I tinted my tial lights the i-KONA way! Lota pics! 56K :-|
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From: South Chicago
I tinted my tial lights the i-KONA way! Lota pics! 56K :-|
The pictures are real crappy because its off of a cell cam. SO its all out of color. My cars color isn't maroon its copper. Like I said cam phone
After seeing all the tinted tail lights it made me want to go dark myself. I always thought the tail lights were too bright anyways so here they are!
I did it a little differently though and I'll do a walk through for anybody who wants.
1. Remove the tail lights
2. I prepped the surface by scuffing it with a scuff pad meant for color. If you will be using 3M scuff pads don't use gold its too light, don't use red or brown thats too coarse. Gray is perfect. Much faster than wet sanding.
This is what it should look like when your done. All hazed up and fuzzy. No shine.
3. Clean the surface with some sort of paint prep degrease such as this stuff.
4. Grab your tint (I used this because It was cheaper than mixing it myself and just easier)
Then add on a simple mist coat. You dont want to put it on too thick because itl sepperate and wont bond.
Wait until its dry enough where if you touch it, it wont smudge. Between each coat wipe it with a tac cloth to remove any dust that settled on the top.
Repeat this until you get the desired darkness you want.
This is where I stopped because its the perfect darkness.
Even though most paints have clear mixed in it, its a pretty crappy clear and just looks plain bad. This belongs on a 92 accord so the next step is clear! Not only that the clear will give it a deeper ritcher color. Not to mention an exceptional gloss.
I had a few more things to clear so it was a good time.
Even though clear is expensive you always want to mix 20% more then what you need so your never short. If your on a final coat of clear (called the flow coat) you want to have enough. IF you run up short and have to mix more you'll see where the beginning of the flow coat gelled up and settled on the panel. You'll tell because itl be a hazy separation between that and the new coat which equals more wet sanding work at the end.
Make sure you wipe your product with a tack cloth. Especially before a clear coat!
Add on one or two mist coats which will make it look like this.
Then put on the final coat (flow coat) which is a thick even coat going through the whole product.
That will look like this.
Let it dry for at least 8 - 10 hrs or shorter. It depends on the clear coat you use.
I had to make a funny face :D
The next step is wet sanding and buffing them because their not as polished as I'd like them to be. Not only that we all know a clear coat adds orange peel so it needs to be sanded :D. More pics later...
After seeing all the tinted tail lights it made me want to go dark myself. I always thought the tail lights were too bright anyways so here they are!
I did it a little differently though and I'll do a walk through for anybody who wants.
1. Remove the tail lights
2. I prepped the surface by scuffing it with a scuff pad meant for color. If you will be using 3M scuff pads don't use gold its too light, don't use red or brown thats too coarse. Gray is perfect. Much faster than wet sanding.
This is what it should look like when your done. All hazed up and fuzzy. No shine.
3. Clean the surface with some sort of paint prep degrease such as this stuff.
4. Grab your tint (I used this because It was cheaper than mixing it myself and just easier)
Then add on a simple mist coat. You dont want to put it on too thick because itl sepperate and wont bond.
Wait until its dry enough where if you touch it, it wont smudge. Between each coat wipe it with a tac cloth to remove any dust that settled on the top.
Repeat this until you get the desired darkness you want.
This is where I stopped because its the perfect darkness.
Even though most paints have clear mixed in it, its a pretty crappy clear and just looks plain bad. This belongs on a 92 accord so the next step is clear! Not only that the clear will give it a deeper ritcher color. Not to mention an exceptional gloss.
I had a few more things to clear so it was a good time.
Even though clear is expensive you always want to mix 20% more then what you need so your never short. If your on a final coat of clear (called the flow coat) you want to have enough. IF you run up short and have to mix more you'll see where the beginning of the flow coat gelled up and settled on the panel. You'll tell because itl be a hazy separation between that and the new coat which equals more wet sanding work at the end.
Make sure you wipe your product with a tack cloth. Especially before a clear coat!
Add on one or two mist coats which will make it look like this.
Then put on the final coat (flow coat) which is a thick even coat going through the whole product.
That will look like this.
Let it dry for at least 8 - 10 hrs or shorter. It depends on the clear coat you use.
I had to make a funny face :D
The next step is wet sanding and buffing them because their not as polished as I'd like them to be. Not only that we all know a clear coat adds orange peel so it needs to be sanded :D. More pics later...
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,741
From: South Chicago
Originally Posted by FLEA
IKONA why'd you use Transtar? I used that stuff before and to me it smells like ranch dressing gone bad. It also isn't UV protectant.
Ive been using this for as long as Ive been doing paint work and this stuff is great for its price. The lowest automotive clear I would ever use would be true finish 2K urethane clear coat. That stuff is like 70 bucks a gallon but surprisingly works real real well. I never herd of this stuff going bad.
For good jobs and most customer work this is what I use.
http://www.levineautoparts.com/didcctrcl1ga.html
I used RM to clear my whole car and used transtar to repair my hood and trunk. To me its the same finish. One is just pricier. If your car is an every day sitting in the parking lot while you work, parked outside during all weather, road running car Id say go with Dupont or RM because itl last longer. If your car is a sit in garage usually type of car anything will be fine as long as its not some cheap... jimmy discount paint co. junk. (thats not a real company haha)
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