Headlight Armor - DIY Install - Smoked Taillights - Volkswagen GTI VI

You can click all to photos to enlarge to 900 x 675 px

Step 1: Clean the lenses. Clean your hands. Make sure there are no residues from the cleaning process remaining on the lenses or your hands. Without removing the lens cover from the backing paper hold it up to the lens and make sure you have the correct one / orientation (i.e. Slightly ovoid lenses). If it is cool - below 65 degrees F gently warming the lens with a hair dryer will help things along. Wet down one lens with water - a clean spray bottle / plant mister works great.
Step 2: If it is cool - below 65 degrees F gently warming the material with a hair dryer will help things along. Carefully remove the cover from the backing paper - handling the adhesVIe as little as possible - Use handling tabs when possible. Mist down the adhesVIe side and gently place on the lens. Handling the edges align the front portion of the piece - (left side of the photo) then generally align the remaining edges. The piece will be 'floating' on the beads of water on the lens. Be gentle the adhesVIe is pressure sensitVIe.
Step 3: Squeegee the front corner - about the first 1-2 inches mainly in the center along the ridge line of the lens as shown.
Step 4: Next re-wet the adhesVIe side of the kit.
Step 5: Align the far inside corner - in this case the hatch opening.
Step 6: With the hatch opening aligned, double check top and bottom alignment, mist down the surface of the lens with water and squeegee along the ridge line of the taillight from where you started in Step 3 toward the hatch opening.
Step 7: Continue squeegeeing along the ridge line of the taillight all the way to the hatch opening.
Step 8: Now squeegee down from the ridge line area you just squeegeed toward the bottom of the kit. NOTE: This kit was installed with ambient air temps ~90 degrees F. If it is cool out the use of a hair dryer on low will be necessary for steps 8-9. Do not overheat the film, you just want to warm to about 90 degrees F. Squeegee in .5 - 1.0 inches increments from left to right to distribute the film - do not squeegee all the way to the bottom in one area all at once.
Step 9:  Continue squeegeeing in small increments to the very bottom of the kit until all film has laid down on the bottom portion of the kit.
Step 10: NOTE: 10-12 will require warm and floppy material and very firm squeegee pressure. Now squeegee up from the ridge line area you just squeegeed toward the top of the kit. NOTE: This kit was installed with ambient air temps ~90 degrees F. If it is cool out the use of a hair dryer on low will be necessary for steps 8-9. Do not overheat the film, you just want to warm to about 90 degrees F. Squeegee in .5 - 1.0 inches increments from left to right to distribute the film - do not squeegee all the way to the top in one area all at once.
Step 11: Continue squeegeeing in small increments with firm pressure on the squeegee.
Step 12: Continue squeegeeing in small increments with firm pressure on the squeegee.
Step 13: Continue squeegeeing in small increments with firm pressure on the squeegee until you get to the very top of the kit. When you get to the top you will likely have some material hanging off, that is OK, you will trim it off later in the install.
Step 14: With a sharp razor knife carefully trim off the material hanging into the hatch opening. Go over the edge with a suede detail cloth / paper towel wrapped squeegee to make sure the edge is fully set.
Step 15: Repeat trimming off any areas that are misaligned or overhanging at the top and the bottom of the kit. Using the squeegee at the very edge will help. Go over the edges with a suede detail cloth / paper towel wrapped squeegee to make sure the edge is fully set.
Step 16: Go over the edges of the kit with heat from a hair dryer on low and firm pressure from the squeegee to make sure the edge is firmly set.  Now you are done, stand back and enjoy!
The Smoke (30%) covers shown in this tutorial will turn the bright red tails to a rich deep dark burgundy red. If you are looking for something darker you can select Stealth Smoke (20%). With our Smoked taillight covers you will be able to change to look of your vehicle - while still allowing your brake lights and running lights to function as intended. You can remove these at some point in the future if you are so inclined - though they can only be used once.