Resilvering headlight reflectors…where to get done?

[trimacar]

I have some headlight reflectors which need resilvering.

 

I want to use silver, not the Uvira process.

 

Can someone recommend a plating shop to do this?

 

Frank Mance Plating in Pittsburgh was a past suggestion, but owner is ill and they have a long lead time.  I don’t mind a few months but they’re apparently way beyond that now.  Steve’s in Oregon recommended, but is there a closer place to the East coast doing good work?  
 

Thanks dc

[dl456]

Dave,

If you prefer silver, I would recommend Steve’s.

I’ve had several done there.

Dennis

[MikeC5]

I'm curious Dave, why not the Uvira process?  The extra logisitics of having them nickel plated and then polished before Uvira?  Or prefrring originality?  (I still need to decide one or the other).

[Jon37]

Here's a Ford thread with names of several silver platers:  https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256719

 

Fifteen or twenty years ago I had my reflectors re-silvered by a fellow named Craig Riker in Ohio, who did an excellent job at a very good price.  I installed new gaskets,  and nowadays the reflectors seem as shiny as the day he shipped them back to me.  Here is the latest contact information I can find on the internet:

 

Craig Riker
5308 Kilburn Road, Sylvania, OH 43560

419-290-4442 

carsruleme@yahoo.com

[8E45E]

I believe some fine jewelry stores do re-silvering.

 

Craig

[oldford]

I had Uvira re-do my reflectors in a Graham many years ago. Not sure why you don't want the Uvira, but, as I remember, it surpassed the silver in every way.

 

Frank

[1937hd45]

What is Uvira?

[Bloo]

Vacuum deposited aluminum covered in glass.

[Gary W]

I also had the UVIRA process done on my headlight reflectors and I am very happy with the results.

 

Reflector alone

 

Installed into the housing.  UVIRA recommends you carry a ground wire directly to the socket.  

 

Here's the entire headlight build:

 

 

[charlespetty]

I had Steve's resilver the reflectors from my 1937 Lincoln and I am very happy with the results.  He even fixed a 2 inch split in one of reflectors that isn't even noticeable after resilvering.  www.stevesautorestorations.com 
or call 503.665.2222

[Flivverking]

Almost every state in the country has someplace that can do it if you take the time to search beyond antique automobiles.

 

Silvering and  Re-silvering is your search for platers . Re-silvering mirrors and hardware,etc

 Often it will be will be 2/3/times the price of an aluminum vaporized  sealed modern reflective material that needs no attention verses the silver you should polish every season to gain the best re-flectiveness.

Even in the 20s and 30s to the ,40s  it was expected to  have your reflectors replated or replaced as needed(every few years),if you did your proper maintenance and polished out the silver.

  Unless you plan not to use your car regularly,at night often,and are an extreme purest..go for silver if you can't sleep.

 But the god of your choice will not judge you, I will not or any other mortal judge you  for not resilvering for the ultimate authenic-ness.

 

I have never seen or heard an A.Hole ever in 50 years questions ones authentic reflective material on headlamps.

Your time,money,and thoughts will be better spent on other details .

If you only knew how many high end, high priced show cars had shxtty chrome(the worst and cheapest reflective material)reflectors,you'd barf.

  Let your ego of perfection take a back seat here and compromise for a better ,longer lasting ,more economical material.

  Stated with love and experience .

D.

PS

 

I await another lame banning for "language and demeanor".   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1937hd45]

UVIRA recommends you carry a ground wire directly to the socket.  

 

 

Electrical advice without detailed  instructions is useless. THIRTY MILLION silvered Model T Ford reflectors didn't need special wiring. 

[trimacar]

2 hours ago, MikeC5 said:

I'm curious Dave, why not the Uvira process?  The extra logisitics of having them nickel plated and then polished before Uvira?  Or prefrring originality?  (I still need to decide one or the other).

At my age I don’t need a coating which will last forever!

 

Seriously, on my Pierce, I have one headlight and one parking light which need coating.  The silver on the other side/set is perfect, so I want them to match.

 

 

[jdome]

I'v had several pairs of reflectors done as far back as about 1980 when the UVIRA process was just called "aluminized". I have not had any problems with grounding but since it is glass coated it could present an insulation issue. If you want good and bright 6v headlamps your only choice is silver or the aluminum/UVIRA coated. Nickel plate is almost as brilliant but too hard to keep clean.  No silver paint or chrome over nickel plate will be bright enough. 

[MikeC5]

I understand Dave.  I'll be interested to hear who you end up using.

[wayne sheldon]

A long time ago, I knew a couple people that had reflectors chrome plated because silvering was expensive and chrome wasn't. They looked great in the daylight. Lousy in the dark! (Poor reflective characteristics!)

 

Personally, so far, all my antiques had (or I was able to get) reflectors that were nice enough to use the original (?) silvering. If needed in the future, I would probably go with the Uvira. For whatever it is worth to anyone. 

I pretty much agree with Flivverking on this.

 

And David C (trimacar), I completely agree with your reasoning!

[Alex D.]

Don Burke at Polished treasures does nice work. He did the silver on the reflectors of my Cadillac, and I am very pleased with his work. Located in Chesapeake City, MD. 

Polishedtreasures.com

[trimacar]

5 hours ago, Alex D. said:

Don Burke at Polished treasures does nice work. He did the silver on the reflectors of my Cadillac, and I am very pleased with his work. Located in Chesapeake City, MD. 

Polishedtreasures.com

Thanks, I’ll check with him, much closer!

[Olympic33]

Hi Dave - I just had two sets  of reflectors done at Steve's.  I haven't received them yet but I'll send you some pictures when they arrive.

 

Dan

[Studebaker1965]

Craig Riker in Ohio did mine on my 37 Studebaker and they are excellent and it was a reasonable price.

 

Nate

[Gary_Ash]

Of course, you could do this all by yourself.  Buff and clean the parts scrupulously, rinse well, dip in tin chloride solution to prime, then apply Brashear's solution for silvering.  The Brashear's solution involves silver chloride, salt, sugar, and some other stuff, then you dip the parts in the solution and buff lightly with cotton balls.  Result is a hard, shiny coating of silver, as is often used on old glass telescope mirrors.   

 

We used to use this to silver the inside surfaces of glass vacuum enclosures for high-end infrared detectors back in the 1960s.  We had a very young technician without any real world experience who thought he could save some of the solution for the next day.  Overnight, it turned into fulminate of silver, which like fulminate of mercury, can explode when lightly disturbed.  It did!  The young lad lived to tell the tale but didn't do that again.

 

I'd recommend vacuum deposited coatings like the Uvira process.  It's almost as bright as fresh silver but will retain high reflectivity over a long time. I've been involved with coating large astronomical telescope mirrors of 14 ft to 16 ft diameter with overcoated aluminum and on solar simulator mirrors of 25 ft diameter for space craft testing.