my $20 taillight project
 

I bought my Blazer a few weeks ago, I'm saving for 2" shackles & 31's but until then I had to do something lol I spent just over $20 on materials for this project, granted I already had sand paper and some other materials so technically it was more then $20 lol

what I started with:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...taillights.jpg
DupliColor Perfect Match & Rust-Oleum Lens Tint - $20'ish:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...matchpaint.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...T/LensTint.jpg
started by sanding the taillight w/ 400 grit sand paper. I then went 600, 1000, 1500 & 2000 grit:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a282/3K94GT/143.jpg
sanded,painted,cleared,sanded and buffed the taillight covers:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a282/3K94GT/153.jpg
I taped of the reverse light and sprayed 5 coats of lens tint and 4 coats of clear. I then wet sanded and buffed the clear coat:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a282/3K94GT/164.jpg
double-sided 3M tape to reapply the newly painted taillight cover:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a282/3K94GT/165.jpg
FINALLY! reinstalled the taillight back on my Blazer:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a282/3K94GT/166.jpg

That looks pretty darn good! Are the brake lights still bright during the day?

yeah, after I reinstalled the taillight I tested to see how bright they'd still be and to my suprise they are decent :) a lot brighter then i'd imagine.

That looks really good, I'm not a big fan of tail light covers but that's sharp. How many coats of the tint did you spary on?

There ya go. :icon_wink:

I know tinted tails are illegal, I wonder how illegal tinted tails with tail light covers are! :icon_teeth:

Looks good though man! I've never seen the tint and cover combo, and I must admit it looks good!

If ya wanna spend $20 more you can take off the hitch and give it a good shot with some rocker guard. :icon_shrug:

Cool.. Want to do that on my blazer's tail light lens before but its kind of illegal and cops here are really a pain. Looks awesome. Thumbs up to that mate. :icon_drink:

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That looks like money well spent. I'd say it blends in nice with the rest of your blaze.

I like a LOT!

that came out pretty smooth .. I like and allready thinking bout the taillight tint spray . Its supposed to be transparent i believe so it shouldnt hinder any light output or atleast not as much as staight up spray can paint . bI have tried it on a coupler junk lenses to get a feel for the stuff .. Only think i dont like is it has a dullish look to it when it dries But Ive seen that if your clearcoat it and wetsand it will give that shiny effect to it like but too much work IMO. Nice job definetly something I might have to bite off ..lol

It WILL hinder light, but the amount it will is determined by how many coats and how thick they are. It is a lot better than a straight black spray paint though. I highly suggest clear coating them. You don't have to wetsand if you don't want to (I didn't), and it will have a nice shiny finish.

I blacked mine out and now I dont like it. Dont get me wrong, it looks awesome but the cops dont like it and its got cracks in the paint. If installed properly, it can be pretty tite! I'm thinking of using the real tint verses the spray on kind??

ive seen real tint work well on tail lights

and it dosnt have to be so dark

The taillights looks really good, contrast between the black and the silver is really nice.

Thats a cool look

Looks good man. I took those covers off mine, just I also tinted the whole tail light, not just the red part.

Real tint only works well on smooth surfaces, our tail lights have too much texture for the film to grab on. It works onderful on all the new dodge taillights cause they are flat and smooth and have square corners.

The cracking is cause you spray on too thick too often. That tint spray is a real bitch, its prolly one of the hardest paints to apply nice. You gotta do many many tiny coats to get it right, and the clearcoat a day later to make it shine. Ive done many tails with the paint, and the first few didnt look as good as I get em nowadays... I like to hold the can at least 30 inches above the target and give the pair a fog of it, instead of closer like traditional paint cans. It seems to atomize better and that little bit of airtime falling onto the target may dry it a little so it wont run... I dunno. But many small coats, one per hour seems to do it nice for me.