Originally posted by midlifecrisis:
What's the process for those nightshades?
I popped off the two main tails, 3 wingnuts on each in behind the trunk wall carpet. Took off the 3rd light 'sliver' built into the spoiler, it has two Philips screws up into the tail and you need an 'elbow Philips' to get it off. Also took off the clear plastic strip over the license plate that houses the reverse backup lights (four nuts removed with a ratchet from inside the trunk lid).
Picked up 2 cans of VHT Niteshades, only ended up needing one can but I used all of it (but nothing worse than running out of it with your car all a part!). I put 4 slow double-pass (right to left and back again) coats on it with 15 minutes in between each application to allow to dry. 10 minutes seemed to be dry to the touch and not tacky, but allowed 5 extra minutes to be safe...then you could pick them up and handle them as they were quite dry. Pick one up and walk out in the normal sunlight to gauge the darkness as they will appear darker when doing it in a garage. Also, make sure you have good ventilation as the Niteshade's vapours are quite strong.
After they looked dark enough, I let them sit for an hour then applied some clear coat paint as a top finish since the Niteshades leaves a flat/matte finish. The clear coat put the glossy finish back on it and I had guys telling me that the lights looked stock.
I believe I put about 3 coats of clear coat on them to get the finish/shine I wanted them to have. The clear coat spray I used is also made by VHT and can usually be bought where you get the Niteshades product (again I picked up two cans and only needed one).
All in all, took about 3 hrs to do then mounted them back on the car.