Chris_R
02-18-2009, 04:57 PM
I am the epitome of TurboBricks... I've been putting off buying Nite-Shades because of the cost. :oops: I can never find model paint tint at the stores, probably because you hooligans are buying it up to tint your mk13 VWs and whatnot.
Long ago I had my tails professionally tinted by a guy in Ohio - I paid 75 bucks IIRC. Not bad really, they were big taillights (Geo Storm) and came out perfectly. Somehow my buddy managed to glean the secret from TintMan before he disappeared into obscurity.
I will now share that secret with you...
Paint Thinner.
Shocking, right? IKNOWHUH?!?!
And now, the rrrest of the story.
1 part paint, 8 parts thinner. Prep the light like you were prepping any regular body panel for paint. I wet-sanded with 400 grit. Be sure to remove all the DOT markings and other protrusions. The process seemed so simple that I hesitated, for years, before attempting it. It was just... too... easy, right?
Wrong! It's just that easy.
I bought a can of gloss black Rustoleum paint - the smallest can they have at Lowe's and a gallon of low-odor Paint thinner.
Loaded my sprayer cup, leaving about an inch, with thinner, then added some paint.
http://www.rvproject.com/images/tools/touch_up_sprayer.jpg
(not mine, but I use the same Craftsman gun. For scale, the cup is smaller than a coke can)
I wasn't even terribly concerned with the magic formula this time around, but it was pretty close.
Grabbed an old busted taillight for some practice and let the paint fly!
This is after ~2 coats:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b317/cwrhoades2/Pics_12_3_016.jpg
Wet-sanded with 600 grit and gave her 2 more coats:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b317/cwrhoades2/Pics_12_3_018.jpg
You can tell that I didn't remove the DOT marking from the bottom of this light - paint collects here and it looks crappy. Also, glare makes it appear a little darker than it really is.
Let it dry, wet sanded once more and shot some Krylon triple-thick clear coat on it.
http://cdn.dickblick.com/items/217/10/21710-1005-2-3ww-l.jpg
EXTRASUPERBONUS - this lens was hazed and fuzzy, this treatment seems to have corrected most of that.
I'll get some finished pics when I do my actual lights.
Failure to sand between first and second coats caused lots of runs. No need to stress, just wet-sand with 400 grit paper until the runs are gone then apply your next coat. Tank pressure was also set too high (~40PSI) at first - results were better at 15PSI.
I'll probably stop with 3 coats on my actual lights as I think 4 may be just a touch too dark.
This process will also work with other colors, but I'd recommend candy colors.
As for co$t? I think I paid 12 bucks for a gallon of thinner and the pint of paint. Of that I used about 8 ounces of thinner and an ounce of paint. After 4 coats on that lens there is still more than half of the mixture in the >12oz cup. The clearcoat I had lying around, same for the sandpaper.
All together it might cost 20 bucks to get started, if you have a spray gun and compressor.
PM me if you don't want to invest in all the supplies and gear, but still want your tails tinted. I'll probably do wagons for 25 and sedans for 35.
Long ago I had my tails professionally tinted by a guy in Ohio - I paid 75 bucks IIRC. Not bad really, they were big taillights (Geo Storm) and came out perfectly. Somehow my buddy managed to glean the secret from TintMan before he disappeared into obscurity.
I will now share that secret with you...
Paint Thinner.
Shocking, right? IKNOWHUH?!?!
And now, the rrrest of the story.
1 part paint, 8 parts thinner. Prep the light like you were prepping any regular body panel for paint. I wet-sanded with 400 grit. Be sure to remove all the DOT markings and other protrusions. The process seemed so simple that I hesitated, for years, before attempting it. It was just... too... easy, right?
Wrong! It's just that easy.
I bought a can of gloss black Rustoleum paint - the smallest can they have at Lowe's and a gallon of low-odor Paint thinner.
Loaded my sprayer cup, leaving about an inch, with thinner, then added some paint.
http://www.rvproject.com/images/tools/touch_up_sprayer.jpg
(not mine, but I use the same Craftsman gun. For scale, the cup is smaller than a coke can)
I wasn't even terribly concerned with the magic formula this time around, but it was pretty close.
Grabbed an old busted taillight for some practice and let the paint fly!
This is after ~2 coats:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b317/cwrhoades2/Pics_12_3_016.jpg
Wet-sanded with 600 grit and gave her 2 more coats:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b317/cwrhoades2/Pics_12_3_018.jpg
You can tell that I didn't remove the DOT marking from the bottom of this light - paint collects here and it looks crappy. Also, glare makes it appear a little darker than it really is.
Let it dry, wet sanded once more and shot some Krylon triple-thick clear coat on it.
http://cdn.dickblick.com/items/217/10/21710-1005-2-3ww-l.jpg
EXTRASUPERBONUS - this lens was hazed and fuzzy, this treatment seems to have corrected most of that.
I'll get some finished pics when I do my actual lights.
Failure to sand between first and second coats caused lots of runs. No need to stress, just wet-sand with 400 grit paper until the runs are gone then apply your next coat. Tank pressure was also set too high (~40PSI) at first - results were better at 15PSI.
I'll probably stop with 3 coats on my actual lights as I think 4 may be just a touch too dark.
This process will also work with other colors, but I'd recommend candy colors.
As for co$t? I think I paid 12 bucks for a gallon of thinner and the pint of paint. Of that I used about 8 ounces of thinner and an ounce of paint. After 4 coats on that lens there is still more than half of the mixture in the >12oz cup. The clearcoat I had lying around, same for the sandpaper.
All together it might cost 20 bucks to get started, if you have a spray gun and compressor.
PM me if you don't want to invest in all the supplies and gear, but still want your tails tinted. I'll probably do wagons for 25 and sedans for 35.