Alright everyone ... as i promised like two months ago but forgot about, here is the proper technique for applying, sanding, clearing, polishing and painting with niteshades ...

First off - the supplies you are going to need AT THE MINIMUM ...

- Vht niteshades ( 1 can will do a set of taillights - but 2 will cover your butt just in case )

- automotive clearcoat - rattle can ( regular clear from walmart will work but dont skimp, but the real stuff )

- rubbing alcohol/ paint thinner

- blue painters tape ( or good masking tape ... that tan masking tape will bleed)

- automotive wet/dry sand paper - one pack of 2000 grit and one of 1000 ( for the 1000 anything between 600-1200 will work )

- Meguiars Ultimate Compound - or similiar buffing/ polishing compound and some of your car wax

optional -
- razorblade or exacto ( if youre cutting out a design to spare a section from color
- latex gloves ( when sanding or painting ... the oil from your hands will ruin the paint adherence and screw up your final appearance )
- some kind of dust or paint mask ( unless you want niteshaded boogers )
- cardboard or newspaper to spread out ( wetsanding is messing )
- paper towels to wipe up or prep surfaces ( use heavy duty towels to avoid lint or use some clean shop rags or an old cotton tshirt )
- some videogames or a book ( you need to allow the coats to set up a proper amount of time otherwise youre going to get runs )

allright lets get to it ... after removing whatever it is you are wishing to paint, and getting bulbs/ wires/ hid ballasts or rubber grommets out of the way. First steps first ...

CLEANING - with degreaser or windex any area you are going to paint ... even though you are about to sand, you want the areas to be clean. Sanding a bunch of dirt and grime onto or into your plastic surface will not be good.

SANDING - Wet/dry sandpaper works much better as wet ... so soak the lower number grit sandpaper you have in a cup of water for a minimum of 2 minutes maximum of 5 ... what youre trying to do is rough up the surface of the plastic. Even if you are not going to paint the entire thing, SAND THE WHOLE SURFACE. Otherwise no matter your efforts, you are going to end up getting uneven surfaces and overspray that will look bad. So let me reiterate - SAND THE WHOLE SURFACE ... ( look below picture 1 ) this is what youre trying to get the whole surface to look like ... and trust me when I say this, if you follow the steps properly and TAKE YOUR TIME ... you will end up looking like mine - check my sig - When sanding, the sandpaper will build up residue and start to look like paste ... dip the paper back in the water to make sure you are sanding instead of rubbing. For a set of average size taillights like ours, you are going to use approximately 4" x 4" paper roughing up each housing.

For reference, the first picture is before sanding completely and the second is prior to taping ...



If you are perfectionist and dont want a single imperfection in your paint then wear gloves when taping so as not to leave fingerprints or get crap all over your freshly sanded/ cleaned/ and taped lamps - use your head obviously, your arm grease/sweat will accomplish the same horrible result so take care carrying prepped surfaces to your painting area

PREPPING AND TAPING - If you are going to paint the entire surface, then clean your freshly sanded housing with rubbing alcohol or paint thinner and skip this step ... However if you are planning to leave an area unpainted/ tinted please read carefully. First of all, clean with rubbing alcohol or paint thinner and allow to air dry before taping off. If you are going to be taping off a design, you want to make sure to use only one piece of tape for long straight edges or be sure to overlap excessively and then cut out the section with exacto where paint will stay. If this doesnt make sense, then you shouldnt be painting your lights to begin with

After laying out or taping the design where paint will stay, be sure to tape off the holes in the back, as to not allow overspray into the actual assembly, and any other sections you do not wish to have paint on... the actual mounting plastic, the rear sections of the housing, the weatherstripping/ rubber lining ... remember taping will take you less than 10 minutes but fixing a mistake after painting will take hours if ever here is one of my headlights taped off -


PAINTING - Allright, you have sanded, cleaned, taped and prepped your items to be painted ... make sure your painting somewhere where no one is going to bump into or drop thins on them, no excess wind, but obviously with adequate ventilation, because cool lights wont look cool if you pass out from fumes. I always wear a mask when using any kind of spray paint because i paint ALOT ... and have horrible allergies as it is. SHAKE THE PAINT CAN ... then shake it some more, at the least 1 continuous minute of shaking before even starting. Seeing as i cant actually make a video on how to paint for you, check youtube as there are videos that cover the actual painting technique for you. But for the first coat, spray just enough to coat, something to grab on to the sanded surface ( if you ever cooked before ... spray enough like you would lightly grease with PAM cooking spray ... a dusting ) ...... and then wait ... around 10-20 minutes depending on ventilation and humidity, before going back for subsequent coats. The second coat can be light to medium, just enough to make it look as though it has filled in everything with some color. WAIT AGAIN - 10-20 minutes. The third coat can be medium to heavy, overlap the paths of the spray so to ensure good and adequate coverage. If you are going on other peoples recommendations on how many coats of niteshades will allow maximum light through then consider all this one heavy coat ... in my experience, anything from 3-5 heavy coats will allow nearly the same amount of light through. I did nearly 6 heavy coats on taillights, have never been pulled over for them, however at night they look completely black when the car is off and during the day in direct sun you can see some red under the niteshades - REMEMBER TO LET DRY IN BETWEEN COATS ... most spray paints can take another coat after a few minutes but niteshades is thin and runny ... dont rush it


Now ... after your last coat of niteshades youre going to want to let the paint cure/ dry for at least an hour before attempting to sand at all. You dont have to sand the niteshades before clearing, but it will look the best if you do - look at the following picture to see the difference in unsanded niteshades and a smooth sanded niteshades ready for clear - if you look close enough at the front lamp you can see the edge of the orange peel and uneven pattern in the paint ... this is what youre going to get rid of in the next step -


SANDING - AGAIN - allright, now that the niteshades has dried/ cured enough to be sanded, start by removing all the design painters tape or any tape covering any part to be cleared. If from above you did not add any designs and painted the entire housing, simply start sanding again and skip this part - For people who masked off areas or added designs - The edges of the the niteshades will have built up a bit so youre going to want to sand this and the whole painted surface with your 1000 grit sandpaper to rough it up again so the clear will stick. Sanding the edges of the niteshades will knock it down enough to prevent any even surfaces that will be prone to chipping or cracking earlier ... before clear coating youre going to want the niteshades to feel like the housing did before painting ... kind of rough like construction paper.

After youve sanded the niteshades painted area, you can sand everything all over again quickly to get the surface roughed up, then prior to the next step, clean with rubbing alcohol again to get all particles and crap off ... you can understand how using paint thinner now will be bad

CLEAR COAT - When choosing your clear coat, its all about how much you trust non automotive clear coats to not fade in the sun ... but the price difference to do this properly comparing a can of auto clear to krylon clear is like a dollar. 2-3 coats of clear coat is plenty as you will never sand this all off, or polish it off when buffing your car ( thats right ... after this you treat your tails or headlights like the rest of your car ... polish, wax and all ) - follow the instructions on your clear coat about drying times between coats and before being able to sand it as well. I found that 10 minutes between clear coats and an hour or more before sanding again was enough - yeah thats right ... youre sanding again after this

SANDING FOR THE LAST TIME/ BUFFING AND OR COMPOUNDING - Make sure that the clear is completely dry/ cured ... you would even be good letting them sit for 4-6 hours before sanding. Ok now that everything is dry and youre done painting, its time to get everything looking like your cars clear coat. You may be thinking, but "the clear looks great right now" - but dont worry it will look better after you do this ... Prep your 2000 grit with some water, and get to sanding your clear to completely smooth out the clear ... Obviously since youre using 2000 grit finishing sandpaper its going to take some effort to get it completely smooth but its worth it ...


once youve sanded again, use some kind of rubbing/ buffing/ polishing compound meant to get fine scratches out ... meguiars ultimate compound works great ... see the following picture to see the difference from 2000 grit sanded to one coat of compound will make - and the one after is completely compounded and ready to go back on the car




i do believe i have covered everything pretty well and if you get everything sanded and painted properly, niteshades will end up looking like this once back on the car ... notice how it looks nearly as deep/ reflective and shiny as the car ... because this was after a couple of weeks and i polished/ buffed the tails just like the rest of the car - note in this picture you can see the section i masked out to ensure people can see my turn signals/ side markers



if there are any other steps someone would like clarification on before attempting themselves be sure to ask and i will do my best ... its been a while since i wrote out some lesson plans ... so i may be rusty in my steps/ explanations but i hope this helps anyone thinking about niteshades because for less than 30-40 bucks you can attain a totally different look

 

Thanks drjesus. I bough all the items yesterday and I also use the ultimate compound for waxes so that's a plus. Ill try to do it tonight to let it dry overnight. Your car turned out great. Wish me luck but I'll take my time.

 

Nice writeup. Bookmarking it for when I go to do my tails

 

Great write up! Thanks.

 

i have total faith that anyone that trusts themselves enough to take their time and know that it will turn out can do this right ... if you rush it ... youll get rushed results ... i would bet money you couldnt tell the difference in my taillights and one of the ones that guy FLIP does :p ... granted he uses legitimate hvlp automotive painting equipment and proper clear coat but hey not bad for a rattle can huh ?

 

Very nice write up.

 

how blothcy is that light comming through your headlights with vht....

 

Very nice same way i do mine when i use vht

 

good to know someone else respects the product as it is because they know how to use it properly ... rather than blaming the gun for shooting your foot off you should blame your own dumb *** for pointing it at your foot :p


the areas that have niteshades arent necessary for the light to come through, merely to add an effect or eyebrows, and even at night with the high beams on you can barely see the light in a slight purple tone under the paint ... it was around 10 really heavy coats if i remember

 

Well I just finished yesterday with the niteshades and it came out perfect. I followed drjesus steps and got a mirror shine finish to them. I'll post pics later today. i only did 3 coats to them. I didn't want them pitch black either. Great write up.

Drjesus did you installed a ddm's hid yourself? I am so confused with my kit I don't know where to start. I tried following mavericks install but still kind of confused.