92-95 SSE Tails: fighting delam

[RedHotBonnie]

So as most of you know, the 92-92 SSE tails along with other bonnie tails are notorious for delamination. There are a few threads on here about it already. Anyone who has a set of these tails knows just how annoying it is and how bad it can look. A while back I had an idea on how to fix it and I believe similar ideas were tried by other members. I went to a junkyard and bought two inner tail lights that were in decent shape aside from the delam. Rather than taking the lights apart, which the inner ones can't be anyway, I decided to work from the outside of the lens. I taped off the lines with 1/4 inch painters tape which worked great. Then I painted on six layers of VHT Nightshades. After drying for a day I used Duplicolor clear coat to protect them. As far as the finished product, I couldn't have been happier with the results. I only did the junkyard pieces as a trial run and since I like the way they turned out I will soon do the outer ones as well. I attached pictures of the tails currently on my car to show the difference between the two. The worst part about the project was taping of the lines and actually making it look decent, but in my opinion it was well worth it. I only hope they will hold up well once they are mounted to the car.

And for the pictures:

OEM delammed tails



Painted and fixed tails



Project tools. All ordered through Amazon


More pics to come..

[haro1225]

That looks pretty good. Just gotta give them some polishing and those will look original.

[1oldman]

Wow! a lot of tedious work. I sure hope it works. - BC

[RJolly87]

That worked really well! Like was said however, get them polished, and you should be all set. I am just curious how long it will hold out....

[nos4blood70]

After a polish, it'll look like brand new. Nice job!

[Zeik75]

I did something similar to my 2000+ tails however after about 6 months the vht has faded enough to show the delam again, i only did 4 layers so 6 might hold up better. Good job though they do look good, it will be interesting to see how they are in 6 months.

[RedHotBonnie]

After experimenting with the VHT and reading that it tends to fade over time, I decided to try a heavier and more weather-proof paint. I no longer have the can and can't seem to recall what the name on the can was but I sprayed the inner two lights and liked the result so I taped off the outer ones and did them as well. I haven't applied a clear coat yet. I haven't decided if i want to or not as they look pretty good the way they are on the car. Anyway, here are some pictures of them on the car.








I would highly recommend this to anyone who feels like throwing up when they have delamed tails. The cost of this compared to the cost of new OEM ones or the time and effort of hunting them down in junkyards, trust me I know, is cheaper and overall easier. The hardest part really is taping. The smaller lights took about an hour each to tape off and the outer lights took about an hour and a half. Now I only hope that the paint will hold up. Let me know what you think.

[WhiteArrow3800]

Awesome work! I did this with my '01s tails, very tedious job masking off all those lines, but welll worth it.

[RedHotBonnie]

Thanks Booze!

[yourgrandma]

When I had mine tinted I had them paint over the stripes as well. Looks perfect unde the clear. As close to a total solution as youll get.

[labonnevillastrangiato]

Very nice look, nice and clean. Mine were beyond delam, between the black lines. I had no choice but to go quite dark all the way across, except for the turn signals and reverse lights. *dang* water! When I had my tails out, I drilled two small holes in the bottom of each to help the water drain out quicker, no more failing light bulbs!

Adam