So ive been smoking my friends taillights on their cars for a little while and i decided to do mine on my car. I do not have any pictures because i totally spaced it when i was painting the tail, so i figured i would make a write up about it.

<U>Things You Will Need</U>
-HVLP Paint Gun
-Black or any color paint with reducer
-Scuff Pads
-Glass Cleaner
-Some Rags
-Clearcoat with reducer


1. First thing to do is take your taillights out of your car and place then on a clean bench to be painted on. I staple newspaper onto a wooden table.

2. Take your scuff pads and scuff your hole taillight assembly until all gloss is gone

3. Spray glass cleaner on the taillights and wipe them off with a rag

4. Mix up your black paint but instead of mixing it 1:1 or 4:1 as it calls for mix it with alot more reducer so that it is a transparent black.

5. Spray your taillights until they are dark enough for you. The more coats the darker the black.

6. Let the paint dry when they are dark enough then apply clearcoat. 2 coats recomended more if u want to protect them better, also glossier.

7. Install the tails back into your car and you are good to go.

This is not a very hard process, but you have to be a decent painter to make them look good. Here are some pics of the final product, they might be huge

 

that look pretty freakin sweet........ might have to do this to all my amber ****...

 

that looks nice blends in with the color of the car

 

love the tailights. i did mine in a similar fashion, but by placing circles over the bright part of the tail and using a high glass black made mine look pretty sweet.

 

gloss^

 

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DohcSide &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that looks nice blends in with the color of the car</TD></TR></TABLE>

For sure!

 

Question. instead of scuffing off all that factory gloss, cant u open up ur tailights and paint them from the inside? i know its harder, but if u have no paint gun or anything...

im planning on smoking my tailights out, but i dont have all those materials, so i was just gonna open up the light housing and paint them from the inside.

yeah its harder, but would they turn out the same as this DIY?

 

teaching rice

 

i did this to my hatch... just bought some of that smoke film for head/tailights and cut it out to fit my amber...



sorry bout the huge pic... one day i'll resize them...

 

Very nice looking. I've been considering doing this to my tails as well. The only reason I haven't yet is because all the haters on H-T will call me rice and make me cry.

 

yea those haters are just jelouse they cant do it themselves...they would have to pay a shop

 

smoke film? aka tint? how much did u pay for those lil strips of smoke film?

 

damn homie u need a drop

 

for an easier approach you could just buy transparent black spray paint. My car came with altezza's so I smoked them. They were really dark when the lights were off but when the lights were on it showed through well. I don't have a link to where i bought from though. it was a couple years ago

 

thats a HUGE exhaust.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95civicdx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">for an easier approach you could just buy transparent black spray paint. My car came with altezza's so I smoked them. They were really dark when the lights were off but when the lights were on it showed through well. I don't have a link to where i bought from though. it was a couple years ago</TD></TR></TABLE>

Testors(the model company) makes a transparent black in a rattle can. I met a guy that used it a while back and it looked great.

 

i heard if u go over them after with 1200 or higher grit sandpaper. and then a shot of clear over, they come out mint

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slkleltlclh &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">smoke film? aka tint? how much did u pay for those lil strips of smoke film?</TD></TR></TABLE>

i think 14$ for a square foot. Enough to do like 3 or 4 of my cars.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hatch96y7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">damn homie u need a drop</TD></TR></TABLE>

i AGREE!! i'm getting my suspension kit when i sell my EX... prolly in a month or so... just got done with my engine swap! in due time bro!

 

what year is your civic u should get the 2000 taillights they look way beter how much was the swap

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hatch96y7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what year is your civic u should get the 2000 taillights they look way beter how much was the swap</TD></TR></TABLE>

it's a 96. I will get new tails in due time... the d/s one's reverse light is cracked. But they work for now... i haven't been to focused on looks lately... been busy with the engine swap. I got the engine for 3355 shipped.