Re-Chroming Headlight

[Frogware]

First off I should tell you that the previous owner had converted the headlights to an LED setup, and I dare say that it is quite a wire mess.

 

So a few weeks ago I washed the Reatta and later that night I went for a quick trip. When I turned on the headlights I noticed that the right side was a little dim looking on the road. So I stopped to take a look and found that the whole  lens was full of moisture.

 

The next morning I went to work and started finding out why or how water was getting into the headlights. Come to find out the connection on the back is designed to sit in an upright position (stationary) not laying flat with the wires exposed. An since ours rotate down when off it was bottoms up. So every time I washed the car with the sprayer water would go up into the headlight bucket area and down into the wiring; seeping inside the headlight.

 

This has been going on for some time and as a result it had corroded the chrome reflector so that the light looked almost a creamy yellow instead of the bright white of an LED; and yes the LED's still work.

 

Well I had a big decision to make; should I go back to original headlights and deal with wiring issues or buy new LED headlights. I decided to do neither and try and repaint or Re-Chrome the bad reflector; it all started when SKI.DIVE was thinking about spray painting his worn BUICK letters.

 

After a bit of research on chrome plating and re-plating I decided to give the Spaz-Stix's Chrome spray paint a try. So I ordered a can (very small I might add) and began to tear apart the headlight. Surprisingly the headlight came apart easily and after cleaning up the corrosion and removing all the moisture I was more confident about getting good results. I debated whether I should put a profile on the lens surface or just shoot it the way it was.

 

The picture below is a little hard to see but in each cone the chrome is worn off so there is very little reflection.

[Ronnie]

It looks like that chrome coating worked pretty well. Have you found a way to keep the water out to prevent the moisture from getting in again?

[retired mechanic74]

It looks like that chrome coating worked pretty well.  Have you found a way to keep the water out to prevent the moisture from getting in again?

 

...If I could make a suggestion there is a product on the market called liquid electrical tape he could use that to coat the housing.

[Frogware]

Sorry I just got online...

Thank You and actually that is exactly what I plan on using is the liquid tape.

 

My next step is cleaning up the clear lens since it has a few scratches, then I will reseal it with some silicon. Next I will put it back in and test it. I will take a picture of it at night to show how well it worked and to see if there is any difference in brightness.

 

I will keep you posted.

[Frogware]

Just an update on this; It has been raining on and off so I haven't been able to put the headlight back in and test it and I decided to take a trip to Colorado for a week so I won't get to it for a while, but when I do I will post it.

[Frogware]

Okay Finally got back from my trip and had some time to put the headlight back in and test it.

 

Oh I am not sure what happened but when I was checking it for a good seal I noticed that it looked more dull than before, Maybe I had some residual moisture in there and it oxidized again. Oh well I am done with it and it is going back in.

 

Put it back and and it works fine check out the pics below there is a noticeable difference between the two but not much besides it works and lights up the street. The light on the left is the repainted one if you can't tell :D .

I am sure if I were to take a little more time and patience it would have looked better and almost mirror finish.