Anyone use Nite shades or similar spray tint?

I

imported_kgb

New member
I am thinking of tinting my rear tail lights very lightly come Spring and was wondering what kind of luck you all had with that stuff.
 
I did not paint them myself, but my friend did. He is pretty good with the rattle can. Anyways, here is an article I wrote on them over at Team-Integra.net that ANY1 can use for painted tails.



Good Luck



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So I purchased painted 94-97 2-dr tails from Mark (RedTeg26) for a very nice deal. I got em and they look hot! They are painted with Krylon Candy Red Stained Glass Paint, then clearcoated with Duplicolor Clearcoat.



Right now, I will walk you through what I did to make them even prettier (can I use that word on this site?)...





Step 1: Clean em up with QD. Notice the rough surface that is all so common with DIY painting.

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Step 2: Level out the surface. I used Turtle Wax (only brand I had) Rubbing Compound to do so. It did a nice job, but you have to put some muscle into it. Notice the leveled surface but marring as well.

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Step 3: Get rid of the marring. I used Gliptone Swirl Free Polish with 3 different passes to remove the swirls and marring of the surface. 3 passes were neccessary because it is not a heavy duty paint cleaner and takes more effort when the surface is dulled like this case after compounding. Notice the clarity in the lense now.

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Step 4: Protect Protect Protect! I did 2 coats of Klasse AIO, then 1 coat of Klasse SG...waited 35 mins and polished it off with my MF towel. Look at those reflections. I'd say another 1-3 coats of SG and they will be on sometime later this week (yes I will post pics)

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I did all of this in my college dorm room. Now you don't have to laugh at me. I really did do a full detail on my tails...haha. Tell me what you think...





BTW: They are all red, even the reverse lights. Yes it is legal. Not good enough lighting in my room otherwise I'd have more complete pics.



Cheers!



Before

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After

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Lit up

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All comments welcomed.



Cheers!



Link to Taillight Detail/Install page w/More Pics
 
Testors makes a product called Transparent Black...probably the same basic product as Nite Shades. As the others have said, light coats are essential and I found that clear coating afterwards is important from a durability view point.



You typically find Testors products at any decent hobby/model shop.
 
GSRstilez said:




Summer Trim will be installed in about a month :D
Click to expand...



TY for reply :xyxthumbs



I think I've only seen your car with the black wheels. The sumer ones are much better :)



The kits great too :xyxthumbs



Ah summer........now there's a thought :D
 
I used Nite-Shades on my Thunderbird. It look soo much nicer than those plastic blackout things. Take the tails off, do several thin coats and good luck! It leaves a nice matte black finish. I was afraid of going to dark, but I can tell you plenty of light gets through them at night so don't worry. I want to go darker. I can get you some pics if you want.
 
I have used niteshades on my old Jetta, if you're just looking for a smoked look, spray the inside of the lens through the lightbulb hole... spray a generous amount in there, then shake the hell out of it to ensure that the stuff spreads out. The benefit of doing it this way is that you do not have a black taillight, you maintain the factory shine of the lens, and it's a much more subtle look.
 
I have seen it used on a friends tails, and we used 3 to 4 light coats to make them very black to match the paint, and then went over them with 2 or 3 coats of clear....they came out very shiny and are almost black in daylight and effectively black at night.
 
I did the same thing to my taillight last weekend. I used the Testor / Model Master Transparent Black Window Tint spray. I applied 4 thin coats on each light. They came out prety nice...shiny and black



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raugusta,



I like how yours came out! Nice nd shiney. I saw a 2001 Civic just like mine last night with blacked out tails, obviously done with Night Shades, and it had that matte / flat finished. I don't care for that look on a shiney black car.
 
One thing you might want to keep in mind is the laws aganist them. The reason I say this is because I was going to do the covers for my truck, but my father's lawyer said if you ever get rearended the person who hits you can blame it on and your lights. I believe you need a certain amount of red on the light. The chance of me getting in trouble for an accident, possibility of a ticket from a cop(NJ blows) and the fact i'd have to take them on and off every 2 years kept me away from them. I really like the smoked look a lot though, it really looks good on raugusta's Audi, I think those tailights look a lot nicer then the ones on the newer models, but thats just my opinion.
 
I went to my local hobby shop today and they don't have the Testors tint...they were rude s.o.b.'s too! Even if they had it I would not of given them my business.
 
On the tail lights you posted above (the painted red ones), do you have any pics with the back up lights on? Do they light up white still with a hint of red or are they pretty much solid red looking?



Robert
 
I just did this last week. Everybody says my car looks much better with the lights tinted. I put on 5 coats on each light.



BTW I used the Testors Transparent Black window Tint. I will try to get pics up this week.
 
I actually sprayed mine Panther Black - the same colour as my car! ;) Thats several very thin layers of Panther Black paint on there! :)



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Rich
 
Any more pictures people?



So, is it better to spray it on the inside or the outside?



Do you know where to get these supplies in the NYC area? Shipping is a rip off!!
 
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