Replacing damaged wing mirror glass - how to

Morning all. As I get so much from this forum I thought I'd share a very basic but effective way of replacing wing mirror glass. I was pretty gutted to find one of my wing mirrors had succumbed to a tool falling on it from a shelf. 




 I didn't want to stick a replacement on top so I heated it with a hair dryer on full heat and after a minute or so the glue gave way with some encouragement from a 2" filling knife.













As the backing plate wasn't damaged I've ordered a replacement which cost about £5.50 and hey presto job done!

thats great when glass comes can you tell us where from and if exact fit? my mirrors are suffering from th silver peeling away

Kenneth Cartwright said

thats great when glass comes can you tell us where from and if exact fit? my mirrors are suffering from th silver peeling away

  Sure thing, I'll update once the mirror arrives. 

Nice little guide.

Ta muchly  

Ian

DaBullCam said

Kenneth Cartwright said

thats great when glass comes can you tell us where from and if exact fit? my mirrors are suffering from th silver peeling away

  Sure thing, I'll update once the mirror arrives. 

When mine had that sick blacking of the edges to the centers I got replacements from my Autoparts store.  I used 3m weather strip double sticky tape and dots of Sillicone RTV for mirrors to glue the new glass on, as I didn't want them to fall off…

Oh you can get the mirror RTV at a HOME Center it is what they use to glue Bathroom Mirrors to the walls as it doesn't react to the mirrors coating if you use the wrong type of adhesive it will etch the coating right off.

Ok quick update on this. The eBay replacement mirrors were poor as they're convex and don't perfectly fit. As I had one knackered old floppy mirror beyond repair I snipped the cables and pulled the mirror and backing plate out. The mirror did suffer a little chip so I swapped to using old plastic packaging to gently ease the mirror off.



After removing the mirror and then the sticky double sided plastic I smoothed some tin foil with cardboard and then placed the mirror on it. As there was still adhesive on the back of the mirror it stuck. I then removed the excess to give me as much surface area as possible to reattach the mirror. 

Not a perfect job by any means but certainly usable!

Briano1234 said

DaBullCam said

Kenneth Cartwright said

thats great when glass comes can you tell us where from and if exact fit? my mirrors are suffering from th silver peeling away

  Sure thing, I'll update once the mirror arrives. 

When mine had that sick blacking of the edges to the centers I got replacements from my Autoparts store.  I used 3m weather strip double sticky tape and dots of Sillicone RTV for mirrors to glue the new glass on, as I didn't want them to fall off…

Oh you can get the mirror RTV at a HOME Center it is what they use to glue Bathroom Mirrors to the walls as it doesn't react to the mirrors coating if you use the wrong type of adhesive it will etch the coating right off.

 Hi, were the mirror glass replacements an exact fit? If so are they still available? The two I purchased from eBay definitely weren't. 

When I went and replaced my mirrors as they were the blackening from the edges, I went to my local parts place and they ordered a pair of them for me.

Here is what I was looking at when I ordered from them.
https://www.autozone.com/collision-body-parts-and-hardware/mirror-replacement-glass/volkswagen/cabriolet

You may be able to source them over there as I did over here.

Campaigning for Dave which ones did you buy off ebay. I'm looking for some right now, and I don't to buy ones that definately don't fit. I have seen flat and convex, so I was going to buy flat.

Cheers,

J

paceman said

Campaigning for Dave which ones did you buy off ebay. I'm looking for some right now, and I don't to buy ones that definately don't fit. I have seen flat and convex, so I was going to buy flat.

Cheers,

J

 hello,
Jeeze it was a bloomin nightmare trying to find glass that fit properly - all of the eBay mirror glasses were awful, didn't fit and are now sitting at the bottom of a draw. I got so desperate in my quest that I was even watching youtube videos of how to cut your own. Bit of a cop-out but I ended up buying some better condition mirror units from eBay in the end.