Removal of painted lights

[Rob.Vegan]

I recently got a fix it ticket for my head lights and tail lights. After looking at multiple stores for a paint remover safe for plastics, I gave up and bought an aerosal can of aircraft paint remover.

Did the headlights and messed them up a little bit because I forgot to take the remover off and it started eating through the plastic

Most of that paint was off and then yesterday I decided to start on the tail lights. I couldn't find my old can of remover so I went out and bought a different kind (it was like a buck or two cheaper). The paint was falling off and I got super happy since the other remover was being a PITA. I wiped the excess paint off and rinsed the light.

Like 3 minutes later as the light was drying, it started turning white. I had already started on the other light so I was screwed. I tried rubbing, buffing, sanding, using the old paint remover (I found it in my trunk). Nothing was working. My lights looked hideous. Today I got stronger sand paper (800) and then cleared that up with (1500) then I clear coated it.

Dam, I was so pist after the results from the clear coat. It went from opaque white to nice and red.The passenger tail is still messed up from my experiments but it will be fixed soon. I only took a couple pics for comparison.

Before Clear Coat:



Driver Clear Coated:



Both Clear Coated:

[BLKmomba1]

Damn V. yea thats like putting Acetone on plastic... it removes the shiny top layer... that sux tho man sorry to hear that the cops r being jrks. it looked nice!

[PHENOMenalVinyl]

damn bro that sucks so do you think i should just sand my lights before i redo them or use this stuff then sand then repaint ??

[Rob.Vegan]

I'm not sure what the difference in material is between the plastic of the tails and the heads. But if you do use paint remover get the aircraft paint remover one. That didn't give me any problems.

However I heard if you soak the lights in DOT3 brake fluid the paint should come right off as well. I'm going to try that for the parts I missed on the headlights.

If you do just sand it might take awhile even with a 3 or 600 grit paper.

[rcboy514]

man that sux bro, fixed tickets are the worst!

well I was about to make a new thread about painted tails, but I saw this and have a question for you rob.

When your tails were painted did you paint the whole taillight? or painted the GTR style? or painted everything but the reverse light area?

I want to paint the whole taillight on my car except for the reverse light, and I was wondering if you can tell that they are painted when the brake light is on. My friend painted his tails on his mustang with some cheap black paint and when the lights are on it looks like speckled and like it really was spray painted.

[Rob.Vegan]

Well I bought some spray that was like VHT Nightshade but was like some off brand company from Japan. So they were made for tail lights.

My brakes were plainly visible from 600 ft. at night, and 300 in the day (legal limits in California). I asked quite a few friends that would drive behind me if my lights were difficult AT ALL to see and they said no. I am pretty sure I have some pics of my lights before I took the tint off I'll go look for them right now.

I had all of my light except the reverse light blacked out. Just be careful, I have been pulled over for this many times and had already gotten a ticket for it(which I explained they were visible and the cop wrote it off once she saw that they were), this time they were a bit more strict though so I took the tint off.

[Rob.Vegan]

Tails tinted:



Close up of reverse light:



Lights on:



Brake lights on:



Comparison lights on:



Comparison brake lights on:



They are more dim but like I said, I had numerous people tell me that they had no problem telling when I was braking or not.

[rcboy514]

thanks for the pics man!

thats too bad, they looked sooo good.

which method did you use? The one in the Tech section or something else?

[Rob.Vegan]

There was no write up when I did mine so I had my own way.

I took the lights off and going blue painters tape and taped off the reverse light with that. Same thing with the heads but I didn't take them off the car I just covered my car so it wouldn't get overspray.

I did about 5 coats with no clear (which is why they look a bit goofy in the third pic). Then the body shop that painted my bumper put a layer of clear and buffed it.

I miss them but I'm sort of changing my cars theme as I got a bit bored of the black on black on black on black thing. Time to add some accents.

[rcboy514]

oh ok, I only have few more questions lol

did you sand or anything before you painted?

So no clear = gloss finish and clear = matte finish?

how did they hold up while you had them painted? did they fade any or chip?

Sorry for all the questions bro, but I really want to do it right the first time

[Rob.Vegan]

It's no problem, I wish I had somebody to ask questions to but me and my friend (painted at the same time) just freehanded it.

My friends Tacoma had a gloss finish without clear. Mine was a matte finish until clear was put on. So I suggest if you want a gloss. Paint them and when they are done drying if they are glossy then leave them, if they are not add some clear. If that doesn't work then buff them, but make sure you have enough clear on there so you're not taking away the tint.

I sanded lightly with 800 grit paper before painting, and after the 3rd coat I believe I sanded with 1500 then applied the last coat. I'm not sure what the body shop did exactly to make them as glossy as they did but I'm pretty sure it was just some clear coat.

They did not fade or chip for the year and some months that I had them. The first and last two pics were taken near the end of this last year. And the few in between were taken near the middle of 08 I think. The

[rcboy514]

sweet, thanks for all the answers so quickly bro!

I think i'll try the matte finish first and if I don't like it I can always add clear.

[sickkwidit]

what ever happened to your lights man

[Rob.Vegan]

My driver side light is fixed but the passenger side is still fogged up. I just need to go over it again with some rougher sand paper and then re clear coat it and it should be fine.

[dflane39]

Wooooo, Rob, that sucks! Your lights looked so good.....thanks for putting up pics. Its funny you should mention Nightshade.....Im sitting at my installers waiting for them to put on my LBC GTR overlays. It was giving them trouble initially, and he brought up using Nightshade. I asked if it was legal (cops are fairly anal in Washington too) and after thinking a moment said probably not. That and the can said for off-road use only!After taking them to the link for the overlay application, they seem to be getting it.........can I ask why not just do an overlay instead of paint?