Re-chroming tail light bezel/ surround.

[rutger kohler]

Has anyone had a tail light bezel/surround replated succesfully?  One of mine has some small rough patches where the metal? has kind of partly craked in minute area.  A plater I have used before thinks he could repair if the bezel is made of metal but I am not too sure whether (a) it is metal and not plastic, and (b) whether it can be repaired and rechromed successfully.  If in doubt i would rather leave it.

[stickandrudderman]

The metal is of a very poor quality and is very difficult to repair. I'd find another one if I were you.

[pj]

3d printing. Someday soon.

[paulr]

this is probably made of something like Mazak, an alloy. There is a mind boggling explanation on Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazak_(alloy)

[rutger kohler]

Thanks for that so fat, so it seems no one has had these castings re-built up and re-chromed?

[wwheeler]

I just had my W111 tail light frames re-chromed and they turned out nicely. My frames were in good structural shape and just needed replating. I will very soon glue the all red lenses to them. Repairing that metal is somewhat of an art and expensive. Find some used frames that are in good structural shape and start there. Should be lots of good used ones.

The only time I believe people repair that cast metal is when there is no other cost effective option.   

[66andBlue]

As Wallace writes as long as no repairs are involved these frames can be easily re-chromed. However, on my first one the plater/polisher was too forceful and the shape had slightly changed making it difficult to glue in a reproduction lens. Fortunately I had bought a few more used frames when they were really cheap (now eBay prices have gone up significantly) and the second attempt was successful.

[rutger kohler]

OK, you have convinced me, however interestingly my bezel is completely separate from the lense and fits into the housing of it's own accord, therte is no need to glue the lense in.  This is on a 1969 280SL.