My drivers side mirror is broken, before i bought the car i asked the seller to provide MOT and tax however to pass the MOT he bodged the mirror by sticking a 3 inch screw straight through it.
Ive beeen looking for a new one in Montego blue but would also like to know if the old one is repairable.
The actual body of the mirror is seperate from the part that screws onto the door and when i pick up the mirror body i can hear something heavy rattling about inside behind the glass. Can you buy the bolt that will connect the mirror body to the part that fixes onto the car? are there any other parts involved which are internal to the mirror body like clips or springs etc?
i have ordered the haynes manual but it has not arrived yet and not sure if this sort of repair would be covered?
Carefully remove the black trim, it is spot glued. I use a stanley knife blade. You will find the bits inside, all you require is a bolt, any bolt the correct dia will do with a nyloc nut
The rattling will be parts of the old bolt that has rusted through and come off inside, you can get into them by using a pen knife to ease the black plastic rim from the mirror this will allow you to remove the glass and get to the inside.
Bolts can be bought from auto link (per attached link above) but if you have a good hardware store neer you will be just as easy to get them from there plus a few washers to help stop vibration.
If you have any questions let me know and I’ll try and help
i dare not do it in the kitchen last time i did something like this i superglued something to the kitchen work top and ended up replacing the kitchen as my girlfriend tutted her disapproval oops. [:D]
Trying to refit my wing mirror. Did you manage to do yours? Cannot get the nut on the bolt as too fiddly. I was thinking of putting in bolt upside down but still can’t work out how I can hold head of bolt while I tighten the nut. Just be interested if you managed yours and if so, how.
I was able to repair my wing mirro but the biggest problem i had was trying to remove the trim to allow me to take the glass out.
Not sure about yours but mine was in two completely seperate bits 1) the bit that fits to the door and the small plastic cover, 2) the actual mirror body with the rusted piece of bolt behind the glass.
I’ll try my best to explain how i did it.
used a stanley knife and carefully went around the edge of the black trim and then carefully used the blade to prie away the trim working it out a little bit at a time so it didnt snap, this allowed me then to drop the glass out and retrieve the spring and rusted nut.
2) i then wrpped the spring in a cloth covered in WD40 then loosened the rusted bolt, as soon as i applied some pressure the rusted bolt shattered and left me with the spring and the square washer.
I then looked at the piece which connects to the door and to remove the rusted bolt i slipped the loose plastic cover off completely then used a socket to undo the nut i then put it in a vice and used a nail and hammered the rusty bolt out of the hole.
Now with the new bolt i put the bolt the spring and the washer into the mirror body, at this point you need to put the plastic cover back over the piece that connects to the door but leave it loose and turned at an angle so you can still see where the bolt has to go, then while holding the mirror body with the bolt and spring etc in place, put the bolt through the piece that connects to the door so the round ball goes smoothly into the socket of the mirror body.
This is where it gets fiddly if you have small enough fingers they may just fit under the plastic cover and then you can get the first turn of the nut onto the bolt, however me and my sausage fingers were unable to do that so i used some long nose pliers. with the nut in the long nose pliers i held the mirror and the piece that connects to the door in place and got the nut started on the bolt from there on i simply held the nut and used a socket set to tighten the bolt.
Before i put the nut on i put on a shake proof washer, In total it cost be 50p in materials and about 1 and a half of my weekend, (however an hour of that was just trying to get the plastic trim off without breaking it.)
Hi everyone, can I ask which glue you found best to reattach the frame holding in the glass?
I want a nice tidy close crisp fit and something reliable.
I think something like araldite or similar 2 part glue might be a bit thick to work into that tight gap without oozing out?
I think I’ll mask off the edge of the coloured plastic just to be safe to protect the paintwork.
I reckon Superglue although nice and thin could possibly be a bit brittle… @richardn did you find Superglue worked ok?
(I do realise this is an old post but 11 years later you can confirm if it held out ok lol?!)
I have some UHU ‘Power’ which is somewhere in between the consistency.
So it might have a bit of flex quality.
Hopefully it’ll not need to come off again, but I want it to stay put!
The glass is original 1992 as far as I’m aware and looking good (even if I do say so myself LOL ) as in no scratches.
I really don’t fancy breaking a mirror in 2020 so need something strong & stable…
I used a gel superglue last time I did one. Gorilla glue is pretty good also
Fit the mirror to the car and make sure it is not too slack on the pivot bolt before you fit the glass. What seems tight off the door can be too slack on the car (bitter experience talking!)
I replied in the other thread you’d asked the same question in to say I used a battery powered glue gun and associated sticks just because of needing to be able to remove the glue again the next time the pivot bolt breaks.
But also as an additional reply (and to misquote richardn slightly with my own experiences)…
Make sure it is not too tight on the pivot bolt before you fit the glass. What seems perfect off the door can be too tight on the door (bitter experience talking!)
I’ve also had it go the other way same as richardn.
Thanks for the tips!
Gel Superglue you say?
I’m not sure I’ve used or heard of that before…
Has it got a bit more substance to it then?
Any links or recommendations please?
I have some clear gorilla glue actually so that might be the way.
Great tip about fitting the mirror to the door first. I get what you mean about how it could be stiff handheld and loose on the door.
I was thinking it might be easier to glue it together on a desk with less risk of dripping glue etc. So I see why ‘Gel’ Superglue is a good option.
Though I could always tension the bolt on the car and then unbolt the whole thing from the car again to glue it, then reattach it to the door afterwards!
I’ve used hot glue guns before…
The glue can be quite difficult to control and is reasonably thick although with careful control I could get it round ok,
but it doesn’t give much time to work with it as it cools it sets pretty quickly.
Then it as it’s thick it can create a distance between the two surfaces…
How did it go with yours is it a nice flush finish?
Maybe your battery powered one has a smaller more accurate nozzle?
I get how it’s good to have the option of opening it up again without securing it too tightly.
I guess it’s a bit of a balance between a glue strong enough to hold the glass in as it’s outside of the car with all the bumps and weather a car takes abd the option of removing it in the future without breaking something…
I saw on MX-5 parts that the do a pair of replacement door mirrors and the bolts and fixings are stainless steel.
I’m not sure the door mirrors are originals though.
I wonder if there’s a way of getting just those stainless steel fixings alone?
Might be worth doing that since I’ve come this far.
Stainless steel will be much better looking forward with regards to rust and smooth operation and not breaking!
Fantastic thank you!
And links too that’s awesome.
The bolt, spring and washers were rusty and I have cleaned them up a bit, I was going to slather them in thick silicone grease to protect them.
But if the bolt does indeed rust in the centre and it’s under quite a lot of pressure from that spring then it’s worth replacing to be safe because if that breaks even at standstill there’s no wires or anything to break the fall of the mirror and casing!
I might have a search and see if the square metal attachment in the base of the inside of the mirror casing can be replaced as that’s quite rusty too…
I did my mirror, a few years ago now when I had the Mk1. I remember I used just ordinary superglue, horrible stuff if you get it in the wrong places. Just a very thin coat and whack it in quickly having fitted the mirror housing back on the car.
I had trouble removing the whole mirror with mounting bracket so had to do it on the car, happy days.
) as in no scratches.