Headlights - Chrome or silver plated?

I am returning the headlights on my 38 dodge touring sedan, D8, from a sealed beam conversion back to the oringinal 6 volt bulbs. I was going to use a chrome plated brass halogen reflector kit from Restoration Supply Company. I want bright lights for some night driving and the halogen bulbs should provide that.

I was recently told that the chrome plating will produce a "black light effect" that will not be near as bright a light as the silver plated reflector. Is anyone using the chrome plating reflector with the halogen bulb? I want to have as bright of lights as possible, but I'm not sure if the halogen bulb will make up the difference in the chrome reflector vs the silver plated one. Any opinions out there?

Thanks for any help on this. Thom

Thom, Silver plated reflectors outperform chrome plated reflectors period. Silver is more expensive and must be maintained but it is the best. I have had both. Good Luck, Terry

Terry, Any idea where I can purchase Silver plated reflectors? My car had already had the sealed beam conversion when I bought it. So I don't have any reflectors to have silver plated.

Thanks, Thom

Thom,

One option to consider is to have your reflectors nickel plated and polished and have them plated by Bill Attwood at UVIRA (uvira@terragon.com). The resulting reflectivity is only very slightly less than silver, and polishing is not required (unlike silver). I had the reflectors on my '31 Buick done and and am very happy with the results. With halogen bulbs I now have much safer sealed beam level illumination. You can get halogen bulbs for a 6 volt system that you just plug in like the originals, with no need to change or adapt any wiring (www.classicandvintagebulbs.com). The total cost is surprisingly low, and the results very satisfactory. The reflectors look newly re-silvered. An article of interest can be seen at <http://groups.msn.com/AntiqueAutoMushersofAlaska/halogenconversion.msnw> You might want to check it out.

Fr Mike

Fr Mike,

Thanks for the info. The AntiqueAutoMushersofAlaska web site is every informative on this subject. I did contact Bill Attwood and he was very cordial to my questions. He did say that the reflectors must be nickel plated and polished before he would take them and apply his UVIRA plating process. So now I am in search of reflectors that I can have plated and send to him to complete. It looks like this is the best option to have bright headlights for years to come. Thom