[mapleridge]

Hi All,

I got this idea from a few different car forums and took from here and there to complete the process. Basically I used:

Testors Enamel Based Candy Apple Clear Red
Testors Enamel Based Clear Coat
3M Wet Dry Sandpaper - 800 & 1000 grit
Hair Dryer
Headlight Polish Kit

Here's The Kit


I cleaned the lights thoroughly with dish soap. I wet sanded with soap and water over the entire tail light with 800 grit.

Can You Tell The Difference?


After that I taped up the section that I wanted to paint. I also taped up the section I wanted to stay white for the reverse light. Sorry, but I didn't take a picture of that part. It's self explanatory. I made sure to mask the backing of the light well. This is important. You don't want overspray into the tail light.

Make sure to wash the lights with dish soap again before paint and do not touch it with your hands after this. Make sure your masking tape is on firmly as well or the it will spray underneath it and mess up your straight lines.

The paint goes on funny. It is like gel and at first it looks like splatter but stay on it with even strokes and you will see that it fills in and looks uniform.

Oh yeah. I used a dryer to speed up the process because I get impatient when I am excited. This blew particles into the paint. I wouldn't suggest being impatient and I would have a place for them to dry for a short period between coats. I believe I did at least 3.

Done With The Red


After the red dried, I wet sanded the whole thing with 1000 grit. Washed it up again. Make sure you let it dry before sanding. After that, use a tac cloth to make sure there are no small bits of anything on the light. Most annoying thing is little particles in the clear coat.

The clear coat goes on a lot easier and thinner than the paint. Smack it with a bunch of coats. I pretty well used up all of my can.

All Cleared Up


I had little bits in the paint and I was sooo annoyed. I wet sanded again with like 1500 grit or something. This made it hazy and so I polished it with Meguires headlight polish kit. If you are careful of your surroundings and use a tac cloth before paint and clear coat you can skip straight to polish or leave it off entirely.

All Done


The testors paint is a touch lighter than the stock lights but barely noticeable. I will mount them tomorrow as I finally got my CSL lid painted too. I will try to take pics of them on the car tomorrow. I think I might like these better than my blacklines. I am going to probably get some LEDs for the lines and the blinkers to make them pop even more. We'll see. If you have to buy everything it should cost you around $40 max to do this.

Last Pic



P.S. I would like to try my hand at this again. If anyone wants to trade me excellent condition inners and $25 for the supplies I am down. Trade in Bellingham or Vancouver area.

[JACe90]

I plan on doing this very soon. I already have the paint in my garage. I'm just scared I will mess it up. any other tips?

[mapleridge]

Just make sure you get even coverage around the edges. Also, make sure the tape that you apply for the white reverse light area is firmly pressed down on all corners or else paint will get underneath it. Other than that, just make sure you are in a clean environment and you wipe the light with a tac cloth before paint. You don't want stuff sticking to the paint.

also, I thought about this but didn't do it because I went lci. You could hit the top part with one coat of smoke to darken it as the red testors paint is a little brighter than the stock color.

[airhitman]

Nice diy on those inners... do you still have them? How's the paint holding up? I would like to see them in person and maybe trade my stock fir them hehe.

[mapleridge]

hey, I changed to lci tail lights not long after. I think I threw these away. I dropped them after I removed them and they got all scratched and broken.

[airhitman]

Ic... I guess my search for blacklines continues lol