[Crawdaddy]

I'm considering painting the inside of the reflectors of the taillights on the 'burb, but I'm not sure whether to paint them chrome or white. The goal is to make them brighter by reflecting more light out. White theoretically reflects more light, but I'm not sure if it'll look right behind the red lense. Chrome may look more right, but I'm not one to go chrome-crazy.

So, white or chrome paint? This is what the reflector looks like:

 

[Crawdaddy]

I was really hoping to at least try this out this weekend. I may pick up a can of both to compare the results.

 

[donyms]

Of all colors white does reflect light the best but nothing will reflect light better than chrome. As far as I know they don't make chrome in a can, are you talking about that paint that they call chrome? I don't think anything will reflect better than what they are now. Good luck on this project. :glasses:

 

[adampaul1964]

Have you looked into brighter, whiter bulbs?

 

[Crawdaddy]

Have you looked into brighter, whiter bulbs?

Brighter bulbs are in my future, but at nearly $30 per bulb for the LED bulbs I'm lusting after, they have to wait. These are the bulbs I'm looking to put in the taillights: http://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ed-bulb-dual-intensity-45-smd-led-tower-/814/



As for why I'm painting them, I've read some guides in the past that to brighten up the old 80s bodystyle instrument clusters, people take them apart, paint the inside of the plastic back case white, and that makes a world of a difference. So, I was going to apply the same theory to the taillight buckets. As they sit, they're a fading, crusty, greyish-yellow from years of sun. So, I was planning on painting them to get the light reflectivity back up to as much as it can be without moving to the brighter LEDs.

 

[okiemudslinger]

have you thought of use silver tape like is used on A/C ducts ? just a thought.

 

[tbplus10]

Christofer is that reflector the aluminium version or painted plastic?
If its the aluminium version you could polish it, aluminium when polished is highly reflective, its also very easy to polish with good results.
Polish with a mild compound then use a clear coat or something like Zoops.