rear light tinting.. learn from my mistakes..

[Tom_Maverick]

so I thought I quite fancied tinting the rear lights with a bit of red to get rid of the tango indicators.. off I went to Ebay and bought some proper light tint spray, took the lights off the car this morning and cleaned them thoroughly with widowlene before popping them in my lab climate chamber (posh oven) at 40 degrees to dry off.. got them out and they looked the part..

then..

mistake #1.. I wiped them down with Ispropyl alcohol cleaner..
not a particularly harsh solvent but I thought best to get rid of any silicones or wax on the lights for a great finish..WRONG.. all it did was make the exterior of the lights go all 'crazy paving' with tiny cracks running all over the lense... balls..
so.. with this damage done I persevered and thought well, I can't f**k it up any more so I'll have a practice on these and see how they go and I can always get some fresh ones and do it again at a later date if it works ok..

Mistake #2

now, I've sprayed many many things.. with sometimes the cheapest of coatings..

nothing prepared me for the water-pistol like jet of spray that appeared when i pressed the nozzle of the can.... it is impossible to get it out of the f**king can without a run.. I even tried a decent nozzle I had lying around the place.. this worked a bit more successfully but by now the damage was done..

arse..

I hate E30's.. and I hate light tint spray.. and f**king Mondays..

[Gert_8]

Hey Tom, Show us the pics Funny, but thanks for the info mate.

[Tom_Maverick]

well, they had more runs on them than the Seoul olympics track in korea so I have gone over them with some 1200 grit and a bit of love.. (swearing all the way) and given them a second coat and they are back in the oven with a solemn promise that if they still look sh*t when they come out then I'll take a hammer to them.. I'll take a couple of pics when they are dry.. you can still see all the crazy paving.. c**ts!

[suchy]

F**k that, just show the pics of hammer action

[Tom_Maverick]

F**k that, just show the pics of hammer action

I don't see the relevance of my sexual technique to the subject of shi**y tint spray!!

[Gert_8]

F**k that, just show the pics of hammer action

I don't see the relevance of my sexual technique to the subject of shi**y tint spray!!

It would be a very short video anyway, hey?!

[Rav335uk]

Mistake 1 was wiping them after you sprayed them.

All you need is some solvent and all the tint will wipe off, DO NOT USE 1200 grit paper to take the tint off, you screw the plastic lense up!

You need to give a light spray, leave and then go back about 5-10 mins later, and light spray again, slowely building the layer up to the colur you tint you want.

Here's some I done a while ago.

[Duke137]

Cue Adi's pic of a load of sets on a BMW towel telling you he has tinted sets available

[Gert_8]

Cue Adi's pic of a load of sets on a BMW towel telling you he has tinted sets available

You can't blame the man for trying to make a living. Rav, you're such a show off!

[Jozi]

Will a good polish after clear up the rest of the light that reacted when you cleaned them?

[Rav335uk]

Will a good polish after clear up the rest of the light that reacted when you cleaned them?

Normally, they're best left alone after spraying.
If you Wipe them with anything that is solvent based, it will react.
Best to wipe them clean and start again.

[Jozi]

I meant for the polishing of the rest of the light (area's not painted), assuming thats what he meant reacted. The reacted area's that are painted wont be so noticeable?

[Tom_Maverick]

Will a good polish after clear up the rest of the light that reacted when you cleaned them?

Normally, they're best left alone after spraying.
If you Wipe them with anything that is solvent based, it will react.
Best to wipe them clean and start again.

I didn't wipe them after spraying! I'm not that stupid!

I wiped the lights prior to spraying to remove silicones and waxes (and didn't use thinners because they make the polycarbonate go 'milky')

actually mine look very similar to yours Rav.. and I did build up light coats (or I would have if nozzle #1 hadn't had a stream like a doberman taking a leak)

anyway the 1200 grit to remove the runs and a few more light coats with a decent nozzle appear to have done the trick!

the lights look 127% better! I'll take a pic when I can

[maxfield]

The first time I did mine I made the mistake of putting it on thick. Ended up getting all my runs to the bottom and didn't look too bad.

[Rav335uk]

I normally wash the lights is Fairy solution and wipe, the heat gun dry.

[Tom_Maverick]

crazy paving!

and the finished article..



not bad for a job that went t*ts up from the start!

[Tom_Maverick]

I normally wash the lights is Fairy solution and wipe, the heat gun dry.

I'm just going to use windolene in future.. the oven on 40 degrees is ideal though.. a heat gun can cause trouble if you keep it in one spot for too long etc

[Rav335uk]

Is there still some crazy paving on the reverse light I see??Left hand light.

[Tom_Maverick]

there's crazy paving on both.. I didn't want pink reverse lights so I masked them off..

they look good on the car you can't really see it, even when the light is on.. I'll get another set (cue Ady ) and do it properly (without alcohol solvent) next time.. aaah well.. every day is a schoolday!

[asmith88]

what colour bulbs do you use then to get the orange light?

[leeparkes]

Never mind the lights where the pics of these rimzzzz.

[BMW_E30vert]

what colour bulbs do you use then to get the orange light?

i belive its green i just used some green paint from an arts/craft shop but it works

[Tom_Maverick]

Pfffft... I just use white ones and they seem to look fine! and you'll get pics of the rimzzzz when the fookin centres turn up from Germany!

[Tan91]

Mistake 1 was wiping them after you sprayed them.

All you need is some solvent and all the tint will wipe off, DO NOT USE 1200 grit paper to take the tint off, you screw the plastic lense up!

You need to give a light spray, leave and then go back about 5-10 mins later, and light spray again, slowely building the layer up to the colur you tint you want.

Here's some I done a while ago.

These look really good! what colour did you use for this and what brand was the can would like to give this a go a go.

[tha881]

^ +1

what did you use Rav?

[Grrrmachine]

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ht_Tinting

[Tan91]

^ +1

what did you use Rav?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/E-Tech-lamp-s ... 3f0914cf90

[Rav335uk]

Sorry, just seen this thread, What's been linked above.^^^^^^^

[tha881]

nice one, thanks fellas