Removing Paint/Tint From Tail Lights
02-26-2012 | 08:21 PM
#1
Removing Paint/Tint From Tail Lights I was recently given a pair of tail lights for my 00 Z28. The only problem was that they were tinted way too dark for my taste. Here is what they looked like originally:
I originally thought they were painted with VHT Nightshade and tried to remove the paint with lacquer thinner, acetone, goo gone, etc... Nothing seemed to affect the paint, so I decided to sand the paint off. I started with 100 grit. If you look close, it appears that these lights were painted with base coat/clear coat:
I periodically cleaned the lights with lacquer thinner to see what I was working with:
Here is one of the lights with all the paint removed:
You can see the scratches that were left behind from the 100 grit sandpaper:
I then wet sanded the lights with 400 grit, 800 grit, 1000 grit and 1500 grit. It was hard for me to capture the difference in between each stage, but here is what they looked like after the 1500 grit step:
The last step was to buff the lights using a Porter Cable 7424 and rubbing compound (I used Mequiars).
I must confess, there are still some scratches in some areas that you can still see. These are likely from the 100 grit sandpaper and I didn't fully remove them with the next step. These lights are going on a daily driver, so I'm not too concerned about it, but for someone who is doing this on a show car, it would be best to start sanding with something that is not as aggressive as 100 grit. That is just what I had at the time and I wasn't too concerned about the affects of it since the lights were free. The other benefit (in my opinion) of this process is that I was able to sand away all of the lettering on the lights (model year, DOT number, etc...). I hope this helps someone else out.
I originally thought they were painted with VHT Nightshade and tried to remove the paint with lacquer thinner, acetone, goo gone, etc... Nothing seemed to affect the paint, so I decided to sand the paint off. I started with 100 grit. If you look close, it appears that these lights were painted with base coat/clear coat:
I periodically cleaned the lights with lacquer thinner to see what I was working with:
Here is one of the lights with all the paint removed:
You can see the scratches that were left behind from the 100 grit sandpaper:
I then wet sanded the lights with 400 grit, 800 grit, 1000 grit and 1500 grit. It was hard for me to capture the difference in between each stage, but here is what they looked like after the 1500 grit step:
The last step was to buff the lights using a Porter Cable 7424 and rubbing compound (I used Mequiars).
I must confess, there are still some scratches in some areas that you can still see. These are likely from the 100 grit sandpaper and I didn't fully remove them with the next step. These lights are going on a daily driver, so I'm not too concerned about it, but for someone who is doing this on a show car, it would be best to start sanding with something that is not as aggressive as 100 grit. That is just what I had at the time and I wasn't too concerned about the affects of it since the lights were free. The other benefit (in my opinion) of this process is that I was able to sand away all of the lettering on the lights (model year, DOT number, etc...). I hope this helps someone else out.
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