VHT Nite Shades??

[Win]

Hey guys i was about to order a can of this but i was wondering if you think i ought to get 1 can or 2. I think i ought to go with 2 just to play it safe. Although we really don't have too much coverage on the 94-95 tails that's why i was questioning this. So what do you think??

[justinschmidt1]

1 can will be fine for one set of lights

[Win]

Ok thanks for the quick response man i appreciate it.

[justinschmidt1]

Ok thanks for the quick response man i appreciate it.

yep

[ARdoller]

i did these in less than one can. you should be fine.

[Win]

Sweet thanks man

[x182dan]

ya one can and make sure you get a can of clear coat with it

[JC_SapphireBlue_GT]

yeah took me less than one can...
i need to take em back out and give em a clear coat
but it was a pita taping around the lights

[ARdoller]

dont bother with clear coat, just get yourself some polishing compound, some 1500-2000g sand paper and a small orbital buffer. it will come out much better than clear coat. you have 2 options to shine out tail lights, one being clear coat, the other being just polishing, or even a combination of both. but what most people dont realize is that just using clear coat, isnt going to get rid of all the orange peel. if you want them to finish out correctly, you gotta treat em like paint, where the quality of the job is 99% in the wet sanding.

granted, on those i posted above, i used a 7" variable speed polisher :P

[justinschmidt1]

dont bother with clear coat, just get yourself some polishing compound, some 1500-2000g sand paper and a small orbital buffer. it will come out much better than clear coat. you have 2 options to shine out tail lights, one being clear coat, the other being just polishing, or even a combination of both. but what most people dont realize is that just using clear coat, isnt going to get rid of all the orange peel. if you want them to finish out correctly, you gotta treat em like paint, where the quality of the job is 99% in the wet sanding.

granted, on those i posted above, i used a 7" variable speed polisher :P

+1

Clear coat blows on vht night shades, get some 2000 grit and polish the **** out of them, YOU NEED A MACHINE THOUGH!

[JC_SapphireBlue_GT]

huh,
well in that case ill just buff em on day at work
and mine are pretty shiny now, so it should look scweeeeeeet

[x182dan]

Your gonna wanna clear them.  Mine look perfectly mint and I cleared them.  I did polish the crap out of them also.  You do not need a freakin machine, yes it makes the job easier but most of us won't have a machine to use.

[ARdoller]

You do not need a freakin machine, yes it makes the job easier but most of us won't have a machine to use.

a 6" orbital buffer from Pep Boys/AutoZone is all you need.

when i use a 6" buffer it takes me about (im guessing since i dont do it all at once) about 8 hours of buffing. i decided to use a foam pad on my 7" polisher this time around on 2 or 3 sets, and it took about 20min each.

believe me, being someone that DOES NOT have professional equipment like paint guns and other body shop tools, you can easily do this yourself without HAVING to use clear coat, without it taking too much effort.

this is an up-close picture of them, to show you how shiny and reflective they can get withOUT clear coat.




now im no expert on clear coat, so maybe i was doing it wrong, but being that i dont do this for a living so i dont have the "ideal workspace/tools" that you would want, every set i do i usually experiment with a different method doing stuff. that being said, i have tried clear coat, and like i said im no expert with clear,  but every time i tried clear coats, it was just very unpleasing.

[x182dan]

Ohh I'm not doubting that yours came out mint because it looks good.  Just because someone does it this way doesn't mean you cannot do it that way.  Mine look just as good as yours and I used a clear coat.  I've had a buddy follow the same directions I gave him with the clear and his came out equally good.  I wouldn't say clear it and leave it alone.  It probably wouldn't be much better than without the clear if you did that.

[Win]

So with or without clear I have some 1500 and 2000 grit from we sanding my headlights so treat it the same way I would wet sand headlights. Sorry I'm posting from my phone at work

[justinschmidt1]

Ohh I'm not doubting that yours came out mint because it looks good.  Just because someone does it this way doesn't mean you cannot do it that way.  Mine look just as good as yours and I used a clear coat.  I've had a buddy follow the same directions I gave him with the clear and his came out equally good.  I wouldn't say clear it and leave it alone.  It probably wouldn't be much better than without the clear if you did that.

Post pics of these tails that look "just as good as his"

[ARdoller]

Ohh I'm not doubting that yours came out mint because it looks good.  Just because someone does it this way doesn't mean you cannot do it that way.  Mine look just as good as yours and I used a clear coat.  I've had a buddy follow the same directions I gave him with the clear and his came out equally good.  I wouldn't say clear it and leave it alone.  It probably wouldn't be much better than without the clear if you did that.

how did you apply and finish out the clear coat? all the methods i tried didnt produce very good results. at least no where near the results of just a good polish. are you using a paint gun or just rattle can clear?

im not saying your way is wrong, or my way is the only way to do it... especially considering i try slightly different methods all the time. im more-so just trying to find an answer as to how you have to apply clear coat for it to look correct on tail lights.

the only way i would say would be "incorrect" is if you dont do anything about the tint itself once you apply it, because you have to get rid of the orange peel somehow to get a clear shine and optimal light output. (im not directing this towards you because you seem to know), but obviously cant just spray the tint, spray the clear, and just leave it... because youre doing nothing but masking the dullness of the tint rather than polishing it out.

for those that arent familiar with the process, when im wet sanding, i use the simple "finger/open palm test" where once the surface feels like glass, or like a clean paint job, then you have at least gotten rid of the orange peel. from there they should haze over to an almost milky white color, to which you then just take a buffer/polisher and go to town until they go from hazy white to translucent tinted red.

[justinschmidt1]

Ive had similar results with clear, they turn whitish, hazy, etc sometimes

They look far better wetsanded with 2k grit and polished IMO.

[ARdoller]

yea justin, i know ive talked to you about this before, and from what i remember neither of us really had a good answer to using clear coat. pretty much being why i stick to just a simple wetsand and polish.

[justinschmidt1]

yea justin, i know ive talked to you about this before, and from what i remember neither of us really had a good answer to using clear coat. pretty much being why i stick to just a simple wetsand and polish.

I wouldnt use clearcoat UNLESS I had automotive grade clear that I could apply with an air gun.

Otherwise It seems like more trouble than its worth.

[ARdoller]

that seems to be the general consensus.

[OnyxCobra]

dont bother with clear coat, just get yourself some polishing compound, some 1500-2000g sand paper and a small orbital buffer. it will come out much better than clear coat. you have 2 options to shine out tail lights, one being clear coat, the other being just polishing, or even a combination of both. but what most people dont realize is that just using clear coat, isnt going to get rid of all the orange peel. if you want them to finish out correctly, you gotta treat em like paint, where the quality of the job is 99% in the wet sanding.

granted, on those i posted above, i used a 7" variable speed polisher :P

I'm in the process of tinting my tails but i did a test run with VHT on an old headlight and for the record after my buddy cleared them they looked germinating INSANE.  Also for the record if you're treating them like paint you technically shouldn't be sanding the base coat, all the wet sanding is done on the clear unless you have a germinate  up and once you sand the clear coat smooth there will be no orange peal.  Shooting clear from a gun may be the key but other people have had success with it from a can as well.

Also the VHT i bought actually dries with a glossy finish, thought that was weird cause i was expecting it to be flat black but it was actually quite glossy.

[ARdoller]

it depends how much you put on. the less you put on the less it will haze/dull. if you only do a light tint, it will appear somewhat shiny. like i said i experiment with the sets i do, and one of the sets i did, i purposely used too much to see what would happen, and it did exactly what i expected, it buffed out to its darkest possible shade (which ive noticed tends to be the same shade no matter how much you use after about 1/2-3/4 can), but also, when the tint dried, it dried completely white. it was so dull that it dried white...

what you will notice no matter how much you use though, is the texture of the lens, which is what is going to determine how well the light shines through, and end the end, how well the light reflects off of it. its like looking at paint that isnt completely smooth... it may still be somewhat shiny, but since the texture isnt smooth like "glass", its going to pit any reflections, distorting them, and if bad enough, cause them to look dull.

personally, even if you cant tell from any more than 5/10/15ft or whatever if theyre smooth or rough, i like to have em nice and real shiny. and if youre gonna go through the effort to pull them apart and tint them, theres really no point to just stop there, when just a little more work will make em perfect.

[justinschmidt1]

I like to apply a heavy wet coat to finish them off...give them a nice shine

[ARdoller]

you know what, i started using the Meguiars Swirl remover on them, and that is working much better than the polishing compound. but then again i also switched to a more abrasive microfiber pad than the last one i was using. im wondering if its a combination. although, im probably gonna stick to using the polisher, unless its cutting through the tint too much.

[justinschmidt1]

I use a DA porter cable so I wouldnt know what to tell you to do by hand.

Seems like polishing by hand would leave a lot of scratches

[OnyxCobra]

i did about 4 coats and each layer kept getting shiner.  I got a lot of dirt in the vht layer though so i wet sanded it out and it was hella smooth, but once the clear was put on it was pretty much smooth across the board.


It seems like the process for tinting tail lights has turned into the same kinda topic as which gear should i get or which heads are the best, you can argue about it forever because there is more than one way to get good results.

[justinschmidt1]

i did about 4 coats and each layer kept getting shiner.  I got a lot of dirt in the vht layer though so i wet sanded it out and it was hella smooth, but once the clear was put on it was pretty much smooth across the board.


It seems like the process for tinting tail lights has turned into the same kinda topic as which gear should i get or which heads are the best, you can argue about it forever because there is more than one way to get good results.

Pretty much

[Win]

I dunno i learned alot from reading from what you all put in here. I appreciate all the responses i got. Thanks Guys

[JonBeast]

Tape off your reverse lights

[OnyxCobra]

Tape off your reverse lights

i think that would look funny...

[ARdoller]

something i forgot to mention, which isnt a big deal at all or anything, but if youre using VHT in a rattle can (im not aware that they make it any other way), get yourself a Can Gun. theyre like $2 at the parts store, its just a handle & trigger for rattle cans. it makes applying rattle can paint much easier, and helps keep layers uniform. plus you dont have to worry about the paint that might graze your finger as its coming out of the nozzle that may splatter onto what youre trying to paint.