Picked up a can of VHT Nite Shades yesterday and started with the 3rd brake light.

Wet sanded with 800.

Cleaned, dryed and painted.

With in minutes the Nite Shade dried all crackly.

Sanded that all off. Dryed and cleaned with alcohol.

Painted and cracked again.

I tried it on an emptly plastic pop bottle I had lying around and no crackling on it. So I'm guessing there is something on the light or something about it causing the crackling.

This happen to anyone else? Solutions?

 

did you use wax and grease remover?

 

That happend to my third brake light also, (the break lights and corners turned out fine). It looks like theirs cracks all over it when you put the shade on. Haven't tried to fix it yet, i might just get a new one and try it again...

 

I didn't have either problem. Whats the temperature where you are painting it?

 

I put it on, on a 72 degree summer day! It's just the third brake, i'll take a pic. after work..

 

thats strange .... i say rough it up more with like some 400 grit

 

It was close to 70 degrees and first time I scuffed with 800 and second with 220 then lightly with 800.

Plastic is all dull so I assume it should be rough enough.

I also cleaned with alcohol for my second attempt.

Maybe i'm putting it on too thick since the light is laying down it pools then cracks??

 

New lights in the works??

 

yea homie it shouldnt be pooling .... i did a bunch of light coats when i did my accords tails

 

I did mine in thin coats and this is what it looked like on 3rd brake...











And this is the rear.. I did the same thin coating and it turned out fine..




So I don't know.. I'll resand and try again, if that doesn't work i'll get a new 1.

 

That is what happened to mine exactly. I did the tails tonight and no problem. Resanded and tried the 3rd again for the 4th time and still cracking.

Guess I'll be looking for another one as well. I'm only doing the red in the center so I might just try some film I have left over since it is mostly staight.

 

yEAH THATS WEIRD... I hope a new 1 won't do that...

 

Could be possible the paint in the can wasn't up to tempature. I like to take the propane torch to the bottom on the can to help heat the paint up in the can, or put the can in a plastic baggy and let it sit in the sink w/ hot water. That's my procedure for cold weather painting.


As far as the cracking...it might just be painting style...thickness....improper tack up tim between coats, etc.

 

Put the spray can in a bucket of hot water for a few mins before you spray, maybe the paint temp was the problem, like mentioned earlier

 

Strange problem. I've had that happen on othr vehicles I've attempted. I've had more fisheyes than crackling though.

Rule of thumb is just very light coats. Are you painting the light with it still being on the truck?

 

where did you pick up the can of night shade. i've been trying to find some and i cant find it anywhere.

 

if you can't find Niteshades,you can use a similar product by Duplicolor called METALCAST. You want the Black Chrome colour. It's more like a smoke than a tint, but I prefer it to Niteshades.

 

No I took them off. The tails came out perfect. All I did was clean them off. I didn't sand them cause I didn't want them to be hazy.

There must have been something (wax, etc.) on the 3rd brake light that made it crackle.

 

I don't sand lenses before I paint them either, just incase I ever want to remove the paint later on,I don't wanted to have scratched up lenses.

I can't see the plastic on the 3rd brake light being a different type of plastic than that of the tail lights.

I find the Niteshades stuff is kind of finnicky on which surfaces it's used on. I particularly don't like Nitesahdes near as much as I like the Duplicolor Metalcast anodized paints.

 

i found a Metalcast product that the color is actually called "smoke" would that be the same thing?

 

I tried the metalcast and it turned out all foggy.

 

Yup. Just clear coat it when you're done otherwise it's flat and dull.

 

Did you paint the inside of your tails?