Smoking or Redding BRZ/FR-S Tail Lights

[qoncept]

Originally Posted by Tor

So Metalcast is a dedicated tinting paint?

Yep

[Aaronimoe]

is it possible to tint the inside of the lenses with this stuff?

[Joe-G]

So I used an acrylic clear coat, and it seams the clear coat scratches quite easily... even with my fingers..

Its been a good few weeks so im guessing the paint is cured. Anyone else have the same problem?


Ive yet to wet sand and polish though.

[B-R-Z]

Originally Posted by Joe-G

So I used an acrylic clear coat, and it seams the clear coat scratches quite easily... even with my fingers..

Its been a good few weeks so im guessing the paint is cured. Anyone else have the same problem?


Ive yet to wet sand and polish though.

Sand it and go with spraymax2k. Looks professional and does not scratch

[Maggie_Mullen]

Oh wow didn't know it was that easy have always wanted to do this to my car. Can't wait to see how it comes out.

[hey_its_that_guy]

I know this is not a BRZ/FRS/GT86 tail light, but is there any way to fix the cracking without sanding down and starting all over? It cracked after my first coat of clear. I'm thinking I didn't clean it as well as I should have, or had some residue left over from the tack cloth from wiping with too much pressure.

[IMG][/IMG]

[hey_its_that_guy]

[IMG][/IMG]

This is probably a better size to look at.

This is from my WRX hatch. The turn signal/brake light came out perfect, but I didn't have anything taped off. The taped off reverse lights, shown, look like the cracking is happening near the seams. I just put down a first coat of clear on the other side and the same thing happened. I even made sure to wetsand the seams down smooth and it still cracked at the seams. I even made sure to clean those ones properly and didn't use the tack cloth.

Should I just sand it down to the lens and start all over? How I can prevent this from happening again? I put 5 coats of Metal Cast down and then waited a week for the paint to fully cure. Then I wiped clean, wetsanded, wiped the sand off, and then cleaned one more time and let that dry. Then I put down the clear.

I cleaned with Windex, which my turn signals/brake lights came out perfect. Also, do I need to wait a week for the clear to fully cure before I sand it down bare?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would ask on NASIOC, but it seems like there is more knowledge for stuff like this on these boards.

Good thing I did this to my WRX before I did my fiancees BRZ. She'd kill me if this happened to her lights.

[mpross]

Finished mine today. Pretty happy with them. 3 coats of red, 2 coats of tint

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

[hey_its_that_guy]

So for people who are attempting to smoke tint or red tint their lenses themselves and leave the turn signal cutout, here a little bit of advice:

Don't wetsand the taped off edges too much before you spray your clear coat. I tried to wetsand the lines flat and smooth before the clear so that you couldn't feel where it went from red to clear on the lense. What happened was that in order to get it completely smooth and flat at the lines, I had to sand down a lot of the base coat right at the seam/line. When it was time to spray the clear, there was not enough base coat at these areas and the clear will wrinkle the base coat as it dries because there is not enough base coat to hold against the clear. This is even after giving the base coat a full week to fully clear in pretty warm SoCal weather. I don't think it was a matter of not cleaning well enough before I sprayed the clear, as all the other parts were cleaned exactly the same way and there was no wrinkling.

So, what I did to remedy the wrinkling after the first two attempts was first make sure that I had good base coats before I sprayed the clear. I put down 3 light coats, and two medium coats, making sure that I got even coverage at the taped off seams, and then let that sit for 3 hours. I did no wetsanding between coats as it would be a pain to retape after wetsanding and I did not have the patience for that. After the three hours, I went in with 3 light coats of clear with the tape on. Then I let that sit for an hour, took the tape off and cleaned with my cleaner/degreaser, wiped and dried, and then washed with dish soap on the soft side of a dish sponge. Wiped and dried for 20 or 30 minutes and then went back in 2 light coats of clear, and then one heavy coat, and then let dry overnight. Came out very well, but I will still need to wetsand, cut and polish, and wax after a week of letting the clear fully cure. The best part was that there was no wrinkling of the base coat. Now I'm going to wetsand the lines smooth as there are no more coats to put on, so there is no risk for wrinking, or at least I hope so.

I know that my lights were not BRZ/FRS lights, but some of you do want your turn signals to stay clear, so this is relevant to you. I used Duplicolor Metal Cast Red for the base coat and Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Gloss Clear. Metal Cast you can find at pretty much any Autozone, and the 2X Gloss Clear you can get at Home Depot. Just make sure its the Gloss and not the Matte.

If you are attempting this and you have little to no experience, I do suggest getting a wide range of sand paper in case you mess up and need to sand down and start all over. Supposedly brake fluid works to remove the clear and paint, but its hazardous and I wasn't 100% sure it would not damage the plastic, so I didn't risk it. If you do mess up and need to sand down to the lense to start over, you can wetsand with 400 grit in order to make things go faster. You don't want to sit there for 3 hours with 1000 grit or more. Also, don't wait to remove it. Once you have determined that you need to start over, go in and sand it down. I waited a week in between my mistakes and paid for it with hours of sanding everything down each time since the paint and clear had cured.

If anyone has questions based on my many mistakes, please feel free to PM me. I'm not on these boards much, so a PM will at least trigger an email.

Good luck to those of you willing to try this. My last bit of advice is stay calm and don't rush it even if you mess up.

[klear]

So I have the VHT nightshade red and the spraymax 2k. I have 800-1k-2k sandpaper and cut, polish, wax available. I was going to sand 800-1k-2k, clean then paint 3 light coats red then a few thicker coats. Wetsand 1k-2k then a few coats of clear then wetsand 1k-2k, cut, polish, wax. Is this a sound approach? I see lots of people just cleaning then spraying and not very much wetsanding happening.

[olsen726]

i'm in the process of doing this right now (lights are coming out amazing) anyways, i sprayed my first coat of spramax2k clear bout ten minutes ago. and was wondering what everyone's average wait time is between clear coat layers?

i was doing around 15 min between metalcast coats if i wasn't wetsanding between the two coats, and it seemed to work really well.

[olsen726]

gonna wait a week, then wet sand and polish! these things turned out awesome, they are super clear, its hard to tell from the pics, but they are really transparent, and not at all foggy.

[inferno56kb]

hey can someone who reddened their taillight completely make a video how the turn signal looks afterwards, i couldn't find a video of it anywhere? I would love to redden the whole light (and not leave out the turn signal), but there are some laws in my country saying that the turn signal has to be a distinguishable orange color :/

[Bamsterman]

Heres my little project...black housing with red tint