SeanM Posted March 15, 2021 Report Share Posted March 15, 2021 Hi, Can I ask if there is a way to renovate the chrome around the rear and side marker lights please, mine are heavily pitted but I’m reluctant to buy new ones? Thank you Quote Link to post Share on other sites
colin3511 Posted March 16, 2021 Report Share Posted March 16, 2021 If they are heavy pitted you can't re-chrome them very well. All the pitting will remain. I would suggest replacements which are pretty good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rcreweread Posted March 16, 2021 Report Share Posted March 16, 2021 Sean - I've spent hours trying to find an economic way to do these but have had to give up - the issue is not so much dealing with the the corrosion, which has to be removed, one way or another, but rather with finding a suitable medium to fill the holes/ damage left by the corrosion. The whole rechroming process destroys pretty much all the chemical epoxy fillers I have tried so one is left with low melting point alloy fillers, which when you bear in mind the mazak alloy of the original units has a low melting point as well, then it's really difficult not to end up with a pile of molten alloy on the floor. The low melting point alloy rods are pretty expensive to start with as well, so as the repros from the far east are OK, and available for circa £120 each, it wasn't worth it. You can pay a lot of money on the rear light units, if the corrosion isn't too deep, for them to be "reclaimed" by repeated copper plating till the corrosion indentations have been filled, but bear in mind each copper plating has to be polished off to just leave the "fill" in the craters so you can imagine how many times this may have to be done to end up with a smooth filled surface which still has the dimensions of the original as you can't just build the plating up and leave it at that - they wouldn't fit over the rear lamp housing. The wing markers are even more impossible to do well because of the textured fluting where it is virtually impossible to fill any of the corroded areas and then make an acceptable finish - given that these are available new but at an eye watering price, notwithstanding SDF funding to create them, ( I can't believe they cost anything like what they are being charged out at so someone somewhere must be making a killing!), then we appear to have little choice but to go with the expensive new ones - why we can't just have a new bare shell is beyond me, as most of the other parts are usually perfectly serviceable. How I wish I had bought more of them in the early 1980s when I bought a pair for £5 each from Cox and Buckles Richmond shop where they had tea chests full of them! Cheers Rich Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ntc Posted March 16, 2021 Report Share Posted March 16, 2021 There are now some doing chrome painting service and looks okay how long it lasts I know not Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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