View Full Version : "How-To" Professionally paint tail lights (red)???


tcm_xB
10-28-2004, 01:08 PM
My brother has been taking auto body and paint in school. Painted his car (first ever) 3 weeks ago flawlessly. He's volunteered to paint my xB tails red and put a nice clear coat on afterwards. How is this done professionally? I know about the transparent candy apple red paint for model cars by Testors. What about wet sanding? Basically looking for the steps to get nice and bright red tails minus the reverse light. There's a member here who had a shop paint his that look bad-a$$.

Thanks for any tips on this :!:

2tone_xB
10-28-2004, 03:48 PM
Not sure but good luck. Probably get overlays but I wish mine were painted...

SmartAss
10-28-2004, 10:49 PM
Remove taillights

Tape off lower area your not spraying.

Wet sand with fine sos pad or 500 gritt.

Re-tape lower area

Prep upper area with Prepsol

Spray about 2 coats

Let dry

Untape bottom area

Clear 2 coats

Wet sand or (buff if not fully dry) if your not happy and reclear to make it smoother

Something like that. Pretty much

MaximuS
11-04-2004, 12:26 AM
I did my self and you have to use automotive two part clear coat paint.
I used krylon's red stained glass paint I bought at a crafts store. If you leave that paint uncoated, it will get dull and start to fade rather quickly. So clean the tail lights with denatured alcohol or acetone. The spray the krylon paint in one heavy coat until it looks nice and shiny. let it dry on a clean place over night. The use two part clear coat and a spray gun and just clear coat it. One to two coats work.
I did it three months ago and they still look like the day I did it.