gluing mirror to plastic (car door mirror)

Got replacement mirror glass for our Fiesta car door mirror. It can be fixed with a sticky pad supplied or with glue. The sticky pad will not work with the glass carrier used by this door mirror, so it has to be glued. The plastic is the type of black brittle stuff that discolours when you bend it. So, I need to know the best glue to attach the following:

  1. A mirror to plastic (the mirror silvered surface will be in contact with the glue)
  2. Plastic to plastic (to reattach the mirror carrier to the holder which has broken clips) Thanks, Simon.
Reply to
sm_jamieson
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Why not? because it is a "spider" with thin webs, so there isn't enough area presented?

In my experience, glue repairs on car mirrors seldom work for long. You might stand a better chance if you can take off the forward facing "fairing" and apply epoxy from the back of the mirror to bond the glass to the holder / carrier. Or genuine Duck tape (which is stronger and more durable than the cheap clones).

You may find perfectly adequate clone mirrors on eBay at about a third of the main dealer price. This is what I did after repeated failed repairs on an Astra.

Unfortunately that's true of most thermoplastics. Brittle probably just implies it contains a lot of filler.

Reply to
newshound

Similar to that. The foam pad occupies the middle say 80 percent of the mirror, but the plastic it has to attach to is like a narrow frame around the edge of the mirror. This "frame" should clip over and around a central circular piece the is controlled by the motor. The problem is the clips are broken, so it needs to be glued. Also, the area the mirror is to be stuck to is not flat, but has various raised areas and nibs etc. These act to hold it around 1mm from the rest of the plastic. The foam would therefore have little contact area, which leads me to think it should be glued.

Here, do you mean an entire door mirror unit, or just a mirror pre- bonded to the carrier ?

Thanks, Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

Having gone through a similar pattern, I agree with Newshound - buy a complete new unit. One little linkage in my electric mirror was damaged along with the glass breakage - after trying several approaches to repair (and having not listened to good advice "replace the whole unit") - I eventually replaced the whole thing.

Door mirrors getting damaged is a common occurence, and there's a well established market of pattern parts if an original part from your local dealer is too expensive.

Reply to
dom

When you say "unit", do you mean the entire internal parts inside the mirror "shell", or do you mean an entire mirror (including the colour coded shell) ? Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

That sort of thermo set plastic is near impossible to glue. You really need a replacment complete with mounting frame if a clip is broken.

If the frame still fits the pivot something like Evostick Serious glue would fix the mirror to it - as well as anything.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

IME impact adhesive sticks anything to anything, stays flexible, and is waterproof. Uhu, Pound Shop? I've repaired more mirrors that way than I care to remember. For years I drove a van with sticky out wing mirrors in Inner London, so it was a frequent occurrence.

Reply to
stuart noble

I guess this should stick the plastic - looks like its made for it :-

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Reply to
sm_jamieson

Yes, I mean everything that hangs off the door. Generally spares are available as mirror glass, or the complete thing. Obviously mirror glass is quite a bit cheaper, but unless it's a straight in fit, I wouldn't bother.

Colour coding on mirrors is a PITA. My VW van would have had them originally, had a pair in black when I bought it - and I've since had to replace one - the whole unit replacement consists of 2 electrical connections and 4 screws.

They're hardly mega-money on ebay:

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Reply to
dom

"Mirror Mate", which comes from Screwfix for not very much and looks like your typical DIY gooping mastic - except that it doesn't damage the silvering on mirror backs.

If you want to see why this is important and you're near Chepstow, then go into the furniture warehouse place near the river and look at their posh and expensive "Venetian" mirrors, made of multiple bevelled panes. Then stand back and look closely at the emerging figure-8 trails clearly etching their way through the back of each and every pane. Someone made an expensive c*ck-up there!

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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