Astra H door mirror glass fell out when car was parked

[Andrew]

Odd one this,

I left the house yesterday to walk to the shops and noticed that someone had lifted up the nearside wiper and a mirror was lying on the screen. When I looked more closely it was the glass from the nearside door mirror, but even more oddly it is mirrored on both sides.

I haven't used the car for a few days so it must have just dropped out, or was bumped by someone but they would have had to be deliberately walking along the grass verge and not the pavement.

Luckily the car was half way up the grass verge so the mirror didn't break and some thoughtful person had seen it and put it where I could not avoid seeing it.

The backplate on the door mirror didn't feel sticky at all, it's as if the mirror glass was pressed into some sort of hot plastic that cooled and grabbed the glass. Now it is just smooth black plastic with a slight lip marking the outline of where the mirror was affixed. No trace of adhesive on the mirror side that was embedded.

Now the question, what to use to stick it back on ?.

I think I will use some fine abrasive to score the mirror side that sticks onto the backplate.

[The Natural Philosopher]

many things, but the mirror glue used to stick mirrors up in bathrooms is pretty effective.

Its some version of 'sticks like shit' I think.

I wouldnt.

[Andrew]

It isn't a normal one-sided mirror though. Both sides are mirrors, so a single part is made for nearside and offside. This means a hard glass surface needs to be adhered to the smooth plastic backing.

[ARW]

A few years ago the same thing happened to my Vauxhall Combos passenger wing mirror. The van was parked up in garage (a normal domestic garage not a repair garage) for a week when it fell off.

Sticks like shit and a clamp to hold it in place for a few hours did the trick. No abrasives were used.

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

3M tape

[T i m]

I think is what happened as apparently Vauxhalls are 'known for it'. ;-)

Ours was the offside on our Meriva A so we weren't that lucky. ;-(

Same as ours (but it wasn't double sided). I know the remaining (presumably, once) adhesive pad was completely smooth with without any signs of stickiness.

That sounds like the mirror itself. Ours was heated and I think I remember it behind the bit you are looking at on the mirror mount.

Weird innit. Possibly an adhesive pad that is still stuck to one part or another (probably the mirror mount).

Another adhesive d/s pad? ;-)

I'm not sure that would help if you just used another d/s pad (or strips of d/f foam tape).

The thing is, if it gets broken you will probably want to get the glass off again without having the replace the whole mount? So, I'd go for some good / fresh d/s foam tape or the mirror shaped sheet (available separately cheap on eBay etc).

If it's not a heated mirror then some blobs of silicone might hold it well and be removable later if required.

Cheers, T i m

[Brian Gaff]

No most mirrors are silvered on the back. Be careful with solvents too. a gentle wipe over and dry should be enough. At least heated ones never hit the ground they dangle on the wires. Brian

[T i m]

I would have said most (domestic) mirrors are slivered at the back of the glass (to protect the sliver) but they are also mostly covered on the back, with paint or some other coating (again, to protect the silver).

Or you could either wipe the silver coating off (if front silvered, like a headlight reflector) or the coating off the rear (and make the mirror more vulnerable / translucent).

I think it may depend how the heater element heats the actual mirror. On my Meriva it is a pad that is behind the mirror and when my glass fell off it left the heater behind. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[newshound]

+1, I have also used the foam double sided sticky pads.

[Andrew Gabriel]

If the silvering is exposed (or not well protected), you need to be careful the adhesive will not react with it. For example, silicone which gives off acetic acid as it cures will instantly destroy the silvering. There are special mirror grab adhesives to avoid this.

[Peter Johnson]

I wonder if that is why some people, same household, living near me put plastic bags over their car mirrors when parked on the street. I assume they take the bags off when driving, I don't know. Either that or they have become fearful of folks driving past and banging the mirrors. Only noticed the bags a few weeks ago.

[damduck-egg]

See if they still do it in the coming months, it can be a useful way of stopping frost forming on a car mirror and not everyone has electrically heated mirrors fitted to defrost before moving off.

G.Harman

[ARW]

Frost or plastic bag covering the wing mirror. It makes no difference to a woman driver as she will never use the mirror.

[Andrew]

Female Passengers can use them for checking makeup, pout, hair, ...

Having just levered off the mirror backplate, I see that there are two wires connected to spade terminals.

Whoopee, I have electrically heated wing mirrors. Well I never, I didn't know that before. Must investigate further to see if electrically heated seats are fitted.

Since the part of the door glass that you look through to see the mirror is typically misted up in the sort of weather that causes frost on the mirrors, I don't really see the point.

[T i m]

You often have vents in the ends of the dash that always blow air over that corner of the windows enduring they (also) clear fairly quickly.

Cheers, T i m