Just out of curiosity, have any Mk. 3 owners had the old Mk. 2 problem of door mirror glass deciding to depart and litter the roadway?

 

It was a common thread on the Mk. 2 forum, including both of my mirrors!

 

No problem at present on my Mk. 3 but wondered if it has been cured yet?

No not as yet but my car is only 10 months old.

I think this is more of a general problem, the way the mirror heating works on these (i.e its either permanently on or off) if left on over the course of time it weakens the adhesive pads on the back of the mirror that keep it attached to the heated plate (that also moves the mirror around). Adhesives are of course temperature resistant but not temperature proof so will degrade over the course of time.

I am now more concious about having my heated mirrors on only when required as this will preserve the adhesive on the back of the mirror. That said I havent personally kept a car long than 3 years from new in as long as I remember so its never caused me problems on my own car.

To be fair though my wifes Astra H (2007) heats its mirrors (more sensibly) when the heated rear window is on....hers both systematically threatened to drop out about 6 months ago; fortunately I prevented one in advance and caught the second before it dropped out.

My cure....a good dose of araldite. Mirrors again like new and still heat like they did prior (if not better) so there is an easy fix.

Edited 26 November, 201411 yr by pipsyp

I agree about the Araldite - exactly what I did with my Mk. 2 jobs, several small, well spaced out blobs of Araldite Rapid (5 minute setting) , held glass in place with masking tape till set, then no trouble again either with the heating or falling off.

No problems here neither was there on my mkII