Headlight bezel restoration

[carmangary]

I have have some headlight bezels that lost their shine. I thought they were no good but I tried some autobody polishing compound on them with a blue paper shop towel and with some light rubbing they became shiny again. I'm going to go over them again and put a good coat of wax on them and hopefully they will look nice for awhile.

 

[Minion1186]

the headlight bezels are made of abs plastic with a layer of chrome plating on top of them,over time the chrome becomes brittle and will either crack or flake off.The best thing to do with these bezels and all other chrome plated plastic pieces like the grilles is to send them out to be replated,could be costly but deifinetly worth the cost if your restoring your ride or just "prettying it up".

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Having them replated is the proper way to restore them but its EXPENSIVE! For a pair of grilles it can cost in the range $500-$600.

On my '87 I think I'll just spend the money for this:

http://www.alsacorp.com/products/mirrac ... chrome.htm

The paint is pretty expensive but shouldn't need a lot to do grilles and such.

 

[carmangary]

I'll just run it ugly until I find some used part that can be cleaned up or someone decides to repro them. I'm not paying $500 to make plastic pretty.

 

[RITTER]

Can plastic be powder coated?

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Can plastic be powder coated?

Yep....if you want a big pile of melted plastic.

Since powder coating involves curing in an oven between 375*-450*, plastic isn't going to work.

 

[RITTER]

Never had anything powder coated or powder coated anything, so I wasn't sure how the process was done, thanks though

 

[3XBrownCutty]

Just black them out... I love mine. But thats just me :lol:

 

[donnyR]

Ftw