tail light reflectors -- chrome or white?

[Darrell_Walker]

I want to refinish the tail light reflectors on my TR8, and I'm wondering what the "best" finish would be. Most I've seen tend to be "chromed" (though on older cars parts of the housing are visible by themselves), but I'm think that white might be better? I may spring to have them powder coated.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

I'll tell you what I have done on older cars. Chrome seems to reflect a lot better, but, it's expensive.
I take my reflectors down to the local machine shop, glass bead them, hit them with rust resisting primer, then a chrome paint. I still have a partial can somewhere. Had a round top. I find silver paint (glossy) works very well to give good reflectivity without the expense of chrome.

I started doing this on old US made vehicles with 6-volt generator systems to improve my overall visibility at night.

Dave

 

[KSIS]

I used the foil tape for sealing your furnace on my TR6 works very well.

 

[TR3driver]

Aren't your TR8 reflectors plastic? Likely to melt while trying to cure powder coat ...

I use reflective mylar sheeting, like that sold for hydroponic gardens. It's not adhesive, so better suited for TR3 lamp holders. But any hobby shop should have the chrome adhesive tape/foil.

 

[Darrell_Walker]

Aren't your TR8 reflectors plastic? Likely to melt while trying to cure powder coat ...

I'm pretty sure they are a (substantial) metal casting. But I've not pulled them out yet.

Thanks everyone for the other ideas. Again, I have not taken them out, but from pictures I don't think there are many flat surfaces it in them, so I'll have to see how a tape/adhesive sheet would work out.

-Darrell

 

[tr8todd]

The main reason the tail lights start to look dingy is the lenses themselves. Over time, the lenses get small pits in them from airborn pollutants reacting with the acrylic plastic lens. These pits refract the light passing thru them causing a foggy appearance. Take the assembly apart and scrub the lenses perfectly clean with dish soap and a bristle brush. After they are completely dry, dust both sides of the lenses with clear acrylic spray paint. The spray paint lightly dissolves the outer layer of plastic as it sets up. The new layers of paint smooth out the surface restoring the original vibrance. 2 to 3 light coats of paint, and you would swear you have new lenses. Put them back together with new gaskets and your good to go. I learned this trick trolling around some of the German car forums. The original chrome on the pot metal housing can go bad as well. For that the cheapest solution is chrome paint over a good etch primer. I have sets on my cars that I painted up 10 years ago and they still look like new lenses. Be prepared, once you install shiny new lenses on the back of your 8, the bumper is going to look dry and tired. For that, a light sanding and a fresh coat of bumper black will bring them back to perfection.

 

[Darrell_Walker]

Thanks, Todd!

I'll look into that.

My original lenses are both cracked, but I have very good used set on the way. I can experiment with the old lenses.

-Darrell

 

[foxtrapper]

I've done white, and it worked fine. You can also find faux chrome spraypaint that does well enough as well.