Toyota Celica DIY

3m 1000 – 1500 grit scratch remover
Mothers Polishing Ball (GREAT tool!)
Turtle Wax Platnium paste Wax

if anyone is interested here is a write up:

To tint your TYC Tail Lights you will need:

TYC Lights
1 VHT Nightshade
1 roll of Green Painter’s Tape
1 Utility Knife
1 pack of 2000 wet/dry paper
1 3M 1000 – 1500 Grit Scratch Remover/Fine Cut Compound
Suggestion: Mother’s Polishing Ball for your drill
1 wax, I use Turtle Wax Platnium Gloss paste

First tape your whole light off, meaning tape of the plastic part found on each side that goes on the trunk. Next, if you want to have the reverse light clear this is where it gets tricky…. lay the painters tape over the reverse light part on the tail light. Try to overlap the tape minimally to cover the entire clear part…. get under a very good light and you should be able to see a faint outline of the reverse light. If you van get your knife just right, you will be able to put your knife between the clear part and the red part of the light ever so slightly. This will allow you to apply a minimal amount of force to the knife and by having it in that groove it will naturally follow the curves of the light. After all that is done prep with soap and water or do what I did and use rubbing alcohol. Next comes the painting part…..

To paint these right, paint them at chest level, NEVER on the ground…. painting on the ground is a big no no…. After your little painting table is setup, I applied the VHT Nightshade to the top and the inside of the light first. I left the part that other drivers will see to be hit last because if you spray the main part first and then do your sides you run into the chance of overspraying the Nightshade back onto the main part. SO basically it looked like this:

2 paint swipes uptop
2 paint swipes on the side
# of swipes needed to coat the outside of the light
= 1 painting “stage”

I did 7 paint “stages” on my lights

After about 15 or 20 mins the light should be dry, WET SAND WITH 2000 GRIT PAPER!!!! This is key if you want a mirror like finish otherwise you will get the ugly orange peel. You really won’t see a significant tint until you hit the 4th coat with the VHT Nightshade so don’t worry, just wetsand and paint. After you get to your desired tint amount, apply a clear coat to protect it, I just used basic Duplicolor Acrylic CLear Enamel for this part. SHoot clear on it, wetsand with 2000 grit, shoot another clear and wetsand with 2000 grit again. 2 Coats of clear is ample for the lights. Now YOU WILL have hairline scratches on your lights and they WILL look fuzzy and hazzy so don’t kill yourself just yet. You HAVEN’T RUINED them… they just need to be polished! The BEST polisher/scratch remover I found was the 3M 1000-1500 grit fine cut compound…. cost 10$ at National Auto and works like a charm. I also decided to pick up the Mother’s Polishing Ball for the drill and I thik I found a new love…. that thing makes life soooo much easier and does a fantastic job! Just apply the 3M liiquid to the light and buff and then do it again. To be safe I did 2 jobs with the 3M liquid on both lights. After all is said and done your light should be becoming more shiney… but wait you still need to wax it! For this I used Turtle Wax Platnium Gloss paste wax… apply a wax coat to each light and wait about 15-20 mins to rub off and you will be done. All in all you will need about 3-4 hours to do this whole project. But as you guys can see, it is WELL worth it!

The 3M liquid and the Mother’s ball does wonders on the headlights too!