Parking/Turn Signal Light Reflective Coating

[ea6driver]

Photo attached for clarification.  The reflective coating inside one of my turn signal lenses has rusted to the point that it is not functional.  What would be an effective way to restore this?

[ajmcforester]

AIt's metal, I take it out and polish out the rust first.  If you plan to use LED's you can get a reflective material at the hobby store they use to skin gas powered model planes.  If you want you could have it re-plated but you could buy new set for that price

[7tooZ]

I cleaned the rust off and soaked in rust release chemical. I then used a chrome paint by rustoleum.  Put in LEDs. I am really happy with them. 

[charliekwin]

If you don't care about originality, you can remove the reflector entirely and just paint the housing white. That's what I did.

[ajmcforester]

Honestly just buy some used ones, they are not that expensive

[ea6driver]

I appreciate all those ideas.  I'll have to check tomorrow, but I was thinking that the original reflective material was too damaged/rusted to simply clean it up and polish.  The chrome rustoleum paint may be the easiest/simplest solution...or perhaps look for some of the reflective material from the hobby shops like ajmcforester suggested. I'll update when I get er done.

[cgsheen1]

Another simple way is metal HVAC duct tape. Not the cloth kind, look in the hardware store or Home Depot / Lowes. Tin Benders use it to seal up duct work. It's high temp sticky and has a very reflective surface. Just another alternative...

 

[cgsheen1]

2 hours ago, 7tooZ said:

I cleaned the rust off and soaked in rust release chemical. I then used a chrome paint by rustoleum.  Put in LEDs. I am really happy with them. 

 

You know the old guy who can't stand the loud music... Well, those LEDs are just too damn bright! ?

[jfa.series1]

I've been refurbing some of these and used the metallic A/C tape with success. I removed and sanded the reflector smooth, applied the tape, then buffed it shiney with jeweler's rouge. I also cleaned and painted the interior of the housings. PM me if you have any questions on the details.

[siteunseen]

12 hours ago, ea6driver said:

Photo attached for clarification.  The reflective coating inside one of my turn signal lenses has rusted to the point that it is not functional.  What would be an effective way to restore this?

When you get ready to do the rear tail lights you can buy repros from futofab.com, that's what I did on my second 240, or use @Dr. 240Z method as it worked out great on the first one. Money was tight!

A lot of good ideas in his thread...

 

[7tooZ]

9 hours ago, cgsheen1 said:

You know the old guy who can't stand the loud music... Well, those LEDs are just too damn bright! ?

Not really when out in the open. I couldn’t back it out of the garage as the gas tank is getting refurbished.