Alright, so here's a small update on the lights. They aren't completely done, but I'll be finishing them tomorrow.

Taking off the tail lights is actually really easy, you just have to unscrew two #30 6-point star head bolts and then pull the tail light away from the tailgate and it just pops out. The bulbs just take a 1/8 counter-clockwise turn to pop off. It's kinda nice, everything is pretty sturdy and didn't feel like it was going to break at all.

First I had to sand everything down. Tail lights normally come with a really shiny and smooth finish on it to help with visibility. Paint doesn't like to stick to that AT ALL. But, with some 400 grit wet sandpaper and some elbow grease, that problem is alleviated.

Taped everything off, and mixed up some paint. Like I said earlier, I'm using 20% black PPG automotive paint and 80% clear PPG auto paint. The clear also requires an activator, with a 4 to 1 ratio of clear coat to activator. There's a really nice, small auto store that gave me some small freebies to help with the painting. I got a couple of paint mixing cups with the 4:1:1 ratio that I needed for mixing the two paints and the activator, and those make a world of difference. If you decide to do this project yourself, I would recommend using the 4:1 clear/black ratio, because with paint, you can always add more layers and it won't affect the thickness too much. If you mix too much black in, you run the risk of making the lights too dark for your liking, and then you rage. :banghead:

After mixing up some paint, my friend shot the lights with the mix. I taped off the upper red half of the light and painted just the lower reverse lights first. And you know, I love the nice deep black that it is with just three coats. What do you think?

Left tail light, with some water and sandpaper.

More sanding to be done.

Sanding pretty much done.

Left tail light. 3 coats of 20% black / 80% clear.

Right tail light.

The paint is taking a little long to dry, so we're letting them dry and cure overnight, and we'll get started again tomorrow morning. I want to sand that paint down a little to smooth everything up (there are some really tiny bubbles in the paint), and then we'll shoot the whole taillight with 3 more layers of the black/clear mix, let that cure, sand a little more, and then 2 or 3 layers of clear, cure, and buff. Should be awesome when we're done.

 

Another update.

I let the lights dry overnight. They weren't drying to quickly and never really got past tacky, so we said whatever and stopped for the night.

Came out this morning and untaped everything and then started some more sanding. I don't think we mixed quite enough paint for the spray gun and we had a few bubbles. Definitely couldn't have that. So we sanded the painted section down from about 3 or 4 coats to about 1 or 1.5 coats to make sure we got rid of all of the bubbles.

After painting, and before sanding.

We re-taped the entire light this time, instead of just half, and started painting. We did 4 coats, but with a 20 to 30 minute wait in between each coat. We weren't actually baking the lights, however the paint booth does have steam heaters in the exhaust system, so the paint dries a little better than in open air. The finish kind of has a matte look to it, but that because we were misting the mix coats on.

After spraying the black and clear mix, we laid down a nice thick clear coat and it just shiiiines so nice now. Once this dries, we'll do a real light sanding with some 4,000 grit sandpaper that my friend randomly found, and then do two more thick coats of clear, let it dry overnight, wax, buff and reinstall onto the truck.

One coat of clear, no sanding.

My friend being an idiot. But yes, the lights really are that reflective with just one coat of clear.

 

damn looks good.

 

they look good, i was thinking about doing this but like the headlight mod, lets see them on the truck, and with the brakes on so they are lit up

 

Looks great with a little polish they will looke even better.

 

Great job!

 

I am not hacking on your tail lights they look good if you are into that dark look. Myself I want to be seen at night the brighter the better so nobody bashes my pride and joy.
I can not see the sense in smoked lights besides they look good but in my opinion you sacrifice saftey at night. Not to mention the PO PO might stop you and make you put it back to stock.

 

Looks very good. Please post some pictures when you are finished and show them installed on your truck.

 

Sorry about not posting pics earlier. I had surgery on my jaw Wednesday, and I'm still recovering a little from it. Haven't been out at all since Tuesday afternoon, lol. Feeling better now, so I'm gonna wash the truck real quick and get some pics taken. I should hope to have something up tonight or tomorrow.

 

Thanks. Will all will be waiting

 

Here is what I did..

Painted them with automotive clear coat mixed with black, I didnt want them super dark just tinted. It would be like having 35% window tint on your windows. Picture looks brighter than they really are.

 

Alright, I finally got some photos of the lights in the daytime. I apologize about the delay.

The lights are A LOT darker than in the photos. The sunlight was shining directly on the rear end.

Camera ain't that great in the night time. :banghead:

Head lights on

Brakes on

Hazards (turn signals) and brakes on

Reverse and brakes on

 

I FINALLY found a place that can add a light tint to my tail lights. So I'll be getting it done soon.

 

That is sweet!

 

looks awesome and you can still see them at night

 

Nice write up!!! I have always used the spray cans. Sand, spray can, wet sand, clear coat, and buff. Last car I did it on was my porsche and it still turned out super clean looking. Never had a problem and got it all done under 30 bucks. Just another simple option for those without a spray gun... Although im sure yours looks way cleaner in person.

 

Nice write up!!! I have always used the spray cans. Sand, spray can, wet sand, clear coat, and buff. Last car I did it on was my porsche and it still turned out super clean looking. Never had a problem and got it all done under 30 bucks. Just another simple option for those without a spray gun... Although im sure yours looks way cleaner in person.

Thanks, although your method does look really good too.

To be honest, I can't remember how much I spent on the paint. It was more than $30 though...

 

u should do the 3rd brake light too...i did mine with oracal vinyl, but the 2010 tails just have too many odd curves and i'm not happy with the vinyl, i may end up spraying them unless i can find some after markets i like.