Polishing Tinted Tail Lights

[clocke49]

I searched the forums for topics concerning tinted tail lights, but nothing came up relative to what I want to know.. which is;



Is it safe to machine polish over tinted tail lights? I'd like to know before I do it since I'd rather not ruin a set of tails.

 

[The Enforcer]

It depends......if the tail lights are cleared with a dark clearcoat, then it will change the darkness of it as you remove that clearcoat. if the tail lights were tinted, and then recleared with true clear.....it will be ok.

 

[craigdt]

^^ Bingo. Or you can always just go at it and see what happens...

 

[clocke49]

And what is the worst-case scenario of just going at it and seeing what happens? Could always re-tint and re-clear I suppose, but that's unnecessary costs at the moment.

 

[focus2069]

make it simple, tell the owner (if its for a client)...that if he did the tinting half ***, then he will be retinting them...



if it was done right, with true clear coat then its fine.





a third option, is that if he used Nite Shade on them, which is essentially hobby paint....again, as long as they were cleared over you should be ok.

 

[jaidedeye]

like anything else just use the least evasive process first. i always hand polish my tinted tails

 

[drewkeenan]

Try to evaluate the material that your working with. If they are simply tinted like a bug deflector that people attach to the hood of the car, you have a lot of working room! Here, you can use a stiff foam pad and some polish to recondition them. Sometimes you need to start off a little stronger with some compound. Sometimes you can simply buff with a thick cleaner wax. If the tails are aftermarket tinted, definitely, like the other posts suggest, go least evasive first. Remember, condition has a lot to do with it as well. Sometimes there is only so much you can do if the damage is great enough.

 

[jaidedeye]

if the tint is simply VHT nite shades and spray bomb clear you need to be very careful..if quality automotive clear was used you can be a little more aggressive. the key is knowing what your stepping in so to speak.

 

[clocke49]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I think I'll probably just hand polish them to be safe. Not too worried about the tail lights being absolutely mirror-esque anyways.

 

[jaidedeye]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I think I'll probably just hand polish them to be safe. Not too worried about the tail lights being absolutely mirror-esque anyways.

try some glaze on them as well.

 

[The Enforcer]

the tip to doing this CORRECTLY is spraying your tint (VHT, tinted clear, whatever you use)....allow that to flash or dry, and then clear OVER them. that way the part you are wetsanding and buffing is regular clea and will not affect the shade or darkness of the lights.



here are mine......VHT with regular cleat form an HVLP gun on top



freshly done....orange peely

Cut/buffed

 

[jaidedeye]

those look great, exactly the way i do them

 

[clocke49]

That looks great. I think I'm just going to re-tint them a few days before I detail it. When I bought the car, the lights were already tinted.. Found out today he used a spray tint with clear built in it apparently... would probably explain why it's fading.



I'll do you what you did Enforcer, those lights look perfect.

 

[Irkie500]

I finally ordered a porter cable and im excited to polish up my tail lights. People are always asking me when im going to do it, and now I can tell them very soon lol.

 

[The Enforcer]

POlishing alone will not do much.......wetsand it first. that might sound kinda dumb and elementary, but a lot of people think that just buffing it will do the trick!

 

[SVTContour]

I was in the exact same situation with my Mustang, crappy orange peel tint sprayed over the taillights, although the amount of tint was fine. I just lightly wetsanded with 600 to scuff it up, then put down a couple coats of Duplicolor clear, then wetsanded with 2000, 2500, compound, polish and they are like glass.

 

[ezemsm444]

if there are no scratches on the surface you might be able to wetsand with 1500 as light as possible and spary clear on them. Then wetsand and polish to perfection.

 

[clocke49]

There are a few scratches on the surface, but my main problem is that they are fading and the clear used isn't polish-safe... So my plan is to re-tint them the right way. Keep them from fading, and keep them shiny by being polish-able.