Taillight Respray Results

[GoldStar]

Some time back, an accident took out the passenger side of a very clean set of taillight assemblies I got from Steve. Soon after I ended up respraying the insides of my very rusty original passenger taillight with a metallic aluminum spray. Today I got around to respraying my original driver taillight, but this time I used a white gloss paint to see if it made a difference. Thought I'd post the results here.

For the record, I don't recommend doing this to a clean unopened set of assemblies, as I believe they perform better. However, if you have a rusty set, either of these paints seem like good options to breathe some new life into them.

These were the paints I used; metallic aluminum and white gloss, both by Rustoleum:

Here's a couple of pics of the white gloss driver prior to reassembly:

And here's a comparison before I installed the driver today. Driver taillight in this picture is an original very clean unopened assembly, and the passenger has been resprayed with the metallic aluminum paint:

And here's the driver with the white gloss paint, passenger unchanged:

Honestly, the camera picked up more of a difference than I see in person. The driver seems to glint a bit more due to the gloss, but otherwise they look the same to me. One doesn't seem any more brighter than the other. I'll have to check again when it gets dark.

For anyone curious, I'm using butyl rubber tape to reseal my assemblies:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08398DP4Q?psc=1

Edited December 3, 2022 by GoldStar

[TexasQuest]

Interesting. Some night shots of them lit up would be nice also.

[psu_Crash]

Interesting indeed! I would have though the gloss white would be much dimmer. Appears not

[techboy]

Question: how are you separating the lens and then what are using to put them back together?

[GoldStar]

Gonna try to get some night shots the next time I bring it to work since I get out so late.

On 11/24/2022 at 10:05 AM, techboy said:

Question: how are you separating the lens and then what are using to put them back together?

I'm using a heat gun to loosen up the adhesive, then using a plastic interior trim tool to work the outer lens off of the assembly similar to this video. For reassembly, I'm using butyl sealant tape like this to re-seal:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08398DP4Q?psc=1
It might look too thick, but you can stretch to thin it out kinda like playdoh. I still ended up getting it too thick in some areas, but with some further persuasion with the heat gun, I was able to get all of the little locking tabs back where they were.

On 11/23/2022 at 10:39 PM, psu_Crash said:

Interesting indeed! I would have though the gloss white would be much dimmer. Appears not

The aluminum finish on the passenger taillight there ended up having a bit of a matte texture to it, so I was expecting the white gloss to be much brighter. It does seem to diffuse the light much more evenly, at least. I'll see how it looks in the night.

[kev]

Cool!  Thanks for posting this.   

I have this on my list of things to do on my driver conquest.   I keep putting it off because I tried years back to separate one of these lights and broke it in the process.   

[tux]

1 hour ago, kev said:

Cool!  Thanks for posting this.   

I have this on my list of things to do on my driver conquest.   I keep putting it off because I tried years back to separate one of these lights and broke it in the process.   

same and with how rare the lights are in good shape, i fear trying again

[GoldStar]

On 11/29/2022 at 8:42 AM, kev said:

Cool!  Thanks for posting this.   

I have this on my list of things to do on my driver conquest.   I keep putting it off because I tried years back to separate one of these lights and broke it in the process.   

On 11/29/2022 at 10:14 AM, tux said:

same and with how rare the lights are in good shape, i fear trying again

Highly recommend using a wide plastic interior trim tool, like the one in this set, to work the lens off of the assembly:
https://smile.amazon.com/Apeixoto-Removal-Removers-Molding-Fastener/dp/B07RK292CB
That and patience really helps. It takes time to soften that ancient adhesive with the heat gun. Keep in mind, there are about 6 little tabs on the lens that actually hook into the housing in addition to the glue. The first assembly I took apart I warped the housing because I didn't think about those tabs, got the plastic too hot.

Here are some night shots I got. Would have focused on the ground more, but I did not anticipate how much my LED license plate bulbs would overpower everything. As a reminder, I am using red LED replacement taillight bulbs.
Driver is white gloss, passenger is metallic aluminum:

In person, neither seemed brighter than the other, just different light dissipation/reflection pattern.

I still think unopened clean reflectors look/perform the best, but if you have an old rusty set of taillights, either paint seems to be a good option if good originals become unobtanium.

[TexasQuest]

From the photos, the driver side color looks a little richer. 

[tux]

yea i agree, drivers side is better

[kev]

The driver does look better, via the photos.    

I know exactly what you mean by the little tabs...as well as overheating the light.   This has given me the motivation to attempt to separate my spare set and hopefully get them cleaned up and ready to install on my driver.    It's a good one to toss on my list of winter projects.   

Kevin