How to refinish turn, brake lt. lenses?

[911pcars]

What’s the best way to repaint the black edge trim on Euro front and rear lenses? Dip, brush, spray? Currently, the edges are without paint. Thanks

Sherwood

[Darkly-Noon]

I just used gloss black paint for plastic models (oil based) that I got at a hobby store, brushed on. Worked pretty well, And I used a plastic polish for the exterior side of the lens.

[Duc Hunter]

Keep in mind many plastic lenses have some level of UV protection in the outer layers. Our tail lights are old and may not, but think of new headlights. When you buff them down to clean them up you removed the worn out UV layers. The problem then is that the lens has no protection any more, and so it often deteriorates much faster. To prevents this, once they are cleaned up you might want to hit them with some protection. That could be ceramic coat, or you could get a UV resistant clear coat. The benefit there is that later on, if you need to clean them up you are buffing down the clear, not the plastic. Just a thought.

[Ctopher]

I used flat black model paint and novus plastic polish to refurbish my tail lights. If your worried about UV, I would use something like CarPro Dlux on the lenses for durability and UV protection







CTopher

[DerkPerk]

Very timely post for me. I just went to change a turn signal bulb and realized I need to do this too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Schloer2]

Thanks for the great COVID project - easy, cheap, and rewarding.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by Schloer2

Thanks for the great COVID project - easy, cheap, and rewarding.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

COVID project? Related? Did I miss something? Details?

Thanks
Sherwood

[joefrantz]

I pretty much did the same as everyone as far as painting. I used good ol Testors black enamel, brushed on the inside.

I also did my front lenses, which presented another problem. There were a number of stone chips in the lenses, and the chips on the front side, made it look like the paint was
chipped off, even though the paint was on the inside of the lens. I ended up gently planing the surface of the chipped lenses with a single edged razor blade to remove the erupted "crater edges" of the stone chips, then wet sanding in stages from about 800 to 2000 grit. I polished using a plastic compound and buffing wheel.

Before painting, I stripped the old paint with oven cleaner.

The wet sanding and buffing made a huge difference. I did this a while ago, circa 2004. You could do the buffing part today with one of the headlight polishing kits and a drill. No need for the buffing wheel and rouge.

[Schloer2]

Originally Posted by 911pcars

COVID project? Related? Did I miss something? Details?

Thanks
Sherwood

Sherwood - I just meant this was a great project to do while stuck at home under the COVID stay-at-home orders.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by Schloer2

Sherwood - I just meant this was a great project to do while stuck at home under the COVID stay-at-home orders.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Duh. Thanks for the clarification.