So I followed a tutorial on this site, I cleaned, primed, then painted. But while I was putting the housings back in the clear plastic a lot of the black paint came off. What should I do differently next time? did I not let the paint dry enough. I did 3 coats of black, 2 of clear. Let me know what I can do next time.

 

You didn't mention how long you let it sit, so yeah, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you didn't spend enough time letting the paint dry. You also didn't mention a light scuffing of the surfaces which were to be painted, so that may be one of the problems too (a critical one at that).

Do what you did, with sanding involved, get everything painted up right, and then go off and play some video games, jack-off, or do whatever it is you like to do until you've forgotten about your task, and then remember again. By then, you should have some well-adhered paint that you can work with when reassembling the headlights.

 

thanks for the info, any grit sandpaper work?

 

Consult paint and body for a certain answer, I can't give you the definitive answer.

 

I would have used ~600 grit for the plastic. And I hope you cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and used some sort of adhesion promoter.

How long did you let it dry?

 

yeah, sounds like theydidn't dry out enough yet. i'd let them sit over night but that's not really necessary, i just like to do things once so i won't even risk rushing it. but hey, excitement gets the best of all of us sometimes