i read imsa gt's thread on repairing gt taillights and thought i would give it a try. i was going to buy new ones so thought it would not hurt to give it a shot, and i am glad i did, since i will not need to buy new ones now. this is my first attempt at this and i have no professional painters tools, supplies or experience.

this is very similar to imsa's thread but i thought i would lay it out in steps. here is imsa's link and thanks for the inspiration.
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/074495.html
1. remove taillights and gingerly take them apart, prying the nubs apart and pulling them apart slowly, there is a sealant in there to protect them.
2. take all the pieces apart and clean them thoroughly, i washed them with dawn and warm water using a bristle brush.
3. carefully mask off the lettering and the clear lens part with painters tape. then very carefully cut excess tape away from letters and clear lens part with a razor blade. shine a flood light under the bottom of lens to get an outline of where to cut.
4. paint entire lens with black paint, i used krylon semi flat and did two light coats. let dry overnight.
5. paint many light coats of clear, i did around 8 or so with rustoleum clear spray paint. let dry overnight
6. wet sand with soapy water entire lens very thoroughly with 1500 grit paper. get it consistent and chalky.
7. buff entire lens with rubbing compound, this will remove sand paper scratches.
8. buff entire lens with polish, this will give it a glass mirror shine.
9. remove all the sealant from inner lens, and put a bead of silicone in the channel to seal the lights. reassemble lights and install.


there are a couple of things i would do differently next time. i should have buffed the entire lens with a scratch remover before masking and painting to remove tiny outside and inside scratches. i should of had three levels of sand paper, 1000,1500 and finish with 2000. i think sanding is the most important step and i only had 1500 on hand and did the best i could.

my lights look amazing but under a microscope you can see a few places where better sanding would have paid off. all in all very satisfied with this cheap, easy, but time consuming repair. it was a major eyesore for my car but not any more.

here are some pics in order.

how lights used to look, the pon side was the worse


this side was not that bad, but much better now

supplies used, i forgot to add the silicone in the pic

masking



paint

clear

finished lens, like glass


installed on car



and no more delaminated lights

[This message has been edited by 88GTTTOP (edited 01-18-2012).]

Awesome... I had no idea you could cut and buff spray paint with those results... very nice indeed!

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1984 Indy Fiero SE Pace Car Replica #770
"SE" Stormtrooper Edition Rescued, resuscitated and reversibly modified! (I'm so not done yet!)

Poly all round & Black Drag DR-34s
Frt: 225/45 on 18x8 (47 offset w/ 8-9mm spacer) 1.5 coils cut off 1984 WS6 springs
Rear: 265/35 on 18x8.5 (45 offset) Coil-overs w/ 10 inch 300lb springs & 7 inch sleeve

Everything is the previous owners fault!

Real nice job.. My scare point is masking the letters and trimming it correctly. There was a PFFer, Racingman, I think, used to do just that and the finished job was looking good. Now you could offer the service and make some $$.

Very nice! I'll be doing this very soon as well as I've just recently took apart my taillights to restore.

Luckily I don't have any delamination on my lights but... Instead of all that taping and painting, what if someone just had a nice vinyl decal made up? Pull it apart, clean it up install the decal, reassemble. Sure would be easier than taping.

BTW...your do look good!

Don't know that I would call this delamination. To me that implies that the plastic is separating.

But anywho, if your taillights are hazy due to years and years of fine scratches accumulating, here's something you might try before you go through the process described above. Try Novus plastic polish - http://www.novuspolish.com/products.html . I was told about this stuff years ago by a fellow gear head. The only place I could buy it locally was at a Harley Davidson dealer, as the Harley crowd swears by this product. I purchased numbers 1 and 2. You use either number 2 or number 3 first, then finish with number 1. Once the lens is restored, you can use number 1 regularly to give the lens a high gloss shine.

[This message has been edited by lateFormula (edited 01-18-2012).]

Best I have found for dealing with polishing lenses... if bad 1000.... but I prefer 1500 then 2000. Then higher if you can get it. Then step to a rubbing compound then polishing compound. Makes the outside scratches like they never were.

Now delamination is a whole other issue.

Here is what we did in the overhaulin build on some notchie lights... will add in an edit

quote Originally posted by redraif: thank you! John and I about polished and sanded our finger prints off... LOL! Pics all loaded now... before: before and after: Why we had to sand... polish could not touch the deep scratches: Afters:

Done with 1500 2000 then lenses polish

[This message has been edited by redraif (edited 01-18-2012).]

I am glad that my thread helped you out a little. I wish more people would use that technique instead of stressing out about buying new lenses. The other thing that I have done...but it is VERY risky, is custom lettering. I removed the black laminate, moved the Pontiac up and added the "IMSA" for my car:

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 01-18-2012).]

Nice

i like the way it turned out. my car is going in for paint this sunday and i was worried about having new paint and old looking lights,
now i don't have that worry.

question, they are picking up a lot of dust, and fuzz and what not. is that because they are freshly polished and have static on them
or something. if so how do i counter that, kind of annoying.

quote Originally posted by 88GTTTOP: i like the way it turned out. my car is going in for paint this sunday and i was worried about having new paint and old looking lights, now i don't have that worry. question, they are picking up a lot of dust, and fuzz and what not. is that because they are freshly polished and have static on them or something. if so how do i counter that, kind of annoying.

The dust is from static. It will go away over time. I would recommend removing them for the paint job. If the paint shop uses regular masking tape rather than a less adhesive tape on the new paint for your lenses, it may "texture" your new clearcoat and you will have to re-buff them.

You did a really nice job. Congrats. Looks great.

Great looking job. Have been contemplating doing this -- I think you just convinced me

While researching this I contacted Fiero Sails, and they now have a paint mask for the Pontiac letters which might make the job a little easier? It's only $10 . It's on this page about 3/4 of the way down. http://www.fierosails.com/decal.html

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'86 GT 2.8 4spd, a very slow work in progress, but fun to drive

to me the masking was a major concern until i shinned a bright light under the lens and the outline where i needed to make the
cuts in the tape was very easy to see and to follow, you just have to go slow. i used a razor blade in my hand
and it was no big deal, would be easier with a one of those thin blade knife looking things.

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: I am glad that my thread helped you out a little. I wish more people would use that technique instead of stressing out about buying new lenses. The other thing that I have done...but it is VERY risky, is custom lettering. I removed the black laminate, moved the Pontiac up and added the "IMSA" for my car:

How did you remove the inner laminate? Looks great by the way.