DIY: painting rear end tail light piece off a gen 3.5 for my gen 3?help

[Whitecamryghost]

hi ,i have a DIY question for you experts.i have a 92 camry le with the red center tail light panel.i recently purchased a 95-96 rear end .and it was painted white with rattle cans and not very well i must add.my question is whats the easiest and cost efficient way to paint this rear end piece.??i want it to look shiny and glossy.please help step by step instructions would be a great help.thanx againnn

[DAMON]

taking it to a paint shop would be your best bet... it wouldnt cost much and itd look oem and new

[zoni]

i second paint shop... shouldnt be expensive.

i hope you know the tail panel from 3.5 will not match up with your taillights. the bend is slightly different in the center panels and taillights for gen 3 and 3.5.

[dna59]

Yea I would take it to a shop to get painted, but depending on the color of your car you could always use Fusion Plastic spray and do it. That's what I did before I took mine to get professionally painted. It looked ok.

[marksktr]

it all depends on your painting skills

cause i am pretty good when it comes to painting (coming from model spraying and bigger paintjobs)

so basiclly to fix some stuff on my 91 camry im buying a nice spraygun and then buying a custom mix paint to match my color

so if your really serious about a diy paintjob id say do the same with a nice paintgun and then first look at a locol auto shop or something for some spray gun duplicoat and some clearcoat

otherwise if its only one piece and you want it to look immaculate then take it to a professional

-mark

[DAMON]

yeah for something as small as the panel itd be cheaper to take it to a pro than to buy a nice gun and paint, not to mention labor

[Eye8Pussies]

^ that will depend....the majority of shops usually charge by panel regardless of size...


but when it comes to painting it yourself- patience, sand, wet sand, sand some more- it's all about the prep

but if you want to use spray cans (which can come out pretty okay on something that small), it will really also come down to the color of your car - black or other more solid colors can usually come out alright. anything metallic and it won't since the metallic flakes won't be like those in real paint

[Whitecamryghost]

yes fellas ive painted my rear before with spray cans and it looked presentable,not fantastic obviously i know.but my camry is white.so the cans didnt look bad just didnt gloss that much.but it did match up ok.im probally going to do that again,since it didnt take too long and it came out fine to me.does anyone have a step by step diy with the spray cans???thatll help,thanxx again fellas

[marksktr]

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/directions.htm

the main reason it didnt come out glossy is that you didnt apply clearcoat.. besides adding protection to the paint it also gives it shine or gloss

[DAMON]

why do you need a diy if youve done this before? just curious

i painted my center panel myself a couple years back and it came out decent, but i had one professionally done when i got my emblems shaved