So I decided to buy a can of VHT Niteshades and practice on my Third Brake Light to see how good it would come out before I try and do my tail lights. I really like how dark it came out, but its not very Shiny or smooth. I put on 3 coats of Niteshades, then wet sanded with 2000 grit, the put 3 coats of Clear and wet sanded between each coat because every time I put a new coat of clear, it would have the orange peel look.

Here are some crappy pics so you can see what I mean





I went out and bought some Turtle Wax polishing compound but it didn't do anything. Should I give it another wet sand with 2000 grit then polish without giving it another coat of clear?

Any ideas?

 

Hm, sorry the lights didn't turn out like you wanted. I was thinking about getting NiteShades for my tails for a while, now. I'll reconsider that choice, now!

What other products are there for tinting the lights? Anyone have any strong recommendations?

 

Well I was set on getting my tail lights done by www.jonstintedtails.com but Thought I would see how the Niteshades worked out

Hopefully someone can help me out, I dont feel like buying another set of tails while I send mine to JTT's, lol

 

thin out each coat, ur spraying too much vht or clear coat or both.

 

When I did thin coats of the clear it wasn't shiny At all, so I took another SL'er advice and sprayed a little closer. It made it more reflective, but gives it an orange peel look

im out of ideas

 

did u leave yur car outside? u should let it dry in the garage because the moisture in the air will make it not clear...

 

boy your a real butcher...

Ok to begin with. If you plan on using spray can gloss or clear it wont look good if you try to wet sand. If you have to wet sand it. Put the 3 coats of clear then wet sand. not clear, wet sand, clear wet sand, clear. It just wont work out rite. Itl look orange peal because its wet, once it dries itl simmer down a bit.

That if you want to go that way. If you want it to look good you will have to pay a little more money and take it to a shop n have them spray REAL CLEAR COATING. Then itl work out well. But no spray can will be as shiny and glossy as car finish.

If you want to give it another go. Order a new overlay. Put it on. Ask a body shop to spray it with clear when they have a little left over off another paint job. They shouldn't charge u more than a few bucks. just for paper to cover the tailgate of the car a little.

 

Thanks for the advice

When you say order a new overlay, do you mean order a new Third brake light? Or do you think I put an overlay on?

 

I think it's the film-y overlay. It's like tint on the taillight.

 

wet sand that one more time, buy 2 cans of acrylic laquer clear coat, spray that ____ till you see a wet ___ reflection, do that about 3 times and u will be good =)

dont spray to much or the wet ___ reflection will turn toa drip! so be careful!

 

what i did for my tails was a bunch of thin coats of VHT untill i was happy with the result...very easy wetsand at the end of VHT ...then i sprayed 2 layers of clear...Wetsanded, then hit it up with about 2 or 3 layers of heavy clear....i got a very smooth perfect gloss

 

Well thanks for the help everyone

Im going to give it one final wet sand then hit it up with some more clear

Has anyone had experience with polishing them with a compound?

 

So I finally got it looking good

So I wet sanded with 2000 grit, and used the Turtle Wax Polishing compound, it left the light Super reflective, but left tons of small scratches.

So i then wet sanded it again but instead used Maguires scratch x to polish the tail light. It worked Perfect. It left the light Super Shiny, but without all the little scratches.

My camera phone doesn't really show how much of a difference it was before and after. Here are new pics anyway





I'm really happy with it, but I found a local guy who will tint my tail lights for 50 bucks. Which is about how much it will cost for 2 cans of Tint and 2 cans of clear anyway. So might as well get it done right

Thanks for the help everyone. I hope this helps others out