In an effort to try and fix screw ups from the younger days I need to fix my tailights on my 99 hatch.

They started out as all clears, and I painted them with Testors Candy Apple Red followed up by a few clear coats. After maybe 6-8 months the clear coat starts to chip away and the lights (mainly just the left one) looks like ***.

I though about wetsanding them down a few layers of paint, and then respraying them again, trying to do a bit better job. I've read in a few posts though that this should be a last resort. This leaves me with finding a way to strip off ALL the old paint, and starting completely from scratch again which is my preferrable choice.

Can I use something such as aircraft stripper on plastic pieces such as these or is it too strong and it'll mess up the lights (similar to how acetone ruins plastic)? Something such as regular paint thinner/mineral spirits does absolutely nothing.

Once the paint is off, is there a certain method I should use to repainting the lights? I would leave the clear coat off, but I'd like to try and obtain a shiny and "factory-like" look as I can, plus the protection. Are there certain brands of clear coat better than others since that seems to be the issue here? Gloss clearcoat as opposed to satin clearcoat?

Opinions/ideas? Thanks.

 

just go buy some new tailights

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDMlyfestyle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just go buy some new tailights</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDMlyfestyle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just go buy some new tailights</TD></TR></TABLE>

I concur. Get the clear/red hatchback tail lights. Those look good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDMlyfestyle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just go buy some new tailights</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM-EJ1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I concur. Get the clear/red hatchback tail lights. Those look good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I concur on all of these accounts...however I'd like to try to avoid buying new ones. There are other things that need repairing where that kind of money would be better spent IMO. If money were no option UPS would be bringing some new ones to me right now.

 

it maybe could have been that the tailights were dirty before you painted them or got dirty while you painting them, but i dunno. i think temperature might have something to do with it too (?)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blkSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it maybe could have been that the tailights were dirty before you painted them or got dirty while you painting them, but i dunno. i think temperature might have something to do with it too (?)</TD></TR></TABLE>

Lights were in an enclosed environment during painting. They were also cleaned beforehand, and painted well within the temperature specs of paint application.

 

Any other ideas? Mainly on a better way to paint them and clearcoating them so they last a little longer without looking like *** again in 6 months?

I've read some other posts about removing paint from plastic and have heard several people mention using oven cleaner. I don't know that getting the paint off will be that hard, I mainly want to find a better way to paint them so they last longer.

 

Any tips about how to successfully paint these? Paint will likely be Testors Candy Apple Red since it's labeled as transparent and has held up good in the past, but what about a good clear coat to seal it and won't start cracking and peeling after 6 months?