I followed this guide yesterday https://www.f150online.com/forums/ar...hts.html...the lights came out really good, although I noticed there are a few small imperfections, like little dots/circles in the paint in a few spots...I am trying to find an autobody shop that will clear coat them for me for cheap...question is, should I resand the spots down where those little circles are, or should I just have them clearcoated already?

 

Get some 2000 grit wet sanding paper, use a little car wash soap/dish detergent soap in a bucket of warm water for lubricant, and gently smooth out the circles and bumps with the wet sanding. only sand when the lens is soapy, and only use one direction, no crisscross, if your go east to west, keep it that way, same for north to south. After a few passes, the orange peel dots and circles should diminish and your finish should not be badly scratched. Use some swirl correction and some polish and you will have a nice finish, then clear coat asap with either Dupli Color Acrylic Enamel, or have the shop do it.

 

Thanks a lot...should i sand the entire light with 2000 grit or just the spots with the circles??

 

Stay in the main area of your problem areas, but go over the whole thing very lightly just to smooth it out. In some cases wetsanding can remove fresh VHT if its only a couple days old, but not completely.

 

Ok last question...power sand with a power sander or hand sand it with just a sandpaper block??
Oh and btw...just called a few body shops and they said to just clearcoat it myself...said there clearcoat may or may not react well...

 

Just wet sand it by hand and spray it with some duplicolor clear. Power sander would probably take it down too quickly and put you back to step one all over again before you know it. Good luck.

 

and by hand....use what Darren recommended and dont go in circles...go straight across the lense from one side to the other

 

Here....this might help you out as well.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/ap...ne-56k-no.html

 

just sanded out almost all of the orange peel dot things with 2000 grit sand paper and put one more light coat of nightshade on...after that dries I will put on multiple layers of clear coat...

 

putting the clear coat on...it looks really nice...but man did they come out darker than I thought....I will save up and get one of those LED strings for under the tail gate

 

new post

 

Same thing I did. Clear tends to make them darker. BTW, welcome to the site, you'll learn a lot on here.

 

yea...hey could you look at the new thread i made...have one more question..i need quick replies so i can get this job done...

 

got it all done...it looks sick...i will post pics later

 

Looking forward to it. Did you get alot of orange peel from the clear coat? Any wetsanding needed for them?

As for clear coat making them look darker, to the basic eye yes, but the reality of it is the clear coat just reflects better and the darkness under neath can look bolder than it is. Cleans up alot of the haze from fresh VHT too. I have a practice tail lamp and have been fooling around with it with different clear coat types.