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Auto Detailing and AppearanceShare tips and tricks on how to make your Third Gen shine! Get opinions on products or how something tasteful looks on your Chevrolet Camaro or Pontiac Firebird.
Since I bought my car last year, the taillights have bothered me, but nice '85-90 Trans Am lights are around $150-250 locally and '91-92 lights are double that. So I decided I'd try to tint mine with VHT Nite Shades to see if it would hide the delamination and it worked really well!
Here's a quick write up for anyone who wants to try the same thing:
I don't have a good before shot with them on the car, but you can see here how hazy the lights are. The passenger side was pretty much completely delaminated.
This is after sanding with 2000 grit. You can really see how bad it looks here!
I used 220 grit to knock down the lettering on each taillight, then straight onto 2000 grit.
This is after the first coat. The pictures make it look darker than it really was. I tinted the center piece as well because I didn't know if the shade of black would match perfectly.
Second coat.
Third coat. I waited ten minutes between coats. They initially looked way darker than I wanted, but it left me a good amount to wet sand and polish.
Tons of orange peel here, I think it was a bit too cold out for it.
I let them site for a full day before I began wet sanding.
This is after wet sanding with 2000 grit and polishing by hand with Mother's Ultimate Compound.
Came out perfect I think! I don't think it's dark enough to get pulled over for it.
Here they are on the car, this was a cloudy day, but it looks killer in the sunlight.
Really pleased with how glossy they came out! Total time was probably about 4-6 hours if you don't include the time I let them cure. All in it cost me less than $20!
They look great bud!! Good job. I did mine years ago, carefully took them apart and tinted from the inside. Just changed them out last summer to a spare set I bought years ago that are not tinted. I just got more concerned as I have gotten older of getting rearended or something then blamed on the taillights. But yours do look great!
Is that MBRP setup going on the 'bird? That would sound unique, not many running that brand. If so, get a clip up.
They look great bud!! Good job. I did mine years ago, carefully took them apart and tinted from the inside. Just changed them out last summer to a spare set I bought years ago that are not tinted. I just got more concerned as I have gotten older of getting rearended or something then blamed on the taillights. But yours do look great!
Is that MBRP setup going on the 'bird? That would sound unique, not many running that brand. If so, get a clip up.
I bought them off a guy on a whim (he only wanted $200 CAD for the duals and it's full 2.5" stainless), but I've decided I'm not going to put them on because I'll only have about 1-2" of ground clearance after I lower my car this summer.
BTW, I see you're from Kars, I grew up not far from you in Smiths Falls! I'll probably be moving to the Brockville area in a year or two (Toronto stinks).
I bought them off a guy on a whim (he only wanted $200 CAD for the duals and it's full 2.5" stainless), but I've decided I'm not going to put them on because I'll only have about 1-2" of ground clearance after I lower my car this summer.
BTW, I see you're from Kars, I grew up not far from you in Smiths Falls! I'll probably be moving to the Brockville area in a year or two (Toronto stinks).
That's too bad, MBRP would probably be a nice sound out of it, very unique. But would have a nice roar.
I agree on Toronto, too much for me. But Brockville is one of the most beautiful towns there is, very nice place to live and grow!
They look really good.
A perfect example of the ingenuity a lot of guys are showing here.
I think Silvana makes nice bright replacement bulbs.
Might work better with tint.
I would definitely clean up the inside of the bulb sockets with some sandpaper even with stock bulbs.
A nice good connection will brighten them up if needed.
Last edited by Ron U.S.M.C.; 05-29-2017 at 08:22 PM.
Wow!!! I agree with all the complements here. I've seen some jobs that I didn't really like but you did a great improvement on those lights. Congratulations!!!
Great job! I did my firebird set years ago and it does take some sanding and polishing to get vht to look good. Kills me whenever i see a car with terrible vht work done to it.
05-29-2017, 07:44 AM
