when you do your taillamps, it is pretty easy to mask off the reverse lenses. just cover them with painter's tape and cut around lightly with an exacto knife. i actually did 2 coats with the reverse covered and 1 with them exposed. that way they aren't as dark as the red, but they don't stick out like a sore thumb either.

just a suggestion....

and.... do sore thumbs really stick out that badly?

i mean... so badly that when something doesn't fit in we refer to sore thumbs?

oh, i also masked off the black plastic surrounding the taillamps and exacto-ed around the refectors on the side.

as for the 3rd brake light, i remember for some reason it wasn't going to come off as easily as you'd think. i left it on & masked it. hope that helps a little.

 

Finally got back from vacation and got the ass end done.











Yes, it gets dirty.


The tails were easy enough to remove and mask off to spray, but the third brake light (as mentioned above) was not so easy. Ended up leaving it on and masking everything. All lights are still visible in bright sunlight, so I'm pretty happy.

 

Pretty simple really, here's how I did the tails:

1. Wash Jeep, check out cute girl with Beetle at car wash.
2. Remove tail lights. On each light housing, there are four screws, remove the two inner ones, pull tail unit off and unplug.
3. Mask off the lenses.
4. Wipe down with Isopropyl Alcohol. Thouroughly cleans and removes any grease or oil left by my fingers or whatever.
5. Spray the first coat using VHT Night Shades.
6. Go get a beer, sit on the deck for twenty minutes and relaxe.
7. Spray the second coat.
8. Gt another beer, sit on deck, try to explain to wife why smoked lights will look cool on a black Jeep, remember that if it doesn't have a BMW badge, she won't care.
9. Go back to garage. Look at wife's 328i Cabrio and imagine it with smoked tails.
10. Spray third and final coat, wait 5 minutes.
11. Grab a can of Clear Coat, I used a DupliColour product, apply a coat of clear. The directions on the can trecommended applying the clear 5-10 minutes
after the last colour coat.
12. 30 minutes later, remove masking and admire, then reinstall.


For the high mount brake light, I didn't remove it, as that would have entailed removing the spare and whatnot, so i just grabbed the Bonmask and masked the back of the Jeep. Front lenses were removed, and no masking was neccessary.

I've sprayed lenses before, and found that sanding wasn't neccessary. The VHT product stands up really well.

 

13. Go back to car wash and take pics of cute girl to show to members of Project-JK forum.

 

Did mine awhile ago great cheap easy mod, and it looks way better than stock too. Mine are pretty much dark black im looking for a lil more light when I back up I cant see shit Everything else shows through fine tho. I still got an extra can of this stuff unopened if anyone wants to buy it?