ok, so ive gotten about 5 or 6 pms on how i blacked out my tail lights...its pretty simple, so here is my write up...sorry i do not have pics, as I never thought i would do a write up or anything on this
NEED:
tail light / head light smoke spray
cleaning solution
10mm socket and wrench
phillips screwdriver
your hands
-i bought mine off a buddy, but i used this exact same spray as sold on ebay:
just search for JDM Smoke Spray
-clear coat, and not the stuff for indoor use, you want the heat resistant water resistant, fade resistant stuff, i found this at ace hardware for about 5.99 w/o tax
-any type of good cleaning solution, i used 409 and 1:4 parts isopropyl alcohol to water (really cuts grease)
PROCESS:
1: you need to remove the trunk tail lights.
start with the trunk portion
-as you can see, there is a cover with a bunch of black screw like things...
-with a screwdriver, pop them out...it will not ruin them, as long as you dont do this every day.
-as a result, the cover will come off vvery easily.
-there are 3 nuts (10 mm if i recall) that need to be removed, one on the outside edge of the trunk that is black and looks like a cap, and then two that we needed to remove the cover to get to
-after removal of the nuts, unplug the harness to the headlight (leave bulbs inside) and pop the headlight off (it might stick a little due to the foam material between the body and headlight)
-2 down 2 to go
2. removal of corner tail lights
-again, we need to remove covers
as you can see, it is lined with a black plastic
-to remove it, get a phillips screwdriver find the 3 plastic like screws
-turn 1/4 turn to loosen them, they will pop out a little, releasing the hold
-after removing the three plastic screws, the black plastic liner should come out fairly easy with a small amount of force (it will still have slide in clips attaching it to the other plastic peice where the trunk latch is)
-after removed, there will be three nuts, no black one this time, and 10 mms, to release the taillight
-remove the clip from the tail light harness without removing the bulbs, and the peice should just pop out like before
now that you have them removed, clean them really well...the less imperfections, the smoother the finished product will be.
3. Painting
here is the tricky part...
it is very hard to get an even thin coat if you only want to do a light tint...i would suggest trying it on seran wrap or something first.
-when you are comfortable with it (don't use too much paint if you want it as black as mine), put some newspaper down and go for it (paint it)...
-remember, thin coats many times will produce a better result than one really thick coat
-i kept going untill i used up my whole can
-when done, i let it sit for about a good 6 - 8 hours (overnight)
-in the morning, i used the clear coat to finish it off and give it that glossier look
-i did a pretty thick clear coat, but you should not need to do a thick one
-MAKE SURE THE CLEAR COAT AND PAINT IS ALL THE WAY DRY BEFORE HANDLING IT...you will be pissed if you screw it up...also, keep it out of the wind, anything hitting it or sticking to it will show up
-some people do a color sand inbetween the smoke and clear coat...the problem is the paint i used does not work with sandpaper at all, i dont know why, but do not do it, you will have to start over again...my buddy found out the hard way...
(I would suggest buying two bottles of Smoke Spray...my tint is not 100% perfect, i have one spot that is a little lighter, and I wish i could have practiced a little more)
4. re-install
-just do the opposite of the removal process, and yay, your done...
5. spoiler
if you have the spoiler with the 3rd brake light, tape off the spoiler and the car with newspaper and BLUE masking tape, then just do the same...thats all i did, its just WAY too hard to uninstall and reinstall the spoiler without complications (aka losing the nuts and bolts inside the frame of the hood...ya that was fun)
6. pic of my finished product (one of my best mods to the car, adds a good contrast (i think) for my white paint...always get compliments on it...
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