HOW TO: Tail light removal & Tint

[Bart-man]

Ok ok, so my long overdue HOW TO on removing tail lights, then darkening them

You'll need a few things to do this¦Ratchet with 10mm socket (if I'm remembering correctly!), flathead and Phillips head screwdriver, hammer, 2000 and 1500 grit sandpaper good for wet and dry sanding, rubbing alcohol, wax and polishing supplies, 2 (probably) cans of VHT Nightshades paint, 1 can of clear coat paint, and at least 8-10 hours of not driving your car time¦preferably a full day for paint drying.

Step 1 “ Open the trunk.

Step 2 “ Remove Some Trunk Trim

Remove the small button anchors noted here in the long strip of plastic molding found between the taillights. These buttons can be removed by pressing down on the center of them (about ¼"� down and they'll release) then either pulling the whole strip up and collecting up the buttons as they fly around, or edging something under them and popping them up and removing them one by one. These are removable and reusable¦so don't throw them out! To reuse them, push the pin back up from underneath so the button in the middle pops back OUT about ¼"��, push them in where they need to go, then push the button flush with the rest of the assembly so it looks like it did stock..





Step 3 “ Bolt removal

Remove the large bolt holding the tail lights in¦I'm pretty sure most if not all bolts in this DIY are 10mm¦



Step 4 “ Remove Tail Light Assembly

Remove the tail light assembly by pulling straight out¦I leveraged one hand behind it at the top and one near where the bolt attached¦be careful here¦this may require quite a bit of force and you must be careful not to pull out completely as the wiring harnesses attached to the bulbs will rip out if you yank it out and don't stop as SOON as it pops out of it's sockets. People had said there was a bolt holding the tail light assemblies in behind a small plastic door� in the trunk compartment, but when I did some searching with a flashlight I couldn't find such a bolt, so I just pried on it¦ It took a lot of effort¦I had to lean back and put my body weight into it, but as soon as it popped out, I had to make sure I had a way to stop it before I pulled it out about 3-4" so as to not damage the wiring harnesses¦this step is about the most difficult physically if you're a little weenie guy like myself.

After you pull the light out of the attachments, unplug the lights by rotating the bases and they will unlock after about 1/8th or 1/4th turn¦they'll only turn one way and I'm 99% sure it's counter clockwise to loosen¦sorry, forgot to write down some details¦but this should be pretty easy to figure out on your own.



Step 5 “ Remove Plastic Trunk Trim

There are only 2 screws holding this in, and many plastic anchors inside¦unscrew the two shown here and get your fingers underneath the plastic trim and gently pull until you pull out the anchors one by one¦there are quite a few (would guess about 10) between the arms leading up the rear windshield and the flat base area. They will pop out with a loud noise, don't be scared¦they're cheap to replace at the dealership (probably¦don't quote me) so if you break one, no stress.



Step 6 “ Remove Spoiler Mountings

Now that you have the plastic trim off, you can see the internals of the trunk release and the spoiler mounting bolts are exposed. The ones visible are circled here; just remove the nuts¦my spoiler didn't move a bit when I did this¦it didn't just fall off when I removed the nuts. There are only 6 circled, as the other two are at the far ends of the spoiler and are in smallish openings in the sheet metal…about 1"� by 1"¦easy to get a socket in there, hard to photograph.
Remove these nuts then unplug the BLACK wiring harness. The white wiring harness is for the trunk release and is unnecessary to unplug. Once everything is detached¦I had to take a little hammering on the bolts from inside the trunk to get the spoiler loose so I didn’t damage the exterior finish trying to get it off. Do this at your own discretion¦I just lightly hit the end of a few of the bolts while sitting on the lip of the trunk¦



Step 7 “ Remove Spoiler


Remove spoiler by pulling outward on it¦careful as the wiring for the middle brake light has a rubber plug¦once the spoiler has sufficient clearance be sure to pop out the rubber grommet and make sure the wiring is clear (from the black harness you unplugged from the opposite side!)



Step 8 “ Prepare Your Painting Surfaces

Scuff up surfaces you are going to paint with 1500 grit sandpaper and then clean them with water, and then rubbing alcohol to degrease. Do your best not to touch or get the surfaces dirty as dust and oils will mess up your paint!

Step 9 “ Prepare Your Painting Area

Lay out a bunch of newspaper in an area you don't mind some over spray ¦my friend's back yard came in handy, as he doesn't care about his rock garden¦



Step 10 “ Spray Paint Time


If you have never spray-painted before¦time for a lesson¦if you have, you can skip if you feel confident¦

Spray painting requires quite a bit of patience to do a good job. Light coats are they key to a good spray job. Too much spray will result in drips and runs and uneven coats. It's better to do 10 coats and take 2 hours to get all 10 coats down, than to do 5 coats in the same time¦trust me on this one¦you don't want to test this as you'll find yourself cleaning paint off and starting ALL over again if you get a nasty drip.

Spray side to side, then up and down¦ALWAYS start spraying before you reach the surface of the area you're painting and follow through past the far surface¦(maybe someone can give me some insight on describing this method better?)¦Pretend like the surface you're spraying is an additional 6"� out from the actual surface¦start about 6" out, and start spraying back and forth, extending past about 6"� to make sure you get even coats on the edges of the lights. If this doesn't make sense lets discuss in follow up posts¦

Spray thin coats, let dry at least 10-15 minutes between coats until you reach desired darkness. I'm sure you can just wait 10-15 again, but I'd prefer 30+ before starting on the clear coat¦let the undercoats dry completely before applying more¦the more you let the undercoats dry, the less time total drying should take¦I think

Spray 2-3 coats of clear coat on, and let dry a minimum of 6-8 hours.


Step 11 “ Wet sanding time!



Grab your 2000 grit sand paper and a friend (preferably). Have your friend stand and use a garden hose and LIGHTLY sand the painted surfaces with the 2000 grit sandpaper. This is the first step to polishing your lights to a nice shiny look. If you don't mind the matte/satin finish, leave as is and skip ahead to reassembly.

Sand down the paint surface lightly until it feels extremely smooth under your fingers. Now let this dry and do a wipe down on the lights with a clean cloth to make sure no residue from the sanding remains.

Step 12 “Polish

(no, not a 12 step program¦I'll make a 13th step! )

Use some standard car paint polish¦I've also heard from the local shop to use Pro-Active Resin Bowling Ball Polish¦it's basically a 4000 grit polishing compound. Whatever you feel comfortable with¦the higher the grit number, the longer you'll be polishing, but the shinier the finish. Lower grit means the grains in the compound are larger and will be more likely to leave larger scratches¦that will appear as a haze or the satin finish I mentioned earlier¦

I haven't completed my tail lights, but I plan on doing at least 2-3 rubs� with the polishing compound¦I want my lights shiny so they look as stock as possible and blend with the paint as best as they can¦results may vary.

Step 13 “ Wax on! Wax off!

Apply your favorite car wax as you would to the normal paint on your vehicle¦you might want to apply 2 coats as this will be the first your new paint receives treatment¦again, results may vary.

Step 14 “ Reassembly

Put everything back together you wanker!

**DONE!**

[VlcmSfr321]

have you had any problems with your tail tint???? do you have any pics on your car??? thanks