CREDITS: These instructions were written by Genesis. Thanks much! If anyone has some photos they can send to match up to this FAQ it would be greatly appreciated.

DISCLAIMER: Scionlife.com does not take any responsibility in what you do to your car. This FAQ could be filled with incorrect information. You could be voiding your warranty if not installed by a certified mechanic or dealership. It is quite possible that you can totally mess up your car by using this as a guide to install your springs. This can result in serious bodily injury, death, dismemberment, sexually transmitted diseases and so forth to you and anybody else in case of an accident resulting from failure to take safety precautions and/or following the instructions in this write-up.

SUPPLIES
> Testors Transparent Candy Apple red spray paint, part 1605. (Available at most hobby stores)
> Testors Clear Coat spray paint, part 1261.
> Packet of 1000 grit wet/sand paper (You can find this at any Auto store)
> Packet of 1500 grit wet/sand paper
> Packet of 2000 grit wet/sand paper
> Packet of 3000 grit wet/sand paper (optional)
> Roll of masking tape
> Mirror glazing wax
> 1 bottle of rubbing alcohol to clean any unwanted mess.

1) Remove lamps. Inside the trunk of the xb behind the lamps is an access panel, Remove panel and unplug wire leading to lamps. There's only one plug. Don't break anything while you're in there! There are two 10mm nuts. Remove nuts w/ small 10mm wrench. DOH!! Now slowly finesse the lamp from the car. WALLA! Now do the other side.

2) Masking. Mask the reverse and the Lamp housing and anything you don't want red. If you want everything red then don't mask anything.

3) Painting, Part 1. Wear a mask, and cover all the area around the lamps you don't want paint on. And remember to spray in a well ventilated area or else you'll start to forget what you're painting. So don't paint in your living room, or your kitchen. If you never done this before practice on something first. The idea is never stop in the middle of spraying! It's not like spraying black flag on a cockroach until it dies! Always spray from side to side and about two to three inches away. If you don't cover the whole area with paint on one stroke its ok to pass over two more times. NOW STOP PAINTING. Wait till it dries usually 30min. You can take a 1000 grit sandpaper and lightly sand off any dust or crap that has flown on top of it. Spray 2- 3 more coats repeating step three. Wait till paint dries and go to
step 4.

4) Remove masking tape, except around the housing. Re-mask if needed.

5) Painting part 2, clear coat. Follow the step 3 but with the clear coat. Three to four coats are good.

6) Sanding. Start w/ 1000 grit removing the orange peel (tiny dips in the paint) and any imperfections etc. Don't sand too hard or all your painting will go to waste. When lamps are smooth, sand with 1500 and then finally 2000. Your lamps should not look smooth at this point but feels pretty darn smooth!

7) Waxing. Apply wax on one lamp and then apply wax on the other and wait then buff, apply wax again and wait and buff, again, again, again, until you get the glossy result you want.

and now reinstall, in reverse order in step one.

 

i did the 4 coats with sanding in between,

im letting it dry well overnight before i spray the clear, they look VERY FLAT RED with no shine at all right now........my clear says its "flat clear" should i buy som egloss clear? buffing these out afterwards should bring out the shine right????

 

nope, you a$$ed out!!, should have used the red tint film it is oem looking...what a shame...

 

You might want to try wet sanding... Anything above 1000 grit will get you closer to a shine. Apply some layers of clear coat, re-wet-sand, then you should get better results...then wax.

There is someone on the forums that sells clear red vinyl for the tail lamps. They look great when finished, but it's sometimes a pain in the bum when applying to the tail lamps...

 

Bump!

Let's see some pics!!

I heard Testor's clear sucks a$$ for automotive use. Ypu should use automotive clear from what I've been told

 

if your making them red why is the post called red out?

 

i believe the sandind between coats is what will make them somewhat flat looking. well that and a flat clear.

 

Anyone know if there is a section for smoking the lights rather than red?

 

just use Testors Transparent Black/Smoke paint if you're doing it at home w/o access to a spray gun and/or professional paint. same steps just using smoke. if you want both smoke and red you'll have to do the red first. let it dry completely, do all the necessary wet sanding then repaint again. i'd probably use thinner red coats if you're planning to go over with the smoke.

 

Can Nightshades be substituted for the Testors black here?

 

If you don't want to deal with the clearcoating and sanding, you can just take the tail light apart and paint it from the inside. It worked really well for me.

 

Max, is it easy to dissasemble the taillamps? Any probs sealing them again? I like how the smoked part looks in your pic, I think I'm gonna do that to the whole taillamp.

 

I was putting in a sunroof, which door do I cut the hole in ?

 

It's actually pretty easy. All you have to do is heat them up a bit.

 

do you think it would work good if i took some window tint from like walmart and put it on my tails? has anyone done it?

it seems logical, but i dont know if its been done

 

^it would probably be crap. If you want the smoked effect go with VHT niteshades. they are the cleanest way to smoke and allow you infinite design possibilites. Let me know if your interested cuz I can do them for ya..

 

no pics?

 

Anyone have pics of red out and smoked? I was thinking about doing red on the brake, smoke the turn signal, red the spot that has the red reflector, and smoke the reverse. Anyone done or seen this? I would love to see pics!

 

I have a vinyl version of that .

Bat™

 

this post could really use some pics.