Paint for all red rears?

[ANDREW 30 0]

What the best paint and lacquer to get for doing all red rears and where am i likely to find it?

I've got the red and silver inpro rears on at the moment, but i feel they look too modern for the car, so i'm planning on tinting the standard rears that i've got!

Do most people use standard lights for painting?

 

Cheers Andrew

[Andy665 0]

Savage paint (got mine off e-Bay, just put "light tint spray" into search) is what I've just used with Halfords lacquer on a standard set of Golf Mk4 rears Light sanding (I used 3000 grade W+D) between coats and jobs a good 'un

[moneypit23 0]

I used the savage stuff as well and a clear laquer over the top.

[ANDREW 30 0]

Cheers for the replys, i'll get on to that in a bit!

[borarob 0]

like others I used the savage spray plus some halfords clear lacquer over the top. put lots of red tint on and lots of lacquer. i didn't put enough in and think its likely I'll have to redo as the tops are going a bit orange. the more paint you put on the more you can afford to polish them up to a real nice shine. here's what mine look like:

 

[carrots 1]

tidy job that,thinking of doing mine did you change your bulbs to green or anyhing

[vw domo 0]

if you dont want the orange to show you have to give it quite a heavy coat, after that the turn signals flash red so i got some orange led bulbs with variable resistors off ebay.

 

you can get the bulbs from halfords that are just orange but im not sure if there any good.

[carrots 1]

ive read on here some people use green bulbs :shrug:

[vw domo 0]

not sure if the green bulbs actually work all tho the theory is sound.

 

this is what i did viewtopic.php?f=3&t=85275&p=988270&hilit=green+bulbs#p988270

[yacobwood 0]

Green bulbs are an :epicfail: Stick with the LEDs and resistors

[Henny 0]

Passat B5s actually have a green filter inside the light housing to make the red rear lights shine orange, so the theory is definitely sound... ;) (I know this as I've just had to change one of my rear lights on my 'ssat after reversing into a BMW... :censored: )

 

HOWEVER, The trick is that they have some very thin clear strips in the outer plastic to let some unfiltered light out too... This means you have a mix of:

pure white light (the filter isn't all the way around the bulb) + red coloured plastic

green light + red coloured plastic

White light + CLEAR plastic (but not a lot!)

green light + CLEAR plastic

 

This gives you a nice orange light when viewed from anything more than about 12 inches away from the light unit...

 

With a completely red coated rear light, I'm not sure how you'd do it, as you need some green light to escape without going through the red filter along with the red light to be able to mix them and make the orange you require by law... :shrug:

 

I can see a high brightness orange LED based bulb working though, as it should simply over-power the red filter... whether it'd be road legal though is a different question... :shrug:

[ANDREW 30 0]

like others I used the savage spray plus some halfords clear lacquer over the top. put lots of red tint on and lots of lacquer. i didn't put enough in and think its likely I'll have to redo as the tops are going a bit orange. the more paint you put on the more you can afford to polish them up to a real nice shine. here's what mine look like:

 

 

They look great, is 1 can of the red tint enough to do the 4 tail light pieces?

[Andy665 0]

It should be enough, personally I believe its the careful application of the lacquer and final polishing that creates a good final finish

[borarob 0]

It should be enough, personally I believe its the careful application of the lacquer and final polishing that creates a good final finish

 

absolutely - its all about the lacquer. the more of that you get on (built up with lots of coats). the more polishing you can do to achieve a factory finish.

[Kempy 0]

do you paint over the red at the bottom, I did mine a while back and they dont look that lovely

[borarob 0]

yup, sanded back and painted and lacquered the whole thing, not just the orange bits...

[Kempy 0]

my savage paint arrived today, I shall have a go today hopefully

[Kempy 0]

Is any prep required or just clean them up and apply the paint and wet and dry in between coats?

[Andy665 0]

I'd recommend alight sanding (600 / 800 grade) followed by a wipedown with IPA to give the paint a good base to bond to

[Kempy 0]

cool I got some spare clusters to practice on 8)

[Kempy 0]

does anybody know if these will need resistors??

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2X-24-LED-Car-Tai ... 45f25ef2cb

[vw domo 0]

they look better quality than the ones i bought for that price. might invest in a set of there and give them a go.......

oh and i should think that they would need resistors, did you ask the seller?

[Kempy 0]

no, I got resistors already. If I remember they slow the flash speed dont they?

[vw domo 0]

yes sir. ironically i think there called fast flash resistors :shrug:

[aide 0]

there's a wiki guide for this on here if anyone's interested.

 

i did same as others leaving a blank over the reverse light and leaving 9 or so 3mm strips over the horizontal orange lenses, they flash orange with standard bulbs, and look 'all red' from anything more than 2ft away, much better way of keeping wiring/ bulbs standard and not failing MOT for a wee bit of extra effort.