View Single Post
  #11  
Old 03-02-2009, 10:10 PM
Strife's Avatar
Strife Strife is offline
General Purpose Geek
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: KY USA
Posts: 2,238
I have (APA?) spares and the difference is undetectable except by purists who will look at the manufacturer. I will say that when they are "new", they may look "too new" because the zinc plating is very shiny. But this is what they looked like on the car when it was new.

I used a technique similar to that described above on my old Bosch headlight surrounds except:

1. I buffed the plastic with PLASTX and a drill-mounted, SOFT buffing wheel, being careful not to overheat the plastic, which will melt and ruin the piece. This (with 1500 grit sandpaper on rock-pitted spots) really makes a difference.

2. I recovered the zinc plated parts in aluminum HVAC tape (which I've used in reflectors before), and used a soldering iron to re-stake/melt the plastic to hold down the zinc plated pieces. I didn't polish the aluminum so that they would not be "too shiny".

The result was indistinguishable from new, even up pretty close.

BTW, virtually all used headlight surrounds that I've found crack as did the one pictured above.
__________________
86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm
Reply With Quote