Need help please for my tailights!

[Andystyle]

My tailights were recently damaged and i decided to take a set my friend had laying around instead of going to MB and paying 2g for tailights. But there's one problem he had spray painted his tailights black to make them tinted, idk why. But anyway now am stuck with the problem of dealing with painted taillights not to mention they dont even look like there one at night. Anyone of you master detailers have any knowledge with removing paint from clear plastic tailights if you can put me in the right direction i would love to get this problem cleared up. I've heard of wet sanding and some liquids but i dont want to do something stupid i'll regret down the line. I appreciate your wisdom!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Need help please for my tailights!

Do you know anything at all about the paint he used on these? Depending on how thick or thin it is will make a big difference in how easy or tricky it is to remove.

If he used something like the VHT NightShades tint it could be an easy fix.

[Andystyle]

Re: Need help please for my tailights!

Well am assuming he didnt use anything too thick, because you can still see the lights on at night, but say if a car's behind me and has it's headlights on it would basically look like my taillights are not on due to his headlights lighting up my rear.

[Andystyle]

Re: Need help please for my tailights!

I was reading up on this wet sanding/Plastic X combo alot of you have been using on the forum. Do you think that would be a good approach for me to try out?

[POPPAJ]

Re: Need help please for my tailights!

Paint remover? Spot test first!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Need help please for my tailights!

Using the wool pad that comes with the consumer Headlight Restoration Kit we've had excellent luck removing 3000 grit sanding marks from headlights. The wool pad attaches to a drill so you don't need to know how to use a rotary buffer.

What you would need to do is pick up some blue painters tape and mask off the area surrounding the tail lights - or remove them from the car and clamp them down on a workbench of some sort. If the coating is thin enough you should be able to cut through it with 1000 grit sand paper. If you need something more aggressive then go with either 800 or 500, max. Either way, follow with a thorough sanding to remove the coating, then follow with 1000 grit, then follow with 3000 grit. Keep in mind we're talking about wet sanding here, not dry.

When you get to the 3000 grit step you'll actually start to see some clarity again in the lights, so they won't look so cloudy. The wool pad from the consumer Headlight Restoration Kit, along with the PlastX from the same kit, will pull out the 3000 grit sanding marks pretty easily. Job done.

[Andystyle]

Re: Need help please for my tailights!

Thank you for the advise, am going to try and attempt this method this weekend. I will take pictures along the way to keep track of my work and show you guys also. Wish me luck!