Tail light need to be rechromed

[drhodgie]

Help anyone have experience in getting parts re-chromed?
I am assuming I will have to remove the lens from the metal frames.
What is the best way to do this??

 

[rsporsche]

the short answer is yes. the advice on the removal of the lenses is 'very slowly / very carefully' if you want to reinstall the same lenses. there are a couple of ways to do it, one is with a dremel tool, but i don't know what is the best cutter to use. the other way is to use an electric or butane 'hot knife'. both approaches involve cutting the lip off of the back side - all the way around. then after chroming, you have to reinstall the lenses and basically glue them back into place - the best glue is Fusion. most people who have gone this route have bought new lenses from our friend Stan ... the wait for new lenses might be a bit long.

 

[RTHLSS1]

It is not so simple... getting out without damaging old plastic is hard. I bought bad frame to learn on it than had it re-chromed to see how lenses fit back.
I used
They fitted nicely. But second time when I was doing the actual set that will be used on the car lenses didn’t fit so nice chrome was "thicker". I had to grind lenses a bit to had them fitted and I used good amount of silicone I hope they will be waterproof.

Here you have links of what I used and how they came out. I tried to do it with grinder but it had too many rpms and while it was cutting plastic become so hot that it glued back together. So I used cordless drill machine.

https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/1972-e9-3-0-csi-chamonix.27406/page-3#post-247565
https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/1972-e9-3-0-csi-chamonix.27406/page-4#post-255046
https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/1972-e9-3-0-csi-chamonix.27406/post-267880

 

[drhodgie]

the short answer is yes. the advice on the removal of the lenses is 'very slowly / very carefully' if you want to reinstall the same lenses. there are a couple of ways to do it, one is with a dremel tool, but i don't know what is the best cutter to use. the other way is to use an electric or butane 'hot knife'. both approaches involve cutting the lip off of the back side - all the way around. then after chroming, you have to reinstall the lenses and basically glue them back into place - the best glue is Fusion. most people who have gone this route have bought new lenses from our friend Stan ... the wait for new lenses might be a bit long.

How do I get in touch with Stan? Thanks

 

[rsporsche]

start a conversation with Stan ... do a search for tail lights + member Stan and you will find him

 

[grnder95]

Hello, I used a chrome shop here in Houston with good results, depends on how bad the frames are corroded. If I can be of any assistance don't hesitate to contact me.
Victor