hey guys, so i finally got the guts to try and smoke my tail lights myself. it came out pretty good, but there are imperfections, particullary with the clear coat. i did all the steps (wet sand, etc.) after the prep work i applied 3 coats of night shades and 4 coats of clear coat. i gave the clear coat 1 hour to dry after the final coat, however when i went to go reinstall my tail lights by pushing on the lens to re-align the studs my finger prints were left in the clear coat. i would of thought that the clear coat would of deff been dry in that time. im not worried out the actual fingerprints in the clear coat (gonna take them off and re-wet sand them and apply another coat) but im lost as to how to prevent this from happening after i fix it. does the clear coat need more time to dry, or should i use something like latex gloves when installing the tail lights? and not pushing on the lens seems almost impossible bc those alignment studs can be a pain when installing the tail lights. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

 

One hour is not enough time before handling them; let them sit overnight before installing. In any case, I'd say give them at least 4 hours.

 

i figured as much. thanks for the input.