i have a 93 civic hatch. anyone know how to smoke taillights?

 

This is how:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ZWDVW

Next time do a search. I'm sure that this has been addressed before.

 

but what part of the lamp do you paint? do you take it apart and paint the inside of the lens or the outside?

 

buy can... read can... do what can says

 

painter here, to do it right....

no you dont have to take the lens off the housing.. just mask the areas you don't want paint on..but first..

remove tail lamp(s) from car..

prep with grey scotch brite lightly..

clean with alcohol based cleaner or windex...

then clean with wax and grease remover..

tack with tack rag....

then spray with adhesion promoter..(bulldog ect.)

let dry 5-10 mins..

take regular jet black base coat and over reduce it.. if normal ratio is 1:1 then do 1:1.5

spray taillights until you get the rate of darkness you want..making sure to cover all edges...

then add your regular automotive clear coat...

cut and buff as needed...

reinstall....

or take them to a trusted paint shop i usually do this for around 60 bucks a set and takes 1 day....

 

^^ thanks man for your help..other people don't know how to just answer the question they gotta be smart asses about it

 

no problem

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">painter here, to do it right....

no you dont have to take the lens off the housing.. just mask the areas you don't want paint on..but first..

remove tail lamp(s) from car..

prep with grey scotch brite lightly..

clean with alcohol based cleaner or windex...

then clean with wax and grease remover..

tack with tack rag....

then spray with adhesion promoter..(bulldog ect.)

let dry 5-10 mins..

take regular jet black base coat and over reduce it.. if normal ratio is 1:1 then do 1:1.5

spray taillights until you get the rate of darkness you want..making sure to cover all edges...

then add your regular automotive clear coat...

cut and buff as needed...

reinstall....

or take them to a trusted paint shop i usually do this for around 60 bucks a set and takes 1 day....

</TD></TR></TABLE>

i've done several lights.

i do almost all the same stuff, except the grey pad i machine sand the light with 800.
and i actually tint the clear instead of base coat. imo you can get a much smoother finish without having to sand and buff.

not tryin to start anything, just giving another approach.

 

Is there any where else besides online to find vht or anything like it? All i can find is online... I found one import shop that sells it, but they charge 32 bucks for a tiny little can that will barely maybe cover two lights. I have tried, home depot, 3 auto parts places and two craft stores including michaels. NO luck, they only have green red or blue. So please can someone help me find this stuff, cause i cant do online transactions. Thanks

 

Personally when im doing a smoke job I wouldn't Over-Reduce... rather id get some B/C mix clear and add a few drops of black depending on how much you're making. If you're doing a Single Stage it'd work the same way. This gives you a chance to go as dark as you want depending upon how you mix without dealing with it spraying different than it should.

 

Just tint the CC, it's just one step and so much easier

 

if you go to a hobby shop were they sale model cars and stuff like that they have to have it there i would think

 

Is there any where else besides online to find vht or anything like it? All i can find is online... I found one import shop that sells it, but they charge 32 bucks for a tiny little can that will barely maybe cover two lights. I have tried, home depot, 3 auto parts places and two craft stores including michaels. NO luck, they only have green red or blue. So please can someone help me find this stuff, cause i cant do online transactions. Thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SockEG6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

i've done several lights.

i do almost all the same stuff, except the grey pad i machine sand the light with 800.
and i actually tint the clear instead of base coat. imo you can get a much smoother finish without having to sand and buff.

not tryin to start anything, just giving another approach. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I use 800 wet by hand, and add black basecoat tint to the clear till my stir stick looks like what I want my lenses to look like when I pull it out of the cup, apply med-wet coats untill it looks the way I want. I've done some with a lil pearl in them to match the color of the car as well, cool effect.

Another option though is find a guy in your area that does "3m paint protection films" on new cars. These shops also use a tinted adhesive film that is very shiny that does very very nice on taillights and its not permanant. Looks just as good as the ones I spend hours painting. They charge $75. at a local shop here to do 'em. My friend had his 05 TL A-spec done this way, very nice.