person, it's really scratched to hell and looks hazy, so very dissapointing. I used that DHT tail light tint stuff. Anyhow so ya, if you're thinking about doing it, either get them buffed professionally before tinting.... (like I'll be doing saturday) ... or don't bother trying to sand it down yourself by hand.

I'll post the pics when its done on sunday or so of what it looks like when professionally done :bigthumb:

 

[westonboege]

if you get a buffing wheel and some compound you could prob do it yourself with a good drill... I used to detail cars and buffed a few... not hard to do...

 

[MKIIINA]

its going to look rough until you sand it some again with the tint on there. like weston said you need a good buffer and a good polishing compound

 

[MassSupra89]

sand again, repaint with Testors model tint spray, and use a coating. Will look shiny and smooth.

 

[born2drv]

the tint is smooth, but it shows the scratches right through. ... the guy i showed it to said he could do it professionally on his table buffer for $40-50 so i figure i'd just let him do it.

 

[NDBoost]

word of advice, next time dont sand.

Your not supposed to sand when tinting

sand again, repaint with Testors model tint spray, and use a coating. Will look shiny and smooth.

do what he said, use testors and some clear coat..

 

[Yellow 13]

Nice liscence plate

 

[1TuffSupra]

Man, it looks both scratched and hazy in the pics too. Yeah dude I wouldnt have sanded them by hand before you sprayed the tint on them, just cleaned it up really good. When you tint, the condition of the surface will always show through. Have you tried wet sanding it?

But I think I will definitely use some of that before I attempt switching out my tails for some 89+ ones. And definitely show some pics of what it looks like once you get them fixed please!!! :icon_bigg

 

[daledoe]

Take some pics with the brake lights on... Then I'll make my mind up if I like it or not!!!!

 

[ToyoHabu]

I do like the look, how well does the lights shine through? I dont like the uneven light distribution of bulbs. I have pondered makeing LED panels that would replace the lights not just the LED replacement bulbs, but make a panel full of leds that would fill the entire tail light.

 

[born2drv]

I've had this car for 11 yrs... about 8 yrs ago I tinted it medium (say 50%) and now it's faded to about 20-30%... but I never sanded them at the time, I Just cleaned and sprayed. It looked OK (alot better then now....) but it wasn't super smooth and glossy.

So I wanted to redo it this time darker (say 70%?) .... but even at 50% like before it shined through very well, that's why I'm not worried about going darker, and if it does have problems I'll just swap out the bulbs for a LED type replacement like I did the gauge clusters.

Anyhow I'll take pics when I'm all done!

 

[Supraflymk3]

anytime you're going to do any painting or tinting of plastic all you have to do is just get some plastic cleaner and a piece of scotch pad and just scuff it up. Scuffing it give the paint/tint enough bite to stay on. Then if you spray the tint it should turn out nice. Then to make it look nicer spray some acrylic clear coat over it. That way it will be protected and you can wax it with the rest of your car, and it'll give it a deeper glossier look.