Whats the best way to smoke/tint lens?

 

Depends which lenses you are trying to tint. Some have used window tint, some use VHT Nightshades that you can purchase at auto part stores (O'reillys, Autozone, etc). If you use VHT, I recommend using a few coats of clearcoat to keep it from eventually turning purple.

 

it will be top and side marker lights (Yellow going Black) lol

 

Here is the video I watched and followed and the results turned out really nice. I did all of the lights across the entire back end of the truck last week but I made the mistake of going a little too dark!! I would advise only doing 3 coats not the 4 that he recommends. I will most likely end up getting some bright led replacements for the tails to overcome this. I went with Dupli-Color brand for the clear and NOT the Krylon because it failed for me. It was a pretty fun project
Good Luck!!
YouTube - ‪HOW TO TINT YOUR TAIL LIGHTS WITH VHT NITESHADES (VIDEO 1 OF 2)‬‏

 

How did the Krylon fail? Did it not dry properly or something?

 

I used niteshades and clear coat on my marker lights. The one tip I have for the nightshades is THIN EVEN COATS. Too thick and it will crack while drying right down to the lens so you'll have a nice jagged yellow line through your tint that you can't cover up. A crack means starting from scratch.

Sand them with like 400 grit first in every crack and crevice. Sanding is key to get the tint to stick. Without sanding it will run and pool. After sanding clean the lenses with alcohol until the cloth or towel comes away from the lens 100% clean. Then lay them all out on a row and apply the niteshades, THINLY. Take your time, try to get them evenly from all angles and make them match. Leave a good 10-20 minutes between coats, maybe longer depending on humidity and temperature. After you get them to where you want them let them dry for awhile. Then apply coat, a lot of people found that sanding the clear coat and polishing it was needed. I did not do this and they turned out great. The lenses have too many angles to sand the clear coat safely without breaking through it, besides, if anyone gets close enough to your roof marker lights to see you didn't sand the clear coat you should smack them anyways.

The key here is thin even coats, in one sweeping motion. If you lay it on too thick it will run and leave drips which look like crap. However thin you think you should apply the clear coat, go thinner.

If you mess up let them dry and sand them back down to the plastic. I tried a number of removers and all left some kind of tacky film behind from the niteshades after the color was removed.

Mine have held good now for a few months, still look great, get a UV resistant clear coat and you'll be golden. I went light enough so you can still still see a yellowish tint in sunlight, but dark enough they look black in shade and at night.

Even though I went light it is still hard to tell they are on in daylight.

For anything else go with a film explicitly made for tinting signals or headlights. I tried to tint my brake lights with niteshades and ruined them, which is now why I have aftermarket LED. For the price of tail lights on ebay and such just buy those instead of wasting your time and risking ruining the factory ones if you want to tint your tail lights.

I think I paid $89+shipping for my tail lights. I've never seen another H3 on the road with LED tail lights, they look great and really set the truck apart.

 

Thank you all for your help, one more question. Do you know where or how to remove the top marker lights above windshield?

 

They have a single torx screw holding them in place. Then I think they slide back and up, don't yank them out, they have a tab that goes into the plastic moulding. Just be gentle removing them and you'll see what I mean when you get them off.

 

I am not sure what caused the Krylon to fail. I wet-sanded with 2k grit wet paper prior to spraying and when I covered with the Krylon it left a cloudy appearance over the piece. I switched to the Dupli-color and it was crystal clear after complete adhesion. The Krylon was purchased at walmart so If I had to venture a guess I would say it was old or imperfect stock.
I don't mean to spread negative comments about Kryon from one experience, but for me I couldn't have expected any better than the Dupli-color product.

 

i want to tint my tail lights but i never seam to have the time, and when i do it rains =(.