bigbomber5

Hello all!
I have a black TA and I'm thinking of applying a shade or 2 of VHT to my taillights to give it a smoked look. In doing so I want to do the side markers as well. The back one is red so it shouldn't be a problem, but the front is yellow so what should I do with that? Will VHT make the yellow look funny? Am I going to have to get white ones then VHT those? Thanks for your help and if you have pics of VHT sidemarkers will you please post them for me?

LS1Vince

Just do them like you'd do the back ones. i did both my turn signals (amber) and my side markers (red) on my camaro and the amber ones come out dark but they have a bit of an orange glow during the day and at night. they dont look bad. if it helps any, go to your local junk yard or check craigslist and get an extra set so you can try it out on them first. thats what i did. hope that helps! good luck!

skopers3

iTrader: (3)

just add another coat so they're a little darker, but can't see amber or red under the VHT on either of them.

StealthWeaponLS1

I did mine, just wet sanded them, and just painted about 4 coats of vht and a couple coats of clear. The lights will be still visible so dont worry about that. Just do it lol

bigbomber5

Sounds good, thanks for the info guys! I'll be doing this in the morning so I'll try to post pics of how the yellow ones turn out

Cobra2WS6

iTrader: (22)

Did mine today and they came out dark, cant see any yellow when car is off

bigbomber5

VHT'ing is complete!
I applied 2 coats on the tail lights, front blinkers, and rear side markers. I will do the 3rd brake light (on the spoiler) tomorrow bc one of the two screws is stripped (btw why did they use those star? head screws anyway??).
One problem I had is with the shiny finish. The video tutorial I watched I followed everything to the T, except for the McGuires Compound he used to shine it up with. I thought I could cut corners and just use my Mother's car wax and everything would be fine Instead, I now have a matte black look (it actually looks kinda good haha). Obviously that McGuires Compound he used is essential in getting the shiny finish I was looking for. Lesson learned...Anyway, here are some before/after pics of the car besides the matte black finish and red 3rd brake light
Before...



After...



Sorry for the small pics, here are some larger ones (im still a newb )

Before...



After...

LS1Vince

they look good man! put some clear coat/wet sand/and polish those so they match the shine of your car!

bigbomber5

Thanks man! Yeah I'm having trouble getting them to shine up. I'm about to start working on all of that here in a bit. What did I do wrong? After I applied the VHT and clear coat, did I not wet sand it hard enough with the 2,000 grit sandpaper? I barely applied any pressure when I wet sanded it but obviously something isn't right. Could you recommend some good compounds to use to finish it up?

LS1Vince

i used "Turtle Wax Polishing compound" i would say use "mothers" or a better brand, but it was on sale at advanced haha just buy some of that(or whatever brand you prefer) and the little applicator pads(advanced/autozone brand is fine i think i paid 2.99 for two), i wet sanded with 1500 grit, pretty lightly, then went to town with the polish and they came out pretty good. Good luck!

bigbomber5

Ok, Im going to go buy some polish and try that instead of the Mother's car wax. I rubbed the wax in pretty good the first time just bc it was still looking hazy and the more scrubbing I did resulted in no shiny gains. Hopefully the polish will solve the problem

LS1Vince

yeah it should do the trick. i also tried the car wax the first time around when i did my tail lights, i was pretty sad when it did NOTHING haha so i did some asking around and found out that the polishing compound is the key!

bigbomber5

Ok, so I bought some McGuire's Ultimate Compound and that helped out alot. I think I was scrubbing it hard enough the first time. This still didn't get the glass shine I was looking for, but I'm headed in the right direction.

BOBS99SS

iTrader: (2)

imo you can polish them all day and night and will not get the results of using somekind of buffing tool.

bigbomber5

Thats what I'm starting to think. I'm gonna look into that when I get home this evening. Do you recommend anything in particular?

LS1Vince

I spent about 15 minutes buffing them by hand and i got the "glass" look i was hoping for. What are you putting the compound on with? and what is your process?

StealthWeaponLS1

That came out pretty good! My car looks exactly like yours. I like how the tinted side marker lights really blend in with the car when the car is turned off. Good work man. Hey you dont have the link to that video you were watching on how to poilsh up the VHT do you? I want to take a look at it, i need to polish my side markers and my third brake light.

bigbomber5

**Ok, so here's the update.**

I wasn't able to do the 3rd brake lens the first time around due to a stripped/torqued screw. I finally got it off at work today so I was able to VHT when I got home. So, after doing everything the first time and not exactly getting that "shine" I was looking for, I changed 2 things. I applied the 2 coats of VHT and 3 coats of clear coat just as I had done before. Now, this time around when I wet sanded I applied a little bit more pressure and lightly sanded for an extra minute or two. *Not too long though, when you start sanding you can see the lens getting a bit smoother and thats where you need to get." The 1st time I literally dragged the sand paper across in fear of sanding off what I just had done haha. Finally, I applied some McGuires Ultimate Compound and really buffed the sh*t out of it for at least 5 minutes. You really have to buff the heck out of it to get that shine, thats where I faulted earlier too. So, I've ended up with a shiny 3rd brake light, and the rest is semi-shiny.

The rest of the lens that are semi-shiny really bugs the hell out of me. Would it be a bad idea to sand paper it all off and start over, or just sand paper off some of the clear coat to get it smooth then wax/buff it again?

Thanks for the compliments. It really does make it look sharp, but I wish I could get them all shiny to match my paint....

Here's the video I used to VHT
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSKA0ElKg1Q
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8-hZ...eature=related

LS1Vince

yeah dude just go back at it with the sand paper and get it back to where all the compound is off so you can try it again!! glad the 3rd brake light came out good!