Headlight resilvering

[Wallace White]

Dave -

I've been curious about this as well, as I pulled a set of 5ks/100 H4
euros at the junkyard and put them on, only to realize later that the
top mirror surfaces (above the bulb) have pretty well burned off. On the
H4, those are the low beam surfaces.

"Vacuum metalizing" is the process used to reflectively plate plastics;
a layer of aluminum is deposited and then covered with a clear finish.

Dave Head had used a shop out of Hemmings (D&D or some such) a few years
ago, but they appear to be out of business. I found numerous listings
for the process on finishing.com. Here's what I learned from talking
with one of them:

- ~$0.30/in², $220 min order at this shop
- Existing plating must be removed and parts sanded/polished to a very
fine finish (the plating is too thin to cover up significant scratches)
before delivery to this shop; perhaps other shops do prep work
- Contact Dan Underwood (can't remember company name),
danielb at earthlink.net, (818) 503-7940 tel, (818) 503-7937 fax

I'd be interested in doing a group order if there are other folks
interested, but I expect we'd be better off finding a shop more
accustomed to working with car DIY'ers.

- Wallace
   '87 5kcstq 188k


Dave Aukerman wrote:
> I stumbled on a set of 200 euro lights and while in the process of replacing
> the lens' find that one of the lights had been exposed to water for long
> enough to remove the silvering on the bottom of the reflector.  Is there a
> source for haveing these resilvered or is there a replacement part
> available.
>
> Thanks,
> Dave
>
>
>