gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 HEY this weekend i did a small project that i thought i would share with the forum i tinted my tail lights, front corner and side repeater lenses too... A picture of before and after... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 ok these are the products i used... from left to right; -masking tape, 6mm and 48mm -tinted clear binder (5% black) -hardener, for the clearcoat -autothane omni clear -ppg first choice plastic adhesion promoter -small spray gun in the background in the larger containers; -thinners, for mixing the paint products and cleaning the gun -wax and grease remover, for cleaning the substrates before painting Some of these products can b swapped out for more 'consumer based' products -tinted clear binder can b swapped for a product u can buy from almost any hobby shop, its RC car paint and the colour u want to get is called 'smoke' by tamiya. -the clearcoat can b swapped out by pretty much any aerosol clearcoat available from hardware stores. -masking tape, thinners, and wax and grease remover cant really b swapped out but r readily available at hardware stores. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 First u wana take the corner lamps and side repeaters out and off the car and set them up on a bench or tressle of some sort. Give them a lil clean with some warm soapy water before u start working on them, its not important but just good practice thats all Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 Next up, use the red scotch brite pad (that i forgot to mention before), and scuff them up nice and dull like in this picture... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 Next up, use the red scotch brite pad (that i forgot to mention before), and scuff them up nice and dull like in this picture... dont freak out they are supposed to go frosty Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 After u have finished 'scotchying' them up give them a blow off and a wipe with some of the wax and grease remover to make sure they r clean... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 After u have done that move on to the rear tail lights, i chose to leave them on the car to do this, but obviously u more than welcome to take them off the car to do them. Mask around the lights onto the body work before u start working on them to prevent u from scratching the paint unnecessarily. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 Once the lights have been masked off, scuff them up just the same way u did the indicator lenses previously until they look nicely frosted and dull. And have the same finish as the corner and side repeaters. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 (edited) now, mask off along the inside of the bootlid to stop any overspray from gettin anywhere but on the lenses... in this case i used plastic, but newspaper will work just fine. Edited June 13, 2011 by imolaM3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 Close the bootlid carefully making sure all plastic or newspaper is tucked inside the jamb and not in the way of where u will need to b spraying... Once that is done, mask off the rest of the car...in this case again i used plastic, but feel free to use newspaper up to the top of the rear windscreen then just a sheer or something over the rest of the car Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 now for the fun part spraying the lenses.... the first product used is really important as it allows the paint to stick to the plastic properly plastic adhesion promoter, dont worry and skip this step if using tamiya 'smoke' aerosol can. The RC paint is designed to bond to plastic. Put one light coat over all the lenses goin to b painted... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 next product is the colour itself, i had this colour made up at an automotive paint shop. It is just a clear binder mixed wit 5% black in it, i think its important to have the colour this way instead of just plain black cos u can keep putting light coats on until u get the desired level of tint u want on ur lenses. u can see on the lid, how weak the black is. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 wen u do the first coat it wont look like much, but wen u start to get to the 2nd and 3rd coats u will start to see the tinting happening... U can see on here i masked out 3 lines on the lense, i did this as purely cosmetic, there 3 lines in the lense itself so didnt just freestyle it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 this is the tail lights, with about 4 coats of paint on it, and just how i want them to look... i masked out the reflector lens on the tail lights, besides being legal it looks waay better with some red left in the light in stead of the whole thing just plain black... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 wen u r satisfied with how much tint u hav on ur lights u can go ahead and clear them. i used a 2 pak clearcoat for this just becos wen it cures its pretty hard to damage the clearcoat... 1 1/2 - 2 coats will b ample on these not too heavy or it will run Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 the finished product rear and front... if u have any questions about how to do this dont hesitate to ask me im glad to help where i can hope u enjoyed this thread, and i will post some more pics and thread of small DIY weekend projects. peace grant Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrphTa 5 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 Looks good. I was unsure about masking the strips into the rear lights but it came out well. Why do you leave the rear ones in? would have been easier to take them out rather than masking ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M5V8 337 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 looks really good. but will it pass a WOF without a "friendly" inspector? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mattzy 0 Report post Posted June 13, 2011 Looks good. I was unsure about masking the strips into the rear lights but it came out well. Why do you leave the rear ones in? would have been easier to take them out rather than masking ? Agree'd - Masking is boring, just pull the lights out. AFIK its 3 bolts each light. Done, now spray and walk away... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tristan 338 Report post Posted June 14, 2011 Looks very good. Nice job. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
byza213 1 Report post Posted June 14, 2011 (edited) granty you moving quick huh ? already track days haha looking goood! i really do want one!! Edited June 14, 2011 by e34play Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bimmer boy 21 Report post Posted June 14, 2011 Looks quite good mate. Good to see someone is putting in all the prep work to make the results flawless, too many people skimp on prep, even sometimes I do.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
antil33t 90 Report post Posted June 14, 2011 I like it! Bet the camera ruins them a little? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gpetersen 0 Report post Posted June 14, 2011 hahahaha yea i probly shudv just taken them out i know, but oh well its done now yeah the camera doesnt do much justice for them cos went he flash goes it lights up the 3 reflector strips i masked out, but looks pretty dope just in the day light -byza, come cuz its dope thanks for the comments guys, look out for some more weekend projects....next up on here is wheels, black out side grills and front kidney grills, then hopefully some audio peace Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bwh1 0 Report post Posted July 24, 2011 HEY this weekend i did a small project that i thought i would share with the forum i tinted my tail lights, front corner and side repeater lenses too... A picture of before and after... Looks great :-) I really appreciate the effort you've gone to in depth to share to, well done Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
