Rear Reflector restoration

[Harlan Chinn]

This is the situation. I bought this very nice rear center reflector from a fellow Pelicanite, however the refective finish with the primer has begun to flake off. Has anyone here done the restoration of this part? I need a recommendation to what kind of paint to use especially the silver paint, before a coat of gray primer is applied over. Thanks.

[Slider79SC]

Also,

What is the most safe method of removing the old primer and paint?

[bit]

Hi Harlan,
I had the same problem on my car, from the rear it looked like the reflector was stained. Very annoying! The PO tried to pry of the reflector and broke the three studs off the back too. Argh! I properly removed the reflector when I replaced my exhaust last year and recovered it. I basically masked the front so it would not scratch, and high pressure washed as much of the silver backing of as I could. It doesn't need to be perfect, just so that all the flaking is removed. I hand painted the Porsche logo in black paint, about 5 coats, and then re-painted the silver backing on with VHT silver spray paint. It looks just great now! I think any silver spray paint would do. I re-epoxied the studs and re-installed it. Below is the results.

Take care,
.Steven
1980 911SC

Before:

After:

[Harlan Chinn]

Looks great!!! Does it reflect as well as the factory finish did? I was searching the net and found some silver metallic paints used for RC clear car bodies (painted on the inside).

http://www.spazstix.com/xcart/customer/home.php?cat=261

Steven, I noticed that you are in B.C. I will be up in Vancouver/Richmond this weekend. I need to stop by Weissach to test drive a Guilardo.

[bit]

Hi Harlan,
The reflectivity of the rear reflector is virtually unblemished! I noticed no reflective loss after I painted the back side, it only improved! I think that the reflective property is more of a function of the little triangle/prism shapes molded into the back plastic itself, and I think the paint has only a little to do with it. So silver should be just fine, cuz it matches the color of the previous backing, chrome paint may be too much of a contrast, unless you fully remove the old paint.

Have fun at Wiessach! I usually stop in once in a while to drool over all their Lambos and Pcars. Also take a walk around the corner a couple of blocks and visit MCL Motors for an equally impressive display of supercars. A Guilardo, I'm envious. I actually live in Surrey, about 25kms from downtown.

Too bad my car is all apart still (look here 2005 Winter Projects update). I'd love to come show ya! It's gonna rain here this weekend, so they say, but have fun on your test drive!!

.Steven
1980 911SC

[Gunter]

Steven: Looks good. Now all you need is to rip out the A/C, and the cruise control, and the extra fan blower, backdate to SSI's with a Flowmaster muffler and enjoy. Silver is a great color!

[khamul02]

Ah, the search button is awesome. My question: What causes the black stains on the rear reflector? Answer: above

[the]

I don't know what the factory uses to get the "reflectiveness" that it does, but you won't get it the same with any silver or even metallic silver or even "chrome" silver spray paints.

I had a reflector that had blotches of the factory paint material removed from it. I used it to experiment. Removed the factory material in several spots, but kept most of it. In the spots, I tried different paints - silver paint, silver metallic, "chrome" and regular primer.

None of them matched the factory finish. When seen side by side by the factory finish, the difference was very obvious. You could see the spots very easily.

That being said, if you strip ALL of the factory paint off the back of it, and redo it with silver metallic, it will not be as noticeable, because it will at least be uniform in color.

IMO, YMMV.

[khamul02]

What about this stuff:
http://www.krylon.com/main/product_template.cfm?levelid=5&sub_levelid=8&productid=1764&content=product_details

[safe]

What about gluing a layer of aluminum foil to the back?
That would be reflective.

[the]

Originally posted by khamul02
What about this stuff:
http://www.krylon.com/main/product_template.cfm?levelid=5&sub_levelid=8&productid=1764&content=product_details

Hmm, that Krylon glass paint looks pretty promising. It would be worth a try, IMO.

Gluing aluminum foil to the back wouldn't work, given the highly textured surface.

[Harlan Chinn]

Funny, I just brush applied some Testors Chrome Silver paint over the spots left behind following a thorough scrubbing and removal of loose flaky stuff. After the silver dried, I sprayed over it some gray primer and you cannot tell the difference from Testors to factory. It's the faceting of the lens that provides the reflectivity and the gray primer simply provides an opaque finish over the silver paint. I suppose you could rub on some of that chrome silver film that you can buy at hobby stores for applying onto car model parts to chrome them.

[khamul02]

Judging from the photos above it doesn't seem like it would take more than what you mentioned. Good to hear this is an easy process!

[porsche930dude]

damn you guys! i never even thought to look at that. I better not go outside and see a blotchy reflector because i dont want to have to fix it haha

[khamul02]

Fixing it is going to beat the pants off of trying to round a decent black letter reflector

[safe]

I have removed my reflector now and most of the reflective paint scattered by the wind...

I has begun experimenting with a substitute. I had silver wheel paint, Aluminum zinc paint (CRC) and a "Chrome effect" paint ready at home.

I sprayed the 3 paints on a piece of clear plastic. The "Chrome paint" was the most reflective by far, BUT on the backside against the plastic all paints was a dull gray....
A white paint would be better.
The Krylon stuff above looks like the hot deal, its made to be painted on the backside, the others are not.

On the other hand if you only want a uniform appearance one could just remove the factory stuff on the backside, but it wont be reflective that way.

[khamul02]

Let us know what you go with as I'm putting this off for a couple months at least. And please post pics of anything your doing.

[RSBob]

I had the same problem and took care of it this way....



Its a different look, but it works until I get motivated to do it correctly - I do like the almost black-out appearance with PORSCHE just subtly showing through.

[khamul02]

Very nice. I've seen that done with all the rear tail lights blacked out as well. It looked really cool on an all black car.

[SCWDP911]

Not to sound too stupid, but what was done exactly on that 914 there, I mean, how did you/he get the smoked look? Was it just black paint painted over the backside of the reflector?