I started doing some little stuff to the V...

Heres the first round of blacking out the tail lights.














They looked killer at night, but once i got them out in the light they were still WAY too red.


So i did another round, which i went a little too dak. lol. But they came out great.





(this is all pre-wetsanding)

 

(still pre-wetsanding)









And, after the wet-sanding. The emblem on the 3rd brake light is still covered in tape, i need to do a few more passes w/ ultimate compound.

 

And then i started cleaning up the headlights... The oxidation was really annoying me. Dealer wouldnt replace them, so i cleaned em up. Wet sanding & ultimate compound...

Before - i forgot to get a pic on the drivers side before sanding... but it looked just as bad as the pass side.


Sanded

(those are water streaks on the paint... not scratches.)

fully sanded


Polished








Ive been debating really hard about blacking out the head lights... but i really dont want to lose visibility, so i decided not to. Might just do the border... And i ran out of Nite Shade, so ill have to order some and finish up w/ the side markers and the fogs. And the 3rd brake light i messed up a little on one side, trying to fix it made it worse, so ill probably re-do the pass side. I want to see how many people actually notice. Probably very few... im kinda ****. lol

 

I LIKE IT
really like how the headlights cleaned up was it very hard I need to do mine body shop wanted to charge me $250

 

Looks good man. Nice work on the headlights! What products and sand paper did you use exactly? Mine aren't nearly as bad as yours were, but I am anticipating them getting there in the next year or two.

 

looks great makes that color look so nice. Rims are next!

 

Sand paper: used less then one sheet of each (10"x4")
800, 1000, 1500, 2000

&

Meguiars Ultimate compound


Total time was probably 45 min, doing it slow. No way id pay $250 bucks for it.

Total cost: $30 (with plenty of sand paper and UC left over)

 

I paid close attention to your headlights because mine are as bad, if not worse. They came out nice. I know some people are taking it a step further and clearcoating (untinted) them as well. What do you think?

 

I honestly thought about it... i even went and bought the clear coat. lol. But i wanted to see how well this did. If i see it starting to turn again, its getting clear coated. My only concern was if the clear coat causes any problems with the lights projection. I dont see why it would, but i dont know a lot about lgith traveling through paint so i wanted to ask around first. And clear paint seems to scratch alot easier (being on the front of the car)... Im pretty sure the lights will stay for a few years. Which is good enough for me. You still have to sand it to paint it... so i figured worst case i was half way done.

 

here are some pics of before:

 

Ok, I think I'll try it (headlights)! How much pressure with the sandpaper? I assume light pressure with all grits, but I really have no exp with sanding. wet? Dry?

 

Good job. Big CTS-V fan. I need to do that on my head lights on both my cars! Thanks for sharing.

 

Looks good

 

That looks sooo much better...I really need to get off my **** and do this.

 

Looks much better.

 

closeups of after pics of the tails please? did you use VHT? hows the finish?

 

Great job on the lights, I will need to do this soon for my headlights/

 

do not clear them afterwards. They will look terrible in about 6 months. The heat from the bulb will cause the clear to crack and start to turn dull. You will wish you didn't.

 

Wow, I just purchased a Stealth V!!!! very nice!!!!

 

Yep!!! This is what I'll be doing!!!!