Check out my DIY smoked rear lenses

[budman5201]

They actually turned out very nice. Took quite a bit of time, sanding, and buffing, but very glossy and you can still see the lights VERY well.

[onebluemcm]

Looks good, care to mention how you did it?

[SteveInfante]

I think t looks great. I have done this on a couple other cars and the sanding and buffing take a little time to et right as far as then being the same shade. I used Night Shades made by VHT and it was rePly simple. Just make sure to decrease and take all the wax and protectants off before you spray them or you will have some fish eye and the sanding takes a while to get the orange peel off. Pretty simple though.

[Z4Murder]

yea let us know how you did it! i may do it myself instead of tinting or lamin-x

[budman5201]

Okay here is how i did it.

I removed lenses from my z4, it was much easier and no chance of messing up paint.

Step one: 600 grit wet sandpaper and throughly wet the lenses all the time while lightly sanding. This puts a surface that the VH Niteshades can adhere to.

Step 2: dry off, make sure you got all the lenses scuffed, or paint will NOT be perfect. (scuffing from 600 grit will not show in paint) Lense will be dull finish, but dont worry this is fine.

Step 3: In the sun or highly lit garage take lense and lightly coat it with VH until you get the shade you are looking for. (3-4 minutes in between coats)I used a TON of light so i could still see slight red color through the lense after i shined light into it while coating with VH. (cops are picky out here in Arizona)

step 4: let dry 5-10 min. Now I used Rust oleum Clear Coat Enamel. I put 3-4 coats on top of the VH tint and let it dry for 30 hours before i did next step. (has to be completely dry/ paint fully cured or next step will not come out good)

step 5: I used 2000 grit wet dry sandpaper with lots of water on lense and slowly hand sanded the orange peel away. Every time i sanded a little. I dried it off with a towel and i could see the orange peel sectioni missed. clear coat Paint will be dull afterwards, but very smooth. Luster will come back perfectly in next step.

step 6 : i used Just a real good brand of Maguires TECH WAX 2.0 and literally waxed it a ton with lots of it on soft towel on the lense. (this is basically less gritty than a standard polish, and you cant mess it up with a good wax.) About 4-5 waxes with a little elbow grease and all this with the softest towel you have and you'll have a killer lense that will prob be shinier than your paint!!

[Rated M]

I would hit it with some rubbing compound and swirl removal before the tech wax... save you a TON of time....

[budman5201]

ehh, the waxing really only took me about about 10 min from start to finish. Once it was 2000 grit sanded. The reason i said use the wax is for the newbies out there. There is prob no way to cut through the freshly sanded clear coat with it.

[Rated M]

sure.. but I am sure there are still a ton of swirls left in it from sanding... Tech Wax is made to remove very fine scratches and clean the surface... 2500-3000 grit scratches. Using an "over the counter" swirl removal at the least would be required to achieve a class "A" finish.


I am not hi-jacking your thread... Only giving this information to the DIY'ers out there that would benefit from this information

[budman5201]

Cool, thanks. No worries. I'll have to try that swirl compound on my next set....

[SteveInfante]

I used 3M rubbing compound after the 2000 grit and put a little dish soap in a bucket and use a sponge to keep putting water on the lenses. The soap helps the sandpaper slide.