How long does it take to tint the tails and third brake light including sanding (multiple times), tinting, and clearcoating? I’m not sure how many coats I’m going to put on yet, but probably 2 or 3.

Also, how dark do you think I could go and still see my blinkers flashing. I can't use imageshack here at work, but a pic of my tails are in my profile.

 

It'll take you a couple hours depending on how thick you put it on. You could tint them black and you could still see the blinkers. Check my profile to see how dark my TYC's were. You could still see the blinker fine but I got busted because you couldn't see the reflector.

 

We have two sets to do at the same time and about 4 hours of sunlight to do everything.....would that be pushing it?

 

Start to finish? Maybe depends on how you spray. How hot it is. You have to remember that each cost has to dry a certain amount plus if you're going to color sand and buff it's going to take longer. You might as well wait until you have a full day to do it. It is going to turn out 10x better if you wait than. It will if you rush it.

 

Thanks alot, man. We'll wait.

 

Definitely a good idea! Make sure you have all your materials before you start that way you don't have to make any trips to the parts store.

 

The quicker you try to do it, the worse they will come out. Do one set on one weekend. Spray one day, wetsand and polish the next day. Don't try to fit this sort of job into a time frame.

 

a buffer is pretty much necessary for doing this properly right?

 

yeah. check out my DIY, i did mine in 7 hours cause my clear coat dries very very quickly. ship them to me and i'll do them

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=227924

 

yeah, we're waiting until next weekend now. I already have everything we need....except time and clear weather lol.

 

ha yeah i hear ya, those are 2 very important things

 

Quick question....before I do this, do I need to wetsand in between coats of tint, or do I just remove, wetsand, clean, light coat, then thicker coats, then clear coat, wetsand, and wax??

 

thats it, no need to wetsand each coat, since its real thin and only one coat, you may just wetsand right through it and remove the coat.
1) remove light
2)clean light
3)light coat
4) heavy coats until desired darkness
5)wetsand until smooth and dull
6)light coat of clear
7)heavy coats of clear until very very glossy
after drying, wetsand until smooth and dull again
9)buff

in a nutshell hahaha

heres my DIY with pics

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...r=asc&&start=0

 

the clear i use dries in about 3 hours, so i was able to do mine in one day, about 7 hours actually with lots of breaks. Using another clear such as Duplicolor, let them dry overnight and wetsand and buff in the morning

 

What did you use to clean the lights with before you started?

 

a window cleaner i think actually lol, just an all purpose cleaner will be fine

 

1. Remove tails
2. Clean tails/tape off any parts that you don't want painted.
3. Scuff up tails with a 3M grey scuff pad (will look dull, get rid of the shine)
4. Spray light coats and allow to dry. Keep applying light coats until you get the desired darkness you want.
5. Apply clear coat. 2 light coats. Dry. Followed by 2 or 3 medium/heavy wet coats.
6. Allow clear coat plenty of time to dry.
7. Lightly wet sand with 2000 or 2500 grit until the tails are smooth and dull.
8. Use a ROTARY BUFFER to buff out the tail lights. Goodluck buffing them out by hand or with an orbital buffer.






BSP tails:







Used to take a day and half, then 7 hours, now it takes about 4-5 hours. The clear coat I use has a hardener in it that dries and is ready to buff in 1.5 hours.

 

I'd still like to see how much light passes thru. If it actually hinders visibility as much as it looks, then this mod is a complete and total failure. Sure it looks good, but keep it off the ____ing road.

 

it does take away some visibility in say direct sunlight but not so much that you can notice it. at night its looks like anyother car and even in the shade,

but jut like normal lights, the light cant be seen in certain glare angles where the sun is like blinding

 

Okay, because from the pictures, it looks like it is too thick for any light to shine thru, lol.