Tail Light restoration

[Bert Poliakoff]

Although I did this for my early E24, This will work for you guys as well. Rustoleum makes a rattle can of bright silver After cleaning my reflectors, I sprayed them with several coats. They are close to as bright as chrome. No pics because the glare from them does not photograph well. Also, if your lenses are "fuzzy" scrub them with 0000 steel wool and then rub them out. Results are great

 

[adawil2002]

There's also Chrome Krylon which I have used with great success.

 

[x_atlas0]

How coincidental! I just finished mine last week.

Before: pre-combo

I sanded my reflectors down, as they were very rough to the touch. I did not sand the plastic middle reflector, only the metal ones. I went with a moderate 220 grit, and I used a sponge to make it easier. I also took the opportunity to clean up the contactors and the joining strip between the reflectors, as mine was pretty corroded. Once that was done, I was able to get all resistances down to less than 0.1 Ohm. After that, I taped everything up very well with masking tape to prevent issues with the contactors. Once the taping was done, I used Rust-oleum primer + filler (primer) and gave it a couple coats. I gave the primer at least 24h to dry. After making sure there were no major issues with the primer, I applied several heavy coats of Rust-oleum bright coat metallic finish chrome (paint) over a few hours. It was tricky for me because it was very cold outside, and the paint would tend to clump and start to sheet off the curved areas of the reflectors. Once it was all done and put back together, it looked like my after picture.

For good measure, I also added a pic with the units back in the car. I didn't take a before picture to compare with, unfortunately. No camera flash was used.

 

[Honolulu]

Wow I hadn't heard of this trick for like, 20 years. Good to know someone is still doing it.

 

[eriknetherlands]

I'd be curious to know how the paint holds up to the heat generated by the incandesent bulb; generally paints do not keep their color and/or shape/adhesion above 150 degrees celsius ( 300 fahrenheit). I think that BMW must have chosen metal over plastic for some refelectors, as the plastic probably wasn't heat resistant enough to start with.

Anyone open up their reflectors after finishing a long drive, allowing them to heat soak the paint? How did the rustoleum hold up?

 

[Norm!]

I did this restoration also but changed my bulbs to LED. They are so much brighter than the 5 watt OEM incandescents and I’m not worried about heat from them. Interestingly, the major heat problem in my car was the exhaust heat on the drivers side. The paint on the plastic left side reflector was so eroded that it was just red plastic.

 

[Candia4441]

very nice and b

How coincidental! I just finished mine last week.

Before: pre-combo

I sanded my reflectors down, as they were very rough to the touch. I did not sand the plastic middle reflector, only the metal ones. I went with a moderate 220 grit, and I used a sponge to make it easier. I also took the opportunity to clean up the contactors and the joining strip between the reflectors, as mine was pretty corroded. Once that was done, I was able to get all resistances down to less than 0.1 Ohm. After that, I taped everything up very well with masking tape to prevent issues with the contactors. Once the taping was done, I used Rust-oleum primer + filler (primer) and gave it a couple coats. I gave the primer at least 24h to dry. After making sure there were no major issues with the primer, I applied several heavy coats of Rust-oleum bright coat metallic finish chrome (paint) over a few hours. It was tricky for me because it was very cold outside, and the paint would tend to clump and start to sheet off the curved areas of the reflectors. Once it was all done and put back together, it looked like my after picture.

For good measure, I also added a pic with the units back in the car. I didn't take a before picture to compare with, unfortunately. No camera flash was used.

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