Tinted my taillights with niteshades and took pictures of the process. I originally did my mustang tails with Niteshades and hated the end result as they had tons of orange peel and were very flat black vs glossy. This time I made sure to do them right and take my time. Spent 2 days but they came out great

Here is the before and after pictures:




Here is what I used:

1 can Niteshades, 1 can Duplicolor Acrylic Enamel HIGH GLOSS clear coat, 3M Rubbing Comound, 3M 600, 1000, 2000 grit wet dry sandpaper, Meguiars Plast X, Meguiars Deep Crystal Polish

Start out by masking off areas you dont want tinted. I decided to mask off the backup lights as I want them to produce more light when backing up. I used masking tape and electrical tape as the masking tape tends to come off when wetsanding. Next mix dish soap and water and use the 600 grit sandpaper and wet sand the surface.
Tails looked like this after sanding:



Wiped off with terry towel and applied 1 coat of niteshades:


Allowed 30 min to dry and then wetsanded with 1000 grit. Go very slowly when sanding and let the paper do the work. Then applied 2nd coat:

 

Wetsand 1000 grit and applied 3rd coat:


At this point I removed the tape very carefully after letting them dry for 30 min. I wanted to tint the backup light area but not that dark. I applied 1 final coat to entire lens after wetsanding the painted and non painted areas:

(sanded)

(final niteshades coat (#4))


Now onto the clear coat. Applied 2 thick coats, as much as possible without letting it run. Let it dry for 30 minutes between coats and then wetsanded with 1000 grit after the first coat. I let the 2nd coat dry overnight with NO sanding (approx. 12 hours)



And dry in the morning:



Then wetsanded clear coat with 1000 grit until no more orange peel:


Buffing/Polishing:
I used an orbital buffer to save time and make it a LOT easier. I applied 4 coats of 3M Rubbing Compound and let 5 minutes to dry between coats. Then remove with Terry Towel and reapply:



Then applied 3 coats of PlastX:

 

And finally 2 coats of Deep Crystal Polish:




And some more final pictures on the truck. You can see I also added a Line Of Fire to my tailgate just for added braking protection. Also note that I did not go extremely dark as I wanted the reflectors to still be visible and the brake lights to be visible. These are still legal as the reflectors are visible and brake lights can easily seen from 500 ft away which is state law for my area. I would not recommend going extremely dark over the brake lights as it does cut down on the visibility of the brakes during daytime driving.







Parking Lights on:




I will apply a coat of wax once they have set for a few weeks to complete the process

 

looks good!! very nice write up!

 

Looks really good, your hard work paid off.

 

Awesome job!!

 

Very good write up. Deserves to be a sticky in the How To section. Looks like they were professionally done at a paint shop. I will be bookmarking this and keeping your thread in mind when I get to doing my own tail lamp project.

 

I'm impressed! i though mine came out good... yours came out much better!! i will be re-doing mine now with your method..
good write up

 

Nice! - Og

 

looks great. very clean looking!

 

yes YES!, it actually looks like a factory light.

I would have them like this!

 

nicely done I think it is just the right level of tint

 

looks great, your hard work paid off!

 

Wow! Excellent work!

 

thanks guys, I am currently doing my 3rd brake light with the rest of the Niteshades. I should also state that temperature in which you are painting plays a factor. I would not recommend doing your lights unless the temp is around 70 or higher. The paint and clear does not dry properly and leavs lots of orange peel.

Also make sure to go the same direction when sanding, do not use circles and use very light pressure, if you push hard you are just going to strip paint. And dont be leniant on the water...I dunked the sandpaper about every 5-10 seconds to make sure it was always wet. Make sure to shake the VHT Niteshades and Clear Coat cans for at least 90 seconds before applying.

Good luck and hopefully we will see some stock looking tails vs matt black