Getting the little jobs tied up while I wait for the A4 to go into the bodyshop, this weekend was tinting the tail lights.

I didn’t want to completely black out each one, the indicator lines meet the line across the boot lid and I kinda like that line so some masking was in order.

Supplies:

• 3mm painters pin striping tape
• regular painters tape
• alcohol wipes
• E-tech lens tint spray (smoke)

Removing B6 A4 tail lights is easy, just a single bolt for each side. Pop open the covers with your car key and you’ll find they’ve got philips heads on them, but don’t even bother you’ll only round them off, 8mm socket is the way to go for these. Once the bolts are out each light is going to take a little persuading to pull free, there’s a pair of push-fit guides on each one. Once you’ve got it out, unclip the connector and you’re done.

I cleaned up each light with soapy water followed by a rub down with some alcohol wipes to give the tint spray the best chance of adhering to the plastic.

The pin striping tape was used to outline where I wanted to mask, it gives a finer line than regular painters tape. The painters tape was only used to fill in the rest.

One down, one to go…

Now for some tinting! Lots of light coats is going to work way better than one thick coat and risk it running, and don’t do one at a time or you could end up with one light darker than the other. Lay down an even light coat on each, leaving a minute or so between coats until you’ve built up the tint you want.

I left mine a few hours before I dared take off the mask, didn’t want to risk finger prints all over all my hard work.

As usual by the time I was done and had them back in the car it was too dark for photos, but I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out. Photos of them fitted will have to come later.

// Matt