Smoked headlights (pics inside)

Ninety8stang · Jul 3, 2011

I got bored earlier and decided to grab a can of nightshade and do a couple light coats on my headlights. Turned out pretty decent. What do you guys think?

spdtrip · Jul 3, 2011

I think it looks real good. the up close pic really impresses me. I have a white car as well,I might give it a try.

spdtrip · Jul 3, 2011

Did you just simply clean them and then spray them?

RD95gt · Jul 3, 2011

Looks great. I ordered some smoked lights in may. Then their on backorder so I'm still waiting on them.

Ninety8stang · Jul 3, 2011

spdtrip said:
Did you just simply clean them and then spray them?

Haha thanks for the posts guys. Yeah just a little brake cleaner and then shotem up

auto_x5.0 · Jul 3, 2011

I need a day pic then I will say yay or nay

ttocs · Jul 3, 2011

put a good clear on it or it will start to become a flat surface really quickly.

uncltrvlnmatt · Jul 3, 2011

I am not a fan of smoked headlights. You can't see shit at night. I just ordered a new set of headlights for my car. The ones I have will be in the for sale section soon.

joekd · Jul 3, 2011

I did this with a set of corners before, they looked great until the damn edge molding started to fall off (insert curses here about all aftermarket corners doing this)

Ninety8stang · Jul 4, 2011

auto_x5.0 said:
I need a day pic then I will say yay or nay

This guy... Mr. "all deciding factor of what looks good" Hahaha I'm just kidding man. I took some plast-X to it earlier and smoothed out the surface and brightened them up a little bit and I have to say for a $10 can of some spray paint they sure turned out really good. I was impressed. Haha I'll have some updated pics up in a little while.

Thanks for all the post guys! I'm glad to see my little project gathered some attention. Haha

Patron022 · Jul 4, 2011

Doing this to my headlights since they are already crappy anyway.. I wonder how much light output you get after smoking them? I got 5k HID's.

Ninety8stang · Jul 5, 2011

Patron022 said:
Doing this to my headlights since they are already crappy anyway.. I wonder how much light output you get after smoking them? I got 5k HID's.

Surprisingly I didn't notice much of a light difference. I planned on getting some HID's here pretty soon anyways so I shouldn't have any lighting issues. Haha but all I really have to say is just prep the headlights really well before you paint them. Take some 1200 grit and wet sand them and buff them to take that oxidation off. Then just use a degreaser and spray'em. Should turn out perfect!

g36 monkey · Jul 5, 2011

I think most spray paints stick best with about 400 grit sanding.

Then your wet sand between coats could be with something higher.

However, I usually sand with 400, clean up, spray to desired darkness and clear.