Re-silvering Headlight Reflectors

[georgek 2.0L, for real Find all posts View Profile Close georgek]

Any good references? Fond one in the UK, they want more than the price of new refectors for H4. Have not found new reflectors for H1 though....

[uai 2.0L Find all posts View Profile Close uai]

https://www.reflektorklinik.de/

[georgek 2.0L, for real Find all posts View Profile Close georgek]

Many thanks! I'll contact them

[sithot 2.0L Find all posts View Profile Close sithot]

I was reminded of this story:

A friend who operates a British restoration shop told me the story of the Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale finished in 2013. Apparently the headlights were in need of re-silvering and were told the best guy to do it was a particular Ferrari specialist. When time came to take the car to the West Coast they had no lights. The guy couldn't be found either. After an exhaustive search it was determined he was in "re-hab". No lights would be forthcoming. When the owner was told the news his reply was priceless and I won't repeat it but within a day or two they had 2 NOS lights out of Italy. The cost? $20,000 and a First Class ticket. January 2014 it sold for $1,625,000 at Gooding which was a record at the time.

The restoration:
https://www.gassmanautomotive.com/re...ale/page4.html
(at the time they had one of the best painters I'd run across. His replacement may be even better!)

Lesson here: All restorations are fraught with peril. Be careful to whom you entrust your work.

[Tom F2 2.4 Find all posts View Profile Close Tom F2]

There's a place in Pasadena that does telescope mirrors. But they use aluminum, not silver. I don't know whether they take on non-telescope work.

[soterik HTH....! Find all posts View Profile Close soterik]

Steves restoration in Portland OR has done re-silvering for many years. You can do a search for them and see past posts on multiple forums.

If you scroll down this link you will find that under services they list the current price for re-silvering:
https://www.stevesautorestorations.com/services-page

[georgek 2.0L, for real Find all posts View Profile Close georgek]

My reflectors are in Germany per UAI's reference, for re silvering. Their quote is quite cheaper. We'll see when they come back.

[jaudette3 Really? Find all posts View Profile Close jaudette3]

Audette Collection provides this service. The modern technique is vapor deposited aluminum. The reflector is first sent to a plating shop for cleaning to the substrate then the first two steps of the triple chroming process are done: copper plating followed by nickel plating and polishing. I then send them to a second shop where the vapor deposited aluminum process is done. End result is beautiful and more durable than silver, not quite as brilliant:





I do this routinely with my restorations but I haven't been aggressive about offering it as a stand alone service as I don't have any control over timing and dealing with two shops can cause wide variance. I only recommend this if you have plenty of time. The cost is my cost plus 30%. As an example, a 7" headlight reflector is usually around $300.00. It's usually cheaper to buy a new replacement.

Cheers,
John