sniffin94

iTrader: (3)

Made the mistake of having my rear lights (all of them) tinted, as well as the fog, and marker lights and did light tint on the headlights. Tint adhesive jacked up the headlights. Going to get new headlights and I was thinking of removing the tint on the other lights and using the Nightshades spray. Anyone have good/bad experience with them? Also I want to totally black out the grill and lower grill, is there a good way to have the stock units black? I really don't want to buy aftermarket. I was told by a wheel shop that they would black out the stock wheels for $500-600. Is this a good price?

Thanks in advance

CTSV_510

iTrader: (1)

My lights are painted so I can't comment on the nightshades, but what do you mean by the shop would "black out" your wheels? I painted my wheels with plasti dip, it costs all of $30 and a couple hours of my time. They look great, I love them. I would never have paid anymore to get them powdercoated or anything else, too much of a hassle and plasti dip you can peel off if you want to change the look. I used it on the front grills too and I think it looks great, especially for the price. It doesn't have a high gloss finish that you can shine up, but I like the flat look.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/16333846-post15.html

A couple pics in the link above.

soulja

iTrader: (3)

I used nightshades on my tails, reverse lights, and 3rd Brake light. It came out great! I will see if I can find a pic.

tmonttt

iTrader: (10)

I second the Plasti-Dip, I used it on my grills, my headlight trim and I did my buddies wheels with it. Awesome stuff that is very easy to work with, cheap and they now make a gloss coating for it so you can go from a flat black to a nice gloss black as well.

Here's some pictures of my Plasti-Dipped setups...

Top and Bottom grille were done here.



Wheels, grille and badges were done with it.



Wheels done with it...

EdmundGTP

If all you want to do is make the wheels black, then as mentioned above, plasti-dip is the cheapest way to go. If you want to powdercoat them a custom color, like dark hyper silver or something else gunmetal-ish, then 500-600 is about the going rate to have a set of wheels re-finished.

Using tint film on exterior surfaces is a a mistake. Tinting the lights so that they look "good" from 20 feet away with nightshades is easy. Tinting the lights so that they look good from 2 feet away with nightshades is VERY difficult unless you have lots of experience with painting, prep, wet sanding and polishing. Even if you do have experience with all those things, it's a long tedious labor-intensive job, especially if you dont have a polishing machine. I've done it all before, and I have a machine, and if I had to do it again, I'd send them to a shop in a heartbeat..

The way to get the BEST finish on tinted lights is to have a body shop spray them with a mix of clear and black, and have them wet sand and polish them. To do all of your lights it may cost up to a couple hundred bucks, but the difference in results between an ameteur nightshades job and a professional body shop job is staggering.

If I were you, I'd try to clean off as much of the tint adhesive from your lights as possible with cleaner, then I would wet sand the lenses with 600-800 grit to prep them for having a shop paint them. Then I'd take them somewhere to get them tinted.

04Vguy

iTrader: (3)

I plasti dipped my wheels grills and grill trim. Love it. And after a few month or a tire change just peel it off and re spray. Easy as can be.

ls1ya

iTrader: (2)

Had headlights, tails, 3rd light, markers, and signals sprayed with a translucent black and a couple coats of clear for $150 at a body shop. Powdercoating goes for $200 for four wheels around here. But plastidip is looking like a good option right now. Probably get a dirty pic in a min.

sniffin94

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for the responses guys. For the grills and wheels, did you guys remove them or just tape them off? I have never used the plasti dip before so not really sure what to expect. Also, how does the finish hold up with washing?

rbsurfer

Plasti dip for the win!!!! Night shade is good do light coats for very even finish and after 4-6ur months redo them it tends to fade so the second time is like a sealer coat .. if your near Delaware hit me up in a pm ill help

CheM

iTrader: (3)

grill, is super easy took me about 25mins (most of that was taping).



Nightshades works great too, but does require more manual work (sand polish the clear).

I bet you could fix your current light , quick sand +tint+clear and they would be good to go.

manitzchris

iTrader: (2)

nightshades is easy

wet sand
spray 2 coats
polish
wax

looks oem

sniffin94

iTrader: (3)

what grit did you wet sand with? Machine polish?

thefullmonty_07

iTrader: (1)

I'd recommend just getting them sprayed by a shop... I did the VHT Nightshades and it looked ok but a little foggy, but after sometime being in the sun and the car getting washed, it started to fade away in a few months.
The first pic is after I took them to the shop, the second is VHT. If you want a pic of the tail lights with VHT just let me know. As for the plasti dip, I use it for my grille and chrome strip on the hood...still hasn't chipped.

etcts-v

I had my top and lower grill as well as my wheels powder coated black, total cost was $250 and it's bullet proof, even survived a front end crash at 50 mph. My lights are all VHT, it works great the only thing I would say is clear over the VHT otherwise they start looking dull and crappy after a few months (example in below picture, my 3rd tail light has no clear, tail lights & reverse lights do)

sniffin94

iTrader: (3)

[QUOTE=etcts-v;16794881]I had my top and lower grill as well as my wheels powder coated black, total cost was $250 and it's bullet proof, even survived a front end crash at 50 mph. My lights are all VHT, it works great the only thing I would say is clear over the VHT otherwise they start looking dull and crappy after a few months (example in below picture, my 3rd tail light has no clear, tail lights & reverse lights do)]

Is that as dark as the VHT makes it on your rear tail light? The reverse light and 3rd brake light look really dark but the tailight doesnt look dark at all. I might call around for powdercoating if its that cheap. Also is that the VHT on the fog lights? I definately want to black them out too.

CTSV_510

iTrader: (1)

Powder coating is not usually that cheap... $250 for the front grill and all wheels is about half or less than half of what it would typically cost. Cheapest I found around me was $125/wheel.

etcts-v

I would call around, I got quoted $350 from a shop in Seattle then found one out in the sticks to do it for $250.

You can make the VHT as dark as you want, more coats the darker it goes. First try I went too dark, made the car look ricey so I wiped it off (comes right off with some acetone) and re-did it. My tail lights are two light coats and yeah that is VHT on the fogs.

MadMike05

Plasti dip is great stuff. Did a set of wheels with it and they leasted the better part of 2 years. Never messed with VHT but plenty of people do, as they say... less is more!

ls1ya

iTrader: (2)

Quic pic

sniffin94

iTrader: (3)

If the tailights are dark, does the light still come through enough? I had my headlights tinted and not enough light came through for me. I do have my entire windshield tinted though so maybe the combo was too much.