Torque and Chrome

Which would reflect light better, chrome or white? ?

Hubby and I are making two custom lamps out of motorcycle fenders. There will be a light bulb under each fender pointed straight down. He wants to paint the underside of the fenders chrome to reflect light outward better. I say that painting the undersides white would reflect better. Which of us is correct?

Public Comments

1. chrome would work nicely My aunty has a bike And her's is painted Chrome under there And it looks really neat
2. I think that chrome would probably work better because it is more shiny. It tends to be that shinier material reflects light more. If you want to paint them white, you can find maybe a metallic white, and see how that works out. Good luck!!!
3. I've been thinking about this since you posted it and compared it to my headlight shining into a white car or truck and then into a bumper. The bumper would seem to reflect the light more so than the white surface of a vehicle. But, the light shining off of chrome would have a propensity to "glare" back. So, within the small confines of a chrome colored lamp I would think the light would be to glaring and take away from the design of the fixture. That's my humble opinion.
4. White. The color white reflects all the colors of the visible spectrum and would be your best bet, especially if using paint. Make sure to use flat or satin acrylic paint as the gloss or "sheen" types will actually lessen the paints ability to reflect light.