Painted tail light

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Flaltlander1414

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So I decided to paint the edges of my tail lights. Seemed simple enough. As I usually do I dont always take the easy route. So I decided to spray paint, as opposed to painting with a brush. The spray paint wouldnt stick. I put 5 coats. It was Rustoleum spray paint that said it would stick to anything. I cleaned it before painting. See pic. So I guess I will paint it now with a paint brush. Any suggestions for why it didnt stick like it should have?
 

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IRONMAN

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Did it say "plastic on the can. It has to be plastic and you might want to scuff it with a scotch pad for better adhesion.
Also use denatured alcohol to wipe it down gently (test small area first).
 
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Unless you use a plastic specific paint (like the paints you use on lexan RC car bodies) then i would spray it with an adhesion promoter first. They are specifically designed to get paint to stick to plastic. For reference, here is Rustoleum's:

Auto Primers Adhesion Promoter Product Page

You may try going to a hobby shop, though, and getting some paint designed to stick to lexan/polycarbonate. Not sure what the lenses are made out of, but nothing sticks to RC car bodies like that stuff. If you use regular spray paint you can tap the body with your finger and the paint just flakes off. Something like this:

TowerHobbies.com | Tamiya PS-5 Polycarbonate Spray Black 3 oz
 

puddle hunter

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I've used the Krylon Fusion to paint an engine cover. That stuff is awesome!! 50 thousand miles underhood, and it looks like I just painted it!
 

Nick@Apollo-Optics

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I was going to use it to paint the flares satin black, but now that I know that the flares are painted, not plastic, I'm having second thoughts on using it.
 

Danactive

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the best paint for the tail light mod is honestly the touch up paint pens they sell for $4-5 at any autozone/oreilly's... they have a pen tip on one side and a brush on the inside...
 

Road Kill

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the best paint for the tail light mod is honestly the touch up paint pens they sell for $4-5 at any autozone/oreilly's... they have a pen tip on one side and a brush on the inside...

Agreed... Used the Ford OEM touch paint and used the brush where I could. Sprayed the rest with DuPont.
 

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