Painting Tail Lights

DFG 5OH · Apr 4, 2005

I made a thread about this a while ago, but it got lost. Today i took some mothers and polished the tail light lenses on my tail lights, and now the faded green shows up even more. What do i need to do to get my tail lights painted black. What type of paint, and prep work is involved? I'd like to do it tomrrow, and i'll be sure and post before and after pics.

Thanks,
Matt

94_Teal_GT · Apr 4, 2005

Since I just did this....I'll help a bit. I wet sanded the tail lights first with 1000 and 2000 grit paper(I did a stupid thing awhile back and clearcoated the whole assembly ) It looked nice at first but quickly turned to crap.

I still recommend wet sanding them. Next is to clean them(so say laquer thinner or something like that, I used Simple Green) so there aren't any of you handprints anywhere on them. Tape the lens part. Take your time and trim the tape very carefully.
As far as paint, I used Krylon Fusion Satin Black. I must say it worked great and there were issues with adhesion at all! I didn't do the best job taping mine so there was some color showing through. For this, I sprayed some Fusion on a newspaper and used a small brush to touch them up. After a few days, I noticed that there were still very fine scratches in the red so I polished that area with Maas polish. That stuff is great and will polish about anything $3.52 per tube at Wallyworld.

stprorolla49 · Apr 4, 2005

i used rustoleum for plastics satin black, and krylon clear......i wet sanded up to 1200 grit, then masked them off...........BE CAREFUL its a real bitch matt.......then i sprayed 6 LIGHT coats of the color over about an hr, and 4 coats of clear over 30 min or so........remember LIGHT COATS!!!!!!!!......then i took the tape off as they were just a lil tacky, and put them in the boiler room overnight just to make sure they were dry, plus it was balls cold out so i wasnt goin to put em on at 1am...........took about 3 hrs start to finish GL bro

SexyStang1994 · Apr 4, 2005

what they said but:

I used scotch brite pad and scuffed them up a bit instead of wetsanding. Wash with detergent and then tape up the lense carefully (perfectly)! Spray the paint and clear... then (optional) wetsand them and use polish (on lenses too). Ours came out great!

94GT40 · Apr 4, 2005

"94 GT Teal,K&N Filter, MAC Offroad H-pipe/Cat-Back, MAC underdrives, 180 t-stat, Steeda Sport Springs,'Gripper' SD Clutch, March Ram-Air.
1 of 873 with exterior/interior/5spd combo, Born on 2/24/1994 #128 of 326 built that day"

I have a Teal '94 GT 5 speed with the grey cloth interior. How did you find out that build information on yours?

94_Teal_GT · Apr 4, 2005

94GT40 said:
I have a Teal '94 GT 5 speed with the grey cloth interior. How did you find out that build information on yours?

This guy here can help you out. That's where mine came from.

http://www.thirdgenerationnewsandbeyond.com/

DFG 5OH · Apr 4, 2005

OK guys, heres my plan:

1. Wet Sand with 800, 1500, 2000
2. Clean all oil (fingerprints) off
3. Tape off lenses
4. Lay down 4-6 light coats of Krylon Fusion Black
5. Lay down 2-3 light coats of Krylon Clear.

I think i'm going to go back and see if i can polish the red lenses a little more, but if i do this, will they look good?

Nik_95Cobra · Apr 4, 2005

On my rear bumper refelctors I just scuffed it up and sprayed it with black krylon fusion and they turned out spiffy.

94TURBO5 O · Apr 5, 2005

If you want some Saleen tails I put up a thread a few days ago about some still on ebay cheap.

DFG 5OH · Apr 5, 2005

Nik_95Cobra said:
On my rear bumper refelctors I just scuffed it up and sprayed it with black krylon fusion and they turned out spiffy.

well i'm sure that would work, but i wanna do this right, and not have to do it again.

DFG 5OH · Apr 5, 2005

will all that prep work be nessesary?

mystang94gt · Apr 5, 2005

94SC50 said:
If you want some Saleen tails I put up a thread a few days ago about some still on ebay cheap.

Not that cheap anymore. Just checked and they are at $89.00 with 5 hrs left.

94TURBO5 O · Apr 5, 2005

They are not for sale anymore and super hard to find. It would be worth it to me b/c I will prob win those then and there is another set I'm bidding on. 4 days left and it's at 30 now but I expect it to go higher. I will just hold on to both sets and wait until I can get more than I paid, sort of like stock or real estate. Supply and demand man. So if you're looking for a set later I'll have 2 unless they go over 125 then someone else will win them.

94TURBO5 O · Apr 5, 2005

Matt

Prep work is the key to painting and one of the most important stages of the job. If you want it to stick and look good for more than a few months then you will need to prep and clean good. If not, it's kinda like building a 10 million dollar home on the coast of Santa B. in Cali with the knowledge the foundation is gonna give and your house is gonna fall into the ocean in a few months. You get the jist, I'm sure.

mystang94gt · Apr 5, 2005

94SC50 said:
They are not for sale anymore and super hard to find. It would be worth it to me b/c I will prob win those then and there is another set I'm bidding on. 4 days left and it's at 30 now but I expect it to go higher. I will just hold on to both sets and wait until I can get more than I paid, sort of like stock or real estate. Supply and demand man. So if you're looking for a set later I'll have 2 unless they go over 125 then someone else will win them.

I was looking for them a while back and was told they werent available so I had been looking for a used set. Your right it would be a good investment since those ones are still new. But $100 is more than I can afford to spend on those things right now. Would be nice though, a lot easier than taping and painting the stock ones black.

DFG 5OH · Apr 5, 2005

94SC50 said:
Matt

Prep work is the key to painting and one of the most important stages of the job. If you want it to stick and look good for more than a few months then you will need to prep and clean good. If not, it's kinda like building a 10 million dollar home on the coast of Santa B. in Cali with the knowledge the foundation is gonna give and your house is gonna fall into the ocean in a few months. You get the jist, I'm sure.

thanks JR, i'm going to leave in a few and get the supplies, hopefully i'll have it done before tonight, and get some pics up.

94TURBO5 O · Apr 5, 2005

matthiasj said:
thanks JR, i'm going to leave in a few and get the supplies, hopefully i'll have it done before tonight, and get some pics up.

Matt

simple prep work is better than none. All you need to do is
1. Spray with a degreaser like purple stuff. Simple green will not do the job.
2. Wash with lots of dish soap and water like dawn soap. Make sure to get into all of the crevices and cracks. Was it 2-3 times.
3. spray down soak with mineral spirits, and use a spray bottle like .99 from HD.
4 Wipe it down real good and if you can wear rubber gloves so no oils from your hand get on the light.
5. 3 light coats of primer.
6. 3 light coats of base.
7. 3 light coats of clear. And then I usually spray a nice even thick coat when it's all dry.

**If any of it looks orange peel after the base then use 1500 or 2000 grit with soap and water and wash with the sand paper until its smooth using lots of waster and soap every couple of strokes. Gotta keep it wet when you are sanding, hence wet sanding.

The clear will even it out and cover up the scratches and you can do the same with the clear if it orange peels which it will naturally and it's expected so don't freak out when you see it. Patient wet sanding like you are polishing.

Have fun!

Painting Tail Lights

DFG 5OH

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94_Teal_GT

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