Im going to be using some vht nite shades on my tail lights, side reflectors and 3rd brake light this weekend. I was just wondering some tips to make it look nice. First i will remove all lenses from my car and clean with soapy water. Should i sand them to give the tint something to stick to or not? Ill apply the tint , probably a couple of coats or until desired darkness. Then should i put some type of clearcoat on to protect it and make it shinny? If yes what type should i use and where can i get it? If you have any other tips let me know please. Thanks in advance.

 

why dont u just buy the gts covers they look nice and u dont have to spray

 

You want to lightly sand just to barely scuff them up. Wet sanding is fine, scuffing it up gently will give it more for the paint to adhere to. When you spray the taillights, put them side by side and spray as if it's one long piece, don't spray individually. I did my tail lights individually, and when I painted my driver side I either used thicker coats, or I used more coats than the passenger side. My passenger side is like a shade or two lighter. As for clear coat, yes clear coat would be beneficial. Just go to any automotive store, Murrays or Autozone or Pep Boys or whatever you have around you and buy some automotive exterior clear coat. Usually duplicolor is a good brand. Just take your time and if you mess up, nail polish should remove it.

The problem with the GTS covers is that in certain cases, they will actually cause your tail light lense to warp and deform. A lot of people have had this problem. While I'm not 100% positive, my pure guess is that people that have a problem with them warping maybe drive with their parking lights or headlights on 24/7 whenever they drive, thus causing a lot more heat than, say, someone that only turns their headlights on at night. Also, people steal the covers off or they fall off. (contrary to what people said about you not being able to, I can link you to a thread where this one guy said his was just stolen, and he also mentioned in a post like three posts down from the first one saying that his light was warped from the blackouts)

 

sounds weird but never had that problem thank god lol

 

http://ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=386588

The blackout covers I think traps the heat into the lense more, which is what causes the warping -- but like I said I think the people having the problem (100% guess, I don't know if they do or not) leave their headlights on all the time, which would cause even more heat buildup.

 

could nite shades be used on headlights?

 

I don't see why it couldn't be. The spray tint is the same concept as, say, window tint. When you're looking in from "outside" it looks dark [depending on level of tint], but when you're going from the "inside" to the "outside" you can see out clearly because the "outside" has more light. Same concept with the tint on a head/tail light housing. When the bulbs are off, looks really dark. When you turn a light on and the bulb lights up, there's tons of light so it makes it easy to see right through the tint.

 

not to jack your thread, but i also have a question about this stuff. on my passenger tail light, it looks like there is condensation in it. if i put this nite shade stuff on it, would it still be noticable?

 

If your talking about inside the lense just take of the taillight and take out the bulbs and let it dry out for a while because i would recomend takeing off your taillights before you paint them unless your going to mask off your paint.

 

Personally, I'd say you should try fixing the problem rather than trying to hide it with Niteshades.

 

its actually not condensation, i couldnt think of what the word was. the tail light is "delaminating". the black looks like it is sort of peeling. i thought that since i wanted the blackout look (already have black wheels on black ta), that i should just blackout the tail lights instead of buying new ones. my question is will the nightshade cover it up? thanks

 

hmm, it should atleast during the day. The hard part is tellin ya how it's going to look at night, when the light hits the "delaminated" part.

 

NO!
These are just foglights, and NiteShades GREATLY declined the visibility. I did this for experiment only. (I removed the paint from my foglights the same night that I sprayed it on).

The light on the left is normal...on the right is covered with NiteShades.
http://www.free.ri-hosting.net/users...iteShades1.jpg


This is standing looking straight down on the beam from the fog light covered with NiteShades.
http://www.free.ri-hosting.net/users...iteShades2.jpg

This is standing looking straight down on the beam from the regular fog light.
http://www.free.ri-hosting.net/users...iteShades3.jpg

Pretty obvious IMO.
I would not use it for headlights. It would GREATLY limit your output.

(Edit: BTW, those foglights had purple bulbs in them if your wondering about the color).

 

thanks

 

not disputing the pictures, but just out of curiosity, how many layers were used? Maybe only using one or two layers compared to more would make a difference.