My new-to-me early STS had the apparently common moisture in the tails problem. It's also a [Sapphire Blue?] color and, patriotic or not, I've never liked red and blue together.

So I tinted the tails and LED CHMSL with an outdoor vinyl designed for lit sign applications (which means it will let light through fine and most likely will outlast the car). Turned out virtually indistinguishable from spray tint and gives a more even tint than all but the most professional paintjobs.







Seeing as I do vehicle graphics for a living, I took pics and wrote up a tutorial while I was at it:

Basic Vehicle Wrap Tutorial

Wrapping early STS tail lamps.
Items Needed:
-Vinyl kit from 8th Day Creations
-Scissors
-Needle or Xacto knife
-Application Fluid (Rapid Tac or a drop of dishsoap in a water spray bottle)
-Body filler squeegie (preferrably the gold 3M ones or the felt lined purple ones from Avery)
-Heat Gun or Hair Dryer
-Patience


First, start by cutting apart your decal kit (they will arrive on a single sheet and will need to be separated). The closer you trim to the decal, the easier the piece will conform to curves, but leave enough around it that you have somewhere to handle the piece without touching the adhesive (very important that you do not touch the adhesive on transparent films). Usually, I leave between 1/8" to 1/4" border, but you may find that you are more comfortable with less or more. You will see that the decal comes sandwiched in between a waxpaper backing and transfer paper on the face (the transfer paper will be either clear plastic or paper tape depending upon the application).

Remove the tail-lamps from the car and thoroughly clean them, removing all dirt, dust, and wax. You may even want to lightly wetsand heavily scratched or damaged lamps with a very fine grit paper or scuff pad. Find a desk or workbench and we're ready to begin.



Remove the waxpaper from the backside of the decal being careful not to touch the adhesive. Spray both the adhesive and surface we are applying the decal to with your application fluid (Rapid Tac or the soapy water mix) making sure to cover both thoroughly. This is so the adhesive will not take hold right away while you are positioning the piece.



Carefully center your decal on the surface, making sure it will cover the area you need it to. There is no rush and do not worry if you need to peel it off and reposition. You can adjust as much as you wish as long as the adhesive stays wet. Spray it again if needed.

Once satisfied, take your squeegie and work the water out from the center. Always work from the middle outwards to the edge so no air bubbles or water solution gets stranded underneath.



Because the tail-lamps are a convex shape made up of multiple curves going in all different directions, you will notice as you work your squeegie that the vinyl will not want to lay flat in many places. Do not worry, this is normal and where your heat gun/ hair dryer comes in (be careful that you do not melt through the vinyl or burn your surface when using a heat gun; on plastic parts I actually prefer to use a hair dryer for this reason).

Heat the areas with the "tunneling" or bends that will not lay flat and slowly work them out with your squeegie. The premium vinyls we use are very conformable, but will take a bit of patience to form onto complex shapes. Take your time and always work from the inside out to the edge. Little by little it will take on the shape you want, but do not rush or crease the vinyl while working it. You will find that some corners or edges are easier to work with your hands, just be careful not to burn yourself.



Once the vinyl has been laid down flat and you have squeezed out all the water and air bubbles, it is time to peel away the transfer paper. Starting in a corner, peel back on the transfer paper slowly while holding down the edges of the vinyl with your other hand. Make sure you pull the paper off (or "roll") parallel to the surface. Pulling away from the surface may pull up the vinyl and/or create air bubbles.



Using your thumb (or kneading rubber), make sure all edges are sealed by massaging along them. Use heat if needed to tighten up edges and corners. On the early model seville lights (as pictured), there are letters denoting light locations molded in the plastic. Hold your heat source over these for a moment and then press down with a finger and the vinyl will conform right to it. Same with sharp edges/corners.



Finally, hold your housing up to a lamp and search it for minute bubbles or creases. Using the tip of your Xacto knife or needle, you can pop any you find and squeeze them flat. Just use the tip and any hole you make will be undetectable.



Finally, clean your car and reinstall. You may want to apply a light wax or a vinyl polish (Meguires makes a good one) over them for a deep shine (Warning as you may end up spending the day trying to polish your car to match the high gloss of your tails ).

Give it a few days in warm weather for the adhesive to cure before power washing your car (hand washing should be fine though). After that, the vinyl is very durable and will hold up better than paint in many situations being resistant to seawater, oils, acids, alkalides, etc.

There you have it. Honestly, it looks more complicated than it really is. The main things required are patience and a weekend afternoon.





If you ever need to remove it (for repairs or returning the car to stock), most of the time all that is needed is a heat gun and slow peeling, but many automotive stores/graphic shops sell chemicals that will eat away the adhesive without damaging your car if more "persuasion" is needed. Just remember to pull the vinyl off parallel to the surface (or "roll" it) so nothing unwanted comes up with it.

 

Pics on the car:

















Replaced the furthest out bulbs with LEDs (12 red LEDs to a bulb; Had a bulb out and they're the only bulbs I had lying around at the time). Thought it would match the LED strip better, but they don't have the light spread of the incandescents as you will see in the pics below. Either shows up fine through the tint (the LEDs show through nearly as bright as without tint it seems).

No Lights


Lights On


Brakes On


Close Up

 

Great post, however a question. Will this process just hide future moisture in the tail lights, or help prevent it? I know some allante guys that actually drilled holes in them. The effect looks great btw, good job.

 

You still have to drill holes if you have bad moisture problems. This is more to clean up the design of the rear of the car than fix the tail-lamp moisture problem.
The drilling just allows the moisture to evaporate or drain from the lamps, it too doesn't permanently fix the problem as you will still find moisture after driving in heavy rain or washing the car... it just won't remain in there forever as it does now.

I still have to drill my outside corner lamps (you can see the water in the pics above from when I washed the trunk mounted lamps). I'll see about making a tutorial for that when I do them.