Painting taillight bezels

TrueBlue95GT · Oct 19, 2004

I'm painting my taillight bezels black and for some reason, I can't get the paint not to bubble in some areas. I put 3 coats of primer on first and then I sprayed a coat of black paint on and it starts bubbleing. What causes this?

type911 · Oct 19, 2004

You may have touched it with bare skin accidently. make sure after sanding you wipe it all down using a lint free rag and acetone. Acetone is a must. I used to paint boats. any finger print left will bubble the paint. resand, wipe with acetone and then paint. hope this helps.

OinkAodeOink · Oct 19, 2004

Ide try using flat black, or semi flat... gloss is alitte harder to paint, and doesnt look good.

The reason your getting the fisheye, is you have oil/grease on the surface.
Clean it real good with laquer thinner and try agian. And by the way, dont use primer.. Just lightly sand it, and spray thin coats ( 3-4 total) and your good.

This is the way ive done mine, and they look just the way they did 4 years ago when i did them.

xx95gtmanxx · Oct 19, 2004

OinkAodeOink said:
Ide try using flat black, or semi flat... gloss is alitte harder to paint, and doesnt look good.

The reason your getting the fisheye, is you have oil/grease on the surface.
Clean it real good with laquer thinner and try agian. And by the way, dont use primer.. Just lightly sand it, and spray thin coats ( 3-4 total) and your good.

This is the way ive done mine, and they look just the way they did 4 years ago when i did them.

I agree.

Also I have had the best luck useing bumper and trim paint form auto zone. It is in a spray can with a flat black label and red writing.

Meangene21 · Oct 19, 2004

DUDE I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!

I painted my tail lights black about 3 months ago. I THOUGHT this was going to be an easy thing to do. I thought that my lights had been repainted by a stupid shop. When the primer hit the paint the ENTIRE painted bezel bubled and the paint came right off, INCLUDING the so called factory paint.

Here is what i had to do in order to get the paint the damn things.

I took laquer thinner and took off ALL the paint. This way i started from scratch.. Cleaned the bezel with soap and water. Then PRIMER the bezel with some good primer. Then spray it down with the black paint.

Make sure you do a good job cleaning that crap off. or it will continue to bubble. PM me if you need me to clarify any of this..

BTW = I LOVED THE OUT COME !! even though it was more involved

UncleLog · Oct 19, 2004

1)Sand bezels the best you can without sanding the lenses.

2)Use solvent of choice to wipe off the bezels and DON'T touch them again until you paint. Use a clean T-shirt to handle them until you paint them.

3)Spray with your paint of choice. I've had bad luck with the AutoZone Duplicote brand, so I used Rust-o-leum satin black. Unless you're dead set on using a glossy paint, I'd highly recommend against it. So much harder to make look good than satin, and if you're painting the bezels anyway, the contrast in finish will look good with the black.

4)Spray many light layers instead of few thick ones.

5)Once you think it may be dry, let it dry longer...it's never as dry as you think it is!

blksn955.o · Oct 19, 2004

My black mustangs bezels are un-painted from the factory, and black. You might want to get the paint off and leave them the black finish they are un-painted.

I thougth about painting them, but a good whipe with Meguiar's plastic stuff (purple and smells like grapes) gives them a realy bright shine if I want them to shine.

Meangene21 · Oct 19, 2004

My lights were all made of the red plastic light material. You have to paint em because it would be one BIG light. It was a pretty ugly sight.

mo_dingo · Oct 20, 2004

I also recommend using a big cardboard box with the top cut off. After you clean them off, but them inside the box. This prevents stuff from blowing on it. After each coat of paint, just stick it in the box to dry/store inbetween paint stints.
Scott

ProKiller · Oct 20, 2004

buy some Krylon Fusion paint. it adheres to plastic. works the best. sand, tape, clean, spray, dry, reinstall. simple as that.

igotyofire · Dec 31, 2004

Do they sale lights like this already?

CManT1914 · Dec 31, 2004

igotyofire said:
Do they sale lights like this already?

I don't think ANYbody makes the 94-95 tail-lights. Only the 96-98. Not even Ford makes them that I know of. They don't have to offer them anymore since our cars our older than 10 years now. Stupid Ford.

ab 281 gt · Jan 1, 2005

CManT1914 Quote:
Originally Posted by igotyofire
Do they sale lights like this already

I don't think ANYbody makes the 94-95 tail-lights. Only the 96-98. Not even Ford makes them that I know of. They don't have to offer them anymore since our cars our older than 10 years now. Stupid Ford.

Correction: 50Resto.com They're a bit expensive but they have them.

CManT1914 · Jan 1, 2005

dfhurleydude182 said:
Correction: 50Resto.com They're a bit expensive but they have them.

Wow, how did I miss those all the times I've been to 5.0Resto?! lol, thanks man.

ab 281 gt · Jan 1, 2005

Haha yeah, I never found them until a few days ago, they were under the featured products section. I looked under the tail lights section before but they weren't there. Also they come black already so I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have to go through the tough trouble of painting them.

igotyofire · Jan 1, 2005

dfhurleydude182 said:
Haha yeah, I never found them until a few days ago, they were under the featured products section. I looked under the tail lights section before but they weren't there. Also they come black already so I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have to go through the tough trouble of painting them.

What do you mean they already come black, Only the house edge does looks like. But the stripes in the light dont. It says "paint to match" Also 5.0 Resto has the 96-98 tailights much cheaper. I wonder if thats because our tailights probably have stopped being made?

Anyone have the 96-98 or pictures of those on a stang but unpainted? or black painted bezel on one?

Painting taillight bezels

TrueBlue95GT

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