Painted Tailight Bezels

By Graypny and edited by Octavio Diaz

As posted on the Mustang Source Forums

I decided that I would paint my tail lights with flat black today and take some pictures of the process. This took me about 2 hours not counting the time it took for the paint to dry. I really tried to be as precise as possible on masking the lenses. The flat black gave it almost the same texture of the surrounding black and I'm happy how it turned out. Cost about $5 for the paint and I already had the masking tape.

Required tools
1. #30 torx driver
2. 7/16 open end wrench
3. 2 single edge razor blades

4. Adhesion promoter

5. Primer
6. Paint of your choice
7. Squeegee helps

8. Sandpaper

Start by removing the lights. You’ll need the torx screw driver to remove the plastic cover and the carpeting covering the lights. Next, remove the three nuts holding the lights. Disconnect the lights and pull them out.

Tape the lights completely. Don’t worry about being too neat at this point. The idea is to cover the lights completely with tape.

This is where neatness counts. Trim the tape using a razor blade or exacto knife so that the lights are covered but the bezel is not.

Use some medium grit sand paper to lightly scuff the bezel trim to be painted. Make sure you cover the plastic trim with tape as well. Now we’re ready for painting. Although you can just use two or three coats of paint with no further prep, it is recommended to use a coat of adhesion promoter first, followed by 2 coats of primer and then 3 coats of paint. Wait for the paint to dry between coats as specified on the paint cans.

After the paint dries, remove the tape.

Here’s a picture of the finished product. Unlike the flat bezels, the paint covers the edges of the lens givint it a more ptofessional looking finish.

Here/s a picture of a torch red car with the blackout panel.