OK I received a Colrui with faulty coating on the reflector. The yellow can be seen.
Then I read today in the what you got today about another (op in this case) reflector with faulty coating.
I should receive a replacement but still, there should be a way to fix it.
When mine came I posted about it and asked if my initial urge to just spraypaint silver paint from a pressurised can I have would work, and it took not long for a definite reaction stating “no” came.
From my point of view I have nothing to loose, the big smooth reflector is written off and the silver shining spray paint sticks to everything I tried it on, I even sprayed some on a not seasoned bamboo stick a year ago and it still looks like a metal piece today after being out in the rain and sun for all that time drying on the inside
Yes I get that making it smooth is out but would not mind a OP reflector to get rid of the yellow.
Haha o man! Might as well just polish the vapor coating off then polish the hell out of the aluminum reflector, Dale (DBcustoms) likes to use Mother’s polish? I think? What say ye Dale?
There is a way, my L2 reflector went yellow after cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol and water mix.
Have you ever restored the faded paint on a car to a brilliant shine? Just a lot of elbow grease and varying grades of paint colour restorer such as G3 and polish. I already have a great asortment of car polishes, if you don’t you could just buy some aluminium polish.
We have a small lathe so I just put it in the lathe chuck rotating at a nice speed and applied the polish with a soft cloth, it produced a lovely shine after I polished through the coating to the aluminium underneath.
Yeah your cheap crap reflectors will, but a quality reflector coating wont. I soaked a Brinyte reflector in Dykem Remover over the weekend (for a test) didn’t hurt it a bit, and was sparkling clean.
What part of the reflector is gold? I have done this in the past to get rid of rings and it works! Maybe you can still use it… read this…Smooth Hybrid Reflector (P60)
Most paints will not stick to alloys? I have tried to paint a C8 and it turned out bad! just polish it try some cut and polish maybe not to abrasive then you will need a fine polish to finish it.
I am only guessing also because light is heat you will loose some lumen that are absorbed by the paint it would in such turn the reflector into a heat sink? unless you paint it white lol! now i am wondering if a white reflector would work.
The gold is the base coat that the vapor coating adheres to. It should be an electroplated coating, to make it stick to the aluminum. Polishing is about the only option that is fairly easy. I sand mine with 1500 grit wet paper and then polish with rouge and Mothers at the last. Mothers leaves a coating on the Aluminum that helps to keep it from loosing the shine.
Car wax will delay the alu oxidation after polishing. Simichrome also seems to have a coating in the mix- it’s my fave Alu polish and with the right alloy it looks like chrome when you’re done. Tiny bit goes a long way.
ah ok, thanks, Mothers is just a little too broad for me to even start googling, knowing it could be a older BLF joke or something to name some product idk, “the mother of all shinyness”
You can try this too, it works great on my Dragbike’s and Harely’s polished aluminumhttp://www.amazon.com/Simichrome-390050-Metal-Polish-Tube/dp/B0002YUQ4E
Sorry fellows, I blast the car with water very now and then, and do a good claening of the inside once a year.
Will try to find a way to have a device rotate the reflector for faster working, and then do just the depper part where the damage is.
But not untill the new one has arrived
well do you want to try this first? or you do not want to waste the extra money? i am sure you can buy turtle car polish it would be cheaper. i would think you would have to clean it first before painting any ways?
I was kind of hoping just press the spray button forna brief moment pointed at the center since the ugly spot is down there.it is not dirty and I hoped the worse that could happen was a part become more OP.
But now I am thinking doing that any way since it looks like polish time and well that extra layer of spray paint will be removed in that case.
However it is sure nice to know damages are not the end and next time at the hardware store I will check for ALU polish.
OP: If you still want a SMO reflector, you can polish the defective one out to a mirror finish and it will work great (assuming it is aluminum). It just takes a bit of effort. If the coating is peeling/flaking off and the yellow base coat is showing through, your best bet is just to strip it all off and start sanding it down, gradually reducing the grit. If you don’t have a lathe, I would recommend getting creative and find a way to chuck the reflector up in a cordless drill to make life easier. You can do it by hand, it will just take a lot longer.
To get all the coating off and knock down any ridges, I usually start with a 3M ScotchBrite maroon scuff pad (#7447), which equates to around 400 grit sandpaper. Then I’ll move to the light grey pads (#7448), which are around 600-800 grit. After getting a good even surface, I’ll switch to a 1000 grit sandpaper (quality wet/dry paper, used wet) Then on to 2000 grit (also wet), and finally machine polish w/ Simichrome or green rouge. For polishing duty, I use a Dremel. YMMV!
Might as well just polish the vapor coating off then polish the hell out of the aluminum reflector, Dale (DBcustoms) likes to use Mother’s polish? I think? What say ye Dale?
Got nothing to lose trying it?
