Jax$MkV
GolfMKV Veteran
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA
- Car(s)
- 2007 5dr BMP GTI DSG
The project(s) at my house went well today. :thumbup: Basically, what happened was that, I wanted to tint my tails like the R32's rather than spend an extra $245 on taillights which I pretty much already have (minus the tint/shading). A few others (Cloudlink04, Conejo) were interested in doing them as well so we did their cars afterwards. So this is for those of you, like me, who'd rather go this route. All I can say is, the results were sick! :biggrin:
CREDITS:
First off, I would like to thank Alkindi (GTI 2.0T) for discussing and giving pointers to me for this project and making it happen. :thumbup: Big-ups to Pat (b3rollind3ville) for helping me do the sick masking/spraying work. Thanks to David (absoluteczech) and Andres (Cloudlink04) for helping out on the preparations and pictures, and Greg (Conejo) for the help as well/for driving back and forth to bring a buffer that we didn't even use :frown: (sorry!). So yeah, thanks you guys for coming over to help make this happen and fun.
Good times.
Materials needed: (for 1 set of taillights)
- (1) can of Lens' Painter 'Smoke' tint spray (available on eBay) is recommended, VHT is not as good for this R32-style job
- (1) roll of masking paper (or newspaper)
- (1) 1/2" painter's blue masking tape (for outlining)
- (1) 3/4" painter's blue masking tape (for coverage)
- rubbing alcohol
- paper towels
OPTIONAL: You can do this on the car, or remove the tail lights. Second time around when I perfected my tail light shade (pictures not posted) on my own, I removed the tail lights because I had to clear coat/buff them after tinting. It's easy to remove... couple bolts, and that's it.
RECOMMENDATION(s):
- Clear coat, wet sand, and buffing to make it look nicer and last longer. However, you should be ok without clear coating if you choose not to.
- DO NOT over-tighten nuts on the bolts when re-installing.
- Keep tail lights from being exposed to dust, particles, dirt, etc. after tinting. Also keep away from sunlight.
- Do not touch until fully dried, and don't clean tail lights with alcohol, Windex, etc. Give it a day or so before polishing (don't buff it too hard).
- And last but not least (of course), do not overspray. (i.e. It's better to do 4 thin coats than 2 thick coats)
Please feel free to PM me for details about clear coating or if you have any other questions :smile:. Keep in mind these pictures and thread itself is pretty old.
CREDITS:
First off, I would like to thank Alkindi (GTI 2.0T) for discussing and giving pointers to me for this project and making it happen. :thumbup: Big-ups to Pat (b3rollind3ville) for helping me do the sick masking/spraying work. Thanks to David (absoluteczech) and Andres (Cloudlink04) for helping out on the preparations and pictures, and Greg (Conejo) for the help as well/for driving back and forth to bring a buffer that we didn't even use :frown: (sorry!). So yeah, thanks you guys for coming over to help make this happen and fun.
Good times.Materials needed: (for 1 set of taillights)
- (1) can of Lens' Painter 'Smoke' tint spray (available on eBay) is recommended, VHT is not as good for this R32-style job
- (1) roll of masking paper (or newspaper)
- (1) 1/2" painter's blue masking tape (for outlining)
- (1) 3/4" painter's blue masking tape (for coverage)
- rubbing alcohol
- paper towels
OPTIONAL: You can do this on the car, or remove the tail lights. Second time around when I perfected my tail light shade (pictures not posted) on my own, I removed the tail lights because I had to clear coat/buff them after tinting. It's easy to remove... couple bolts, and that's it.
RECOMMENDATION(s):
- Clear coat, wet sand, and buffing to make it look nicer and last longer. However, you should be ok without clear coating if you choose not to.
- DO NOT over-tighten nuts on the bolts when re-installing.
- Keep tail lights from being exposed to dust, particles, dirt, etc. after tinting. Also keep away from sunlight.
- Do not touch until fully dried, and don't clean tail lights with alcohol, Windex, etc. Give it a day or so before polishing (don't buff it too hard).
- And last but not least (of course), do not overspray. (i.e. It's better to do 4 thin coats than 2 thick coats)
Please feel free to PM me for details about clear coating or if you have any other questions :smile:. Keep in mind these pictures and thread itself is pretty old.
Last edited:
