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Thread: A decent guide for anyone tinting lights

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    Default A decent guide for anyone tinting lights

    Just found this on the Corsa forums. Seems very well put together.

    http://www.corsa-c.co.uk/forum/showt...-FOGS-REPS-ETC

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    Says you need username and password.

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    Balls. Forgot the tutorials are locked out for guests. I'm still logged in. I'll PM the dude and ask if it can be posted on here.

    EDIT:

    He's not been active on the forum for nearly a month, do we think it would be alright to post it and credit the guy for it? I've sent him a PM just in case.
    Last edited by cont1204; 20th February 2011 at 22:16.

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    Cheers.

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    Right I have PM'd the guy about it but not had a reply. It's not very often he's on the forums. I've told him about it and if he has a problem with it being posted here I will take it down. Will post it as the next post.

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    All credit to Killer Corsa from corsa-c.co.uk.




    ok well its been a long time i have been meaning to make this tutorial!

    i have finally uploaded all the pics!


    this is a FULL guide how to tint rear lights (the red ones), same applys to sxi rear lights but you end up with the exact same result so you might aswell sell the sxi ones and buy the red ones to do this to... + end up with moneys in your pocket

    they sell for an average £65 for some tinted rear smoked lights, if you wanted some but didnt fancy doing them your self ,

    josh in the for sale section offers this service..... i believe he offers a good tinting service at good rates

    i dont bother with this any more unless you personally came and dropped of the lights and picked them up.... just dont like wraping these up and posting lol

    i have tinted and sold allot of these lights on here and ebay.... there are $$$ to be made! but its always good to tint some stuff for your self and no how its done...


    also will breifly go over the flat and polishing bit so could be handy for some DIY sprayers at home...

    you could also tint the red rear lights to make them look like the sxi ones....


    anyway on with the tutorial


    things required

    PANELWIPE/ DEGREASER (always good to have extra for removing glue and oil etc around the car)
    Grey scotchpad
    some clean panelwipe rags (i use blueroll, £1.50 for a pound store)
    Tack cloth
    Quality Masking Tape 1" and 2" needed really)
    Masking paper (Can use news paper if you wanted)
    clear plastic adhesion promorter aerosol
    Matt black Aerosol Can
    Laquer Aerosol
    2000grit wet and dry
    some nice compound polish (g3/3m or even some colour restorer polish cos thats a pretty abrasive compound)
    maybe heat gun or hairdryer depending on where you painting these

    oh and a nice dry dust free area which helps allot



    well line up what every your tinting...

    make sure they are clean from dirt and mud etc






    now wipe them down with panel wipe using a some rag... (blue roll tissue lol)






    using your grey scotch pad and panel wipe scotch your lights properly... this is keying up your lights so they accept some sort of paint...
    be sure to get round the back and the sides etc other wise you will have flaking paint

    the reason why we use panel wipe to scotch them is at the same time your 'keying' up the lights you are 'scrubbing' any dirt off and removing any contaminents...

    allot of people use it:

    Dry - but that way you put deeper scratches in which shows through the paint
    Water - takes longer to dry out the crevices and doesnt remove contaminents


    you will start seeing it goo matt and loosing its shine, make sure its all even, not patchy shiney areas...






    you will see a white residue left, that is the panel wipe drying out. After you have scotched the lights up, clean them up using panel wipe and make sure to get all the edges

    all nice and matt and cleaned up







    time to mask them out.....

    you will notice the 'RED' part of the light wrap around the back and sides...

    be sure to have keyed and cleaned this area aswell








    start masking it out starting from the back be leave the red lense exposed so you can get colour onto it





    the sides






    the back all masked out so no paint goes onto the bulb holder etc (makes the job look more factory and proffesional)







    which then leaves you THIS, the front




    all masked out at the rear and just the fronts left!

    it has to be done this way.... the back all masked off and all nice and tight masking round the backs with NO lifts...







    now heat the lights up.... either with a heat gun or a hairdryer or they might even be warm if you got access to infrared lamps or a spray oven?!? lol


    clean the lights AGAIN with a fresh rag and panel wipe to remove all the greese that your sweaty hands have put all over it


    out comes the tack cloth , (mines a bit manky from previous jobs but lasts a while),

    what this does is catches all the small dust off the light...

    just wipe it over with this cloth






    bring out the clear plastic adhesion promorter

    what this does is it makes the black paint stick to your plastic light.... because paint doesnt like sticking to plastic so it needs a helping hand with this...

    its clear and only needs a nice even coat over it.... it drys within minutes after putting it on!

    DONT GO TOO HEAVY ON IT!

    once it drys out (you can see it drying), you wont be able to see its there at all!






    liks so






    now the light has had it adhesion promoting its time to get them masked out MORE!

    (make sure the adhesion Promoter has dryed FULLY, wait around 10 mins)


    mask out the clear lense bit where the light shines through leaving a few mill of the red bit like this








    this is where the 1" masking tape comes into play

    you can see the differences between the two tapes... readily available from any decent place (halfords etc, you probs even have some at home lol)






    now we need to mask the lights out properly.... the few mil you left around the clear lense bit needs masking ... but NEATLY and all nice and smooth around the curved bit... the reason why we use 1" tape is because it much easier around curves etc...

    it will all make sense why we use 1" tape last!








    you can use satin black or matt black.... dont really make a difference
    and you need laquer now!






    get the tack cloth out AGAIN and wipe down you lihgts one more time to remove all the bits of dust etc of the light





    make sure the lights are nice and warm so the basecoat dries uber quick

    apply some nice coats of black paint onto the light!!

    wait between coats and let each coat dry before you lace another one on!

    MAKE SURE ALL THE RED HAS GONE!!! and cant see any at all.... even round the back and sides!

    warm up with a heat gun if its too cold or a hair dryer but make sure its a dust free place other wise your gonna have bits of dirt stuck in your basecoat but matt black dries really quick anyway!






    the backs




    the sides




    all the red lense has gone!!!


    NOW CHECK OVER THE LIGHTS TO SEE IF ANY REDS SHOWING

    CARRY ON WITH MORE COATS OF BLACK IF YOU NEED TO




    ONCE YOU ARE HAPPY whip of the inch tape you put on! this will make the black paint flow out because its a wee bit wet and not leave a nasty edge around the front of the light


    now CAREFULLY remove the masking from the front of the lense





    thats the reason why we masked the back out 1st..... now the front masking has come off the back is still on so no over spray goes round the back....



    ok at this point you can laquer these units as they are and it will look summat like this... (sxi replicas)

    these at one time WAS the red units but the guy wanted a nice modded SUBTLE look so went down this route .... looks smart but very factory looking...








    butttttt if you want to go down that smoked route then carry on reading!


    so now we have ended up with lights looking like this...





    make sure they are dry and give them a good warming up again with a hair dryer or heat gun... the warmer they are the quicker the paints gonna dry...

    now go over them again with a tack cloth (nice and light) and take any dust of the lights that may have landed on them whilst you was removing the masking.



    now holding your matt black aerosol a good 40cm away go over the front of the lense... so your 'DUSTING' black onto the front lense....





    it will start to go darker and darker the more you put on!

    BUT remember NOT to use the SPRAYING TECHNIQUE! you are NOT going for coverage!!!!!!! your going for a tint! so hold it far away and dust it over the top till your happy with it.... till you can just about see the bulbs inside but have a nice black finish on them!


    do the tinting motion on each one evenly... DONT FINISH TINTING ONE AND THEN THE OTHER COS THEY WONT MATCH!

    AFTER YOU HAVE PUT A COAT ON ONE, USE THE SAME TECHNIQUE ON THE OTHER! and then go back to the 1st one!


    till you end up with summat like this




    let them dry (usually about half hour with aersol matt black if not less)

    get the light warm again and whip over it with a tack cloth!



    now its time to laquer! (the hard part)

    make sure the light is warm and 'TACKED' off and no dust on the lights


    put a nice 'GRIPPER' coat on, its like a bobbly coat and isnt very smooth

    hold can around 30cm away and go for a 50/50 overlap technique..

    THIS PIC TELLS YOU WHAT 50/50 OVERLAP MEANS (my AWESOME paint brush skills lol)








    using that technique put the gripper coat on which looks somthing like this





    you can see it half shiney but got a 'BOBBLY' finish to it....

    let this 'TACK' off, probs about 5 mins but keep checking by touching the masking at the sides (dont touch the light, you will leave your finger print on it lol)


    the reason for this 'GRIPPER' coat is so that you next coat of wet laquer has summat to grip onto and flow out with out any runs! if you went heavy handed the 1st time round you would DEFO get runs! this way you wont and be able to get a nice wet coat on

    once it feels tacky its TIME

    Its time to lace on a nice wet coat!

    using the 50'50 overlap technique hit it again and get it on nice and wet but not too wet!...

    let it tack off again which usually at this point takes a bit longer because more lauquer has gone on...

    once it has tacked off again put one more nice wet coat on! using the 50/50 technique! making sure all edges are covered aswell!

    make sure your aint kicking dust about either cos this is the time when it will get stuck into the laquer!.... move around like tom cruise in mission impossible


    dont put too much laquer on cos it goes matt once it dries out so keep it nice and wet but not overly wet!


    and it should look summat like this











    ok now let these dry out ... usually a good 24 hours or more depending on conditions...

    because you will have used aerosol cans you will have some slight dirt inclusions or dodgy applied laquer...


    get a bucket of water with a drop of fairy liqued in...

    this is the time you will get your 2000 grit wet and dry paper and dip it into the bucket... get the paper wet

    rub over the light where your dirt inclusions are and keep drying the light...

    go very easy here because what you are doing here is 'SANDING THE PAINT' so if you take too much you will burn through and its time to strat again!

    so go easy till all the dirt inclusions are out! and its nice and flat... the laquer will go very matt at this stage!


    rub over the rest of your light and get it nice and flat.... dont go crazy flattin all the laquer though!!!! just nice rubs, once you dry the light it will become clear what areas need more of a flat...



    now dry the light and get your compound rag out! (some nice cotton polishing rag)

    aply some coarse compund (G3 / 3M FAST Cut compund or colour restorer because thats pretty abrasive and rub it into the light till it come up shiney! will take some effort by hand but you will get a MINT proffesional finish guaranteed!!!


    and a nice tinted rear light with planty of light showing through





    same technique goes for tinting rear fogs... side reps etc....



    hope that helps a few of you DIY'ers out there


    Ayaz Malik

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    Cheers for that, got a few good tips.

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