DIY red tails - question

[Jand3rson]

I did the amber corners of my tails today, and they came out pretty good, except for one area. On the passenger side light, on the part that wraps around the side of the quarter panel to the side, the paint is kind of very lightly dull/textured. It's glossy on the face of the lens that is on the back of the car, but just that corner got kind of slightly dull. The other light is fine.

It's not really bad, and I also haven't clearcoated them yet. Is this something that won't really be noticeable once it's cleared? I'm sure it won't even be noticeable to anyone but me, and I'm thinking that once the lense is clearcoated, it won't really be visible. Anyone have any thoughts?

[King Luis]

i clear coated mine and they turned out great...everything looks even...i'd give it a try...but then again i like my car to be clean and perfect. :roll:

[MR 325]

I'd guess the clearcoat should handle things once applied

[Jand3rson]

Looks like they'll be fine. After drying overnight, the dull part is a little less noticeable. Also, I was afraid I'd done the coats a little too thick, but they look 99% close to the other red parts of the lights. Once I clear them, they should turn out great. I'll post pics when they're done, they look really good.

[T.Dot E30]

I think it might be over spray from ur second coat or something......maybe u didn't cover that area properly, when i did mine i tried to give mine a lite final coat, and that happened, had to do another coat covering it better n everything was good

[King Luis]

don't put too many coats....when i did mine i put 3 good coats and it came out a little darker then stock...it still looked good but might not be what your looking for.

[PeaveyBassist]

Thats why you paint the whole tail with the paint :) Not just the amber part :)

Will

[Mystikal]

don't put too many coats....when i did mine i put 3 good coats and it came out a little darker then stock...it still looked good but might not be what your looking for.

What paint did you use anyways? I used Candy Apple, probably put on 4 coats (4 on amber, 2 on entire lens), and mine came out exactly stock.

[Jand3rson]

I used Testor's transparent candy apple red. I did just the corners. It's a little thick and just a *tad* darker than the rest of the stock red. I think it will look just fine once it's clearcoated. Besides, no one will ever know that they were painted besides me, and any other DIY tail-painter that looks really close at them.

[JPL]

give the paint some time to dry. with mine i noticed that the color mellowed out once it dryed and now matches quite well. and yes the clear coat helps very much.

[royalflush313]

I red spray-painted the amber part, let it dry, then wet sanded it to a nice finish.
Then clearcoated the whole tailight, then polished it up till I was happy. Came out great imo, but as soon as I find a good deal on smoked tails, I'm going to jump on it.

In the end it's a paint job, it will never come out looking non-spray painted when looking at it up close.

[King Luis]

i used some stained glass windows paint...don't remember the company or exact colour...but it was a small blue can....i sprayed my whole tail light except the reverse...i did 3 coats and it was darker then stock...but still looks good

[nefarious7907]

I am going to do this soon, and I want my tails to be a darker than they are now, I have heard testor candy apple a lot on here but the other people have said model masters, is one better than the other? I have heard other people say to use meguiars #2 to polish the lense after you paint it in place of clear coating it. Any thoughts?