Write-Up: Tinting Headlights, Turn Signals, & Tail Lenses

DEMonte1997 wrote:

Depending on the paint area conditions, you can also spray the floor down with a little water to prevent dust particles from becoming airborne. I do this when I'm painting because it's in a garage that is almost impossible to get completely dirt/dust free.

An incredibly simple but often overlooked idea...

ZEP wrote:

Thanks for the help though, it is very straightforward.

no problem , let me know how it works for you

97 park ave, can i get some input on the tinted lights/lenses?

your car is definitely clean man. my riv is that same color, and that's the theme i'm gonna go for. smoked lights + tint + black rims.

https://2img.net/h/oi55.tinypic.com/v446ci.jpg

but i don't wanna go too dark on any of the tint. i don't want a complete blacked out theme, i want the lights/lenses to match the level of the window tint, just perfect not too dark not too light.

LaFlare wrote:

97 park ave, can i get some input on the tinted lights/lenses?

the tail lights are done with VHT nite shades, apply coats until you like the darkness and then clear. i did the turn signals and side markers the same way, but "mr. riviera" got some vinyl tint for his turn signals that i might try the next time around.
the headlights are a whole different story, you dont touch the lens for any of it. what you do is seperate the clear lens from the black plastic housing, and paint the non-forward facing reflective material black. this causes the light itself to look darker without effecting the light output by putting something over the lense. let me know if you have any questions.

97 park ave wrote:

LaFlare wrote:

97 park ave, can i get some input on the tinted lights/lenses?

the tail lights are done with VHT nite shades, apply coats until you like the darkness and then clear. i did the turn signals and side markers the same way, but "mr. riviera" got some vinyl tint for his turn signals that i might try the next time around.
the headlights are a whole different story, you dont touch the lens for any of it. what you do is seperate the clear lens from the black plastic housing, and paint the non-forward facing reflective material black. this causes the light itself to look darker without effecting the light output by putting something over the lense. let me know if you have any questions.

Can't really add much to what Tyler said but that I did use one light coat of niteshade followed by a few coats of clear after I tinted the insides of my headlights (just to make them a hair darker). Everything else I sprayed with niteshade until I got the level of tint I wanted and cleared over that for gloss and protection. I like Nason brand clear. Seems to hold up almost as good as professional clear (shot out of a gun). I've used Duplicolor and Rustoleum clear before and neither have lasted longer than a year or two. Nason has held up well for me.

Any other questions, ask away.

Thanks for the compliments

i cant personally recommend nason, but its what im going to try next time. ive had too many bad experiences with duplicolor getting milky. either way OP, dont use duplicolor and i trust rick so i would give nason a try.

Whoa... looks like some crazy post sorting and condensing went on in here. lol

foreals tho.

i really just wanted a thread full of everyone showcasing their tint, just so happened i had a few other questions. but i guess my thread was deleted and parts of it were sorted here and there and into different threads. :/
confused the hell outta me. in the window tint FAQ thread there's hardly any pics of rivs w/tint. i doubt ppl would post their pics in there seeing as that thread has been around for awhile. opposed to the separate thread i made.

None of your posts were deleted, just reorganized. Don't take it personally; the same rules apply to all members. It's a simple concept: whenever you post on 3 entirely different subjects in the same thread, you can count on your post being split and merged to the correct locations. Rest assured, unless it's inappropriate material, nothing gets deleted here.

Our "old" threads don't die like some boards, they are kept current because the info is not time sensitive and still relevant - our cars are all at least 10 years old. Something posted 3 years ago is not any less useful now than it was then, and this info has helped many a Riv owner with their problems. I know it's confusing at first, but trust me, when you take the time to contribute something useful to the board, like a write-up, you'll appreciate that it wasn't buried or 'pruned' as is the case at some boards.

The board is intended to benefit the membership as a whole first, as individuals second. Hope you will understand. Thx.

AA thats one thing I love about this board. I was a member at HTTECH and D-series.org and pmfi.org and many others and if you posted something that is 2 months old you'd be flamed everytime. It got to the point I just quit posting cuz of the people. This forum just seems to be full of decent poeple that arent pricks. This has been my favorite board ive been on all cuz of my purchase of my riv.

yeah, no problem. i was just confused at first. and this indeed is a great forum. been checking this place before i bought my riv, and once i did i just had to join

AA wrote:

The board is intended to benefit the membership as a whole first, as individuals second. Hope you will understand. Thx.

you do a good job with it aaron! as said this board is very well kept, keep it up

If your going to nightshade your tail lights and like the finish on mine (pic below) follow these steps exactly. This is the way I did it on my T/A in the summer. 90% of nightshade jobs I see around here have a flat hazy look. I got pure gloss with this method. I will do the same to my riv in the spring.

3 coats of nightshade and 4 coats of duplicolor clear. I went with the idea of laying thick heavy coats to keep it glossy which just settled and died down to a flatter typical VHT look , so I took clear and applied heavy wet coats the key is to keep the clear wet looking without leaving drip marks same as if your painting a car with single stage paint. The only thing I did to prep these was wash them with dish soap and scrub them with the finest steel wool. I actually used the same soapy water while I did this which dulls them out and makes for a good surface for paint. The trick is to not get runs.I tore the car itself down and repainted it in pieces the previous year so I got plenty of practice with the keeping it glossy with runs method

I am wanting to make the headlights dark but I do know that you cannot use nightshade or tint them because for one you wont be able see anything and two i think it mught be illegal. I have heard of some people taking their headlights apart and painting the insides black which wouldnt take away light at all. are we able to do this with our headlights?. Can you do this with the corner lamp too? and I am just going to night shade the blinkers on the bottom along with the tailights and bottom side lights on the back

painting the insides black takes away reflected light, which you need to see.

if you did a projector conversion and had a clear sheet vacuum-formed to take the place of the current lens that might work nice.

I do not know if these come apart BUT typically composite headlamps are put together with a glue that melts between 200 and 225F. Problem is the headlight plastic itslef begins to melt not much warmer like 240F. So I imagine it acn be done but might be smart to get a pair of junkyard composites, not the ones on the car right this minute.



Albertj

ok guys is it possible that the search function is messed up on this sight because before this i searched for headlights and notihing came up about tinting them. I have noticed this several other times when searching for stuff too!

Mine have a light coating of VHT over the outside, which did decrease light output somewhat. However, painting the non-forward facing pieces of the chrome housing did not decrease light output alone. I VHT'd the outsides because I wanted them to be a little darker. HID install brought the light output to way better than stock even with the tinted lens/painted housings.

Taking the headlamps apart is easy with a heat gun or hair dryer (lens and housing is glued together). I wouldn't go with the oven method.

The corner lights, on the other hand, are plastic welded and impossible to take apart without a dremel or other cutting tool. They are a pita to deal with. Lot of work went into those to make them match the headlights.

How much would this cost if I were to get my headlights and tail lights tinted black?

~$15 for a can of spray tint here. You just buy the spray tint from the local auto parts store and follow the write up in this thread.

That doesn't include the $ for the wax/grease remover. ~$5.

So getting a can of tint spray and using that wouldn't make a difference in look? and does the car look better with the headlights and tail lights tinted? I think the paint job on my riviera is factory and a siliverish beige.

If you get VHT Niteshades (tint) at the local store, also pick up a quality clearcoat to go over that. When you spray the VHT on the lens, do a light coat. Wait 15 mins and then do a light coat of clear over that. Wait anothr 15 mins and repeat. Finish 15 mins after that with a wetter coat of clear to make the surface glossy (be careful not to overload so you don't get runs). You may or may not have to wetsand and polish the tinted piece when you're done to make it shine. Depends on how heavy you sprayed the last coat of clear.

HTH

You shouldn't have to wetsand or polish anything if the clear is laid fast and thick. The surface should be kept as glossy looking as possible from the start of you applying clear. You also don't need to waste money on wax and grease remover you can use dish soap. Some body shops swear by dish soap as a remover before paint. One coat of VHT wont make it much darker then stock. You need several for a proper tinted look. Depending on how you want to go. 99% of VHT jobs are trash. I see them all over town and they all look terribly flat then you get people constantly waxing the tails to make them look good. Do it right the first time and you will be happy with the results.

I just want to clarify that when I mention only putting a light coat on in my message above, I meant that for the headlights. For the tails I used three lighter coats and it came out quite dark.

HTH

Does anyone have any pictures of their results? 2 posters have posted results in here. At 7 pages long nearly full of text we should see photos of everyone who's done it by now.

BlownRiv wrote:

Does anyone have any pictures of their results? 2 posters have posted results in here. At 7 pages long nearly full of text we should see photos of everyone who's done it by now.

page 3 has my pictures of the tinted blinkers and the video with the blinker on.

after a year on the car they still look good but i have noticed that it will eventually chip off due to bugs and washings every week.