Tinting Tail Lights

CT9AIX · Mar 10, 2014

Tail lights have been bothering me for awhile seeing they are stock and look bright compared to all my other lights which have been blacked out. I'm looking to just give it a lite coat, def don't want them pitch black by any means. I've never tinted any lights before, but see there are a lot of spray tints available. Autozone carries VHT brand spray tint and seems ok from what I've seen online. Has anyone done this before and have a brand of tint and clear coat they have had good luck with? I'd hate to go buy some stuff and have it come out like crap because I didn't ask around before. Thanks!

sootie · Mar 10, 2014

vht looks poor. it ends up with a dull finish.

i believe some others used black auto paint mixed with clear.

MINK · Mar 10, 2014

The vht looks purple and will crack if not cleared in the sun light, that's the only product I have first hand experience with outside of mixing my own tint "coctail" - enjoy!

campbellflage · Mar 10, 2014

I have used VHT night shades on my reflector on my headlights, but it came out a little on the dark side, gotta be very easy on how much your spraying on.

HOOV3R · Mar 10, 2014

The vht also fades away completely in a year or two.

CT9AIX · Mar 10, 2014

Damn, glad I asked before I went ahead and tried it. So the general theme here seems to have a body shop mix up a little cocktail of clear/black paint then?

sootie · Mar 10, 2014

....or have MINK do it

CT9AIX · Mar 10, 2014

MINK said:
The vht looks purple and will crack if not cleared in the sun light, that's the only product I have first hand experience with outside of mixing my own tint "coctail" - enjoy!

You holding out on me here? Custom tinting services available?

MINK · Mar 10, 2014

CT9AIX said:
Damn, glad I asked before I went ahead and tried it. So the general theme here seems to have a body shop mix up a little cocktail of clear/black paint then?

Yes

sootie said:
....or have MINK do it

Thanks buddy!

CT9AIX said:
You holding out on me here? Custom tinting services available?

I'm not a sponsor

dsberman94 · Mar 10, 2014

Plastidip tint. Do as many coats for however dark you want then cover it with a couple coats of gloss clear and it'll be good. Then if one breaks you replace the broken light peel the stuff off the other light and do it again.

Josh@DirtyDiesels · Mar 10, 2014

^ that will look like dog**** compared to a set of professionally done ones.

MINK · Mar 10, 2014

dsberman94 said:
Plastidip tint. Do as many coats for however dark you want then cover it with a couple coats of gloss clear and it'll be good. Then if one breaks you replace the broken light peel the stuff off the other light and do it again.

Have you used the plastidip?

I personally dont think the texture will be as nice but I would be interested in hearing how it worked out.

CT9AIX · Mar 10, 2014

MINK said:
I'm not a sponsor

Gotcha

dsberman94 · Mar 10, 2014

dzlpwr said:
^ that will look like dog**** compared to a set of professionally done ones.

Yea and vht looks like dogchit when people go friggin crazy with it. Then some asshole breaks one of your taillights and you have to buy two instead of just one because your never gonna get the tint to match again.

dsberman94 · Mar 10, 2014

MINK said:
Have you used the plastidip?

I personally dont think the texture will be as nice but I would be interested in hearing how it worked out.

I used it to do this to my headlights a little while ago

grille and mirrors are krylon. No clear on anything yet. ill admit it looks better from every angle except that one. And it looks better when it's clean. Especially in the reflection of something when I pull up to it like the window or a gas station or restaurant.
Without the clear the regular stuff has a slight bit of texture. I haven't used the clear yet because I was rushed to do my headlights so I didn't get the chance but I've seen the videos of the clear and it looks really smooth. But I guess if it didn't dry smooth it wouldn't be glossy. I also did a door handle when I did the headlights and the white peeled off because I didn't get enough on the crease of the handle. So it's kinda half azz right now till I peel it or redo the white.
Might be able to get some clear on the headlights this weekend since it should be warmer. Then I can report back on the gloss clear texture and what not.

Dmstrucks02 · Mar 11, 2014

I had my old S10 tail lights done with balck/clear mix before night shades was even out im sure. It always looked good, and I could wax right over it!

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MINK · Mar 11, 2014

dsberman94 said:
Yea and vht looks like dogchit when people go friggin crazy with it. Then some asshole breaks one of your taillights and you have to buy two instead of just one because your never gonna get the tint to match again.

Not true at all.

RSK · Mar 11, 2014

dsberman94 said:
Yea and vht looks like dogchit when people go friggin crazy with it. Then some asshole breaks one of your taillights and you have to buy two instead of just one because your never gonna get the tint to match again.

I think mink has it down to a science! 1-10 drops of tuxuedo black depending on how dark you want your lights mixed in with clear coat.