Yeah I waited about 22 hours after I had applied the clear coat.

 

I guess I'll just wait till next weekend and try again...What do I need to do? Just use the 1000 grit paper and take it all off or what? I'm pretty sure I am using the right products...I used a rubbing compound liquid and a polishing compound liquid. Are those what I should have used? They both have compound in the name and some of yall are talking about aggressive/light/heavy compound...I have no idea what all this is.

 

If you want to take off all the paint and completely start from the beginning use rubbing alcohol (you should use that at the beginning to clean them anyways)

Polish is a type of compound technically, so yeah you are using 2 compounds (a compound and then a polish). What a compound does is take off a slight amount of the clear coat. So a more aggressive compound will take off more clear coat than a light compound.

On a side note...go to Detailed Image - Premium Auto Detailing Supplies and check out the "detailing guide" and it will explain at length what exactly all the different things are and how exactly they work. It will help when you are detailing to understand what is happening when you're using different products

 

Out of spite I just went and bought some NuPolish to see if that would help. It didn't...I'm confused as to why mine turned out like they did. Was there not enough clear coat? When I inspect very closely I notice that the VHT paint I applied is kind of speckled instead of just a smooth cover over but it wasn't like that when I applied the first coat. Can anyone give me some tips as to what I might have done wrong? Could my clear coat have been wrong? It said glossy on the can...

 

If you are literally right next to the lights you can tell they are speckled a little bit on mine, but from more than a couple inches away you can't tell.

I'm not sure what could have gone wrong with yours...I would just get some alcohol and try it again

 

What did you sand the lights with initially before you started anything? Looks as if you might have used a too abrassive sand paper to begin with that didn't smooth out after the paint.

 

When I started I cleaned with rubbing alcohol, then sanded with 1000 grit sand paper and then I rubbed it with alcohol again.

 

Please tell me what kind of clear coat you used. I think the problem could have been what I used for that. The light was shiny after the first coat of paint but once I applied this clear coat it turned to that look that I have now. I may have used the wrong stuff but it was what the guy at the auto parts store told me to use...

 

if your lights are like matte.. just wax it out! and keep doing it until it starts to shine. thats what i did to mine.

 

I never ask/listen to advice given at a generic auto parts store. A lot of those employees really have no idea what they are talking about.

I used Duplicolor Perfect Match Protective Clear Coat (Item # BCL0125)

 

I forgot what the stuff was I used. I just had it laying around in my garage. It's possible the clear you got was not a glossy one.

Before you sand it all off and restart you could try going to buy a High Goss Clear coat and applying a few coats of that.

 

If I were going to do it over again what sanding paper should I used? The 1000? The other guy just said to use alcohol...

 

Just use 1000 again. You might just be able to clean it off and wipe it down with alcohol then start over. Just depends how they look when you get the old paint off.

 

After looking at the pics again what pad were you using with the polish?

 

the problem you have is associated with the clear coat you had used. I had the same problem once with my bike. I finished it with a clear specled spray from Duplicolor but I don't remember the brand for sure. I wanted to have some metalic in the final coat and this was avail. This s...t never dried and it was gradually turning dull after several days from applying. I think you have to totally remove what you've put on and start fresh.