door mirror

[Tony R]

I find it unbelievable that no topic has already not been raised re the repair or replacement of door mirror units. The Search facility on this w/site seems  not to function and even while still on the BRISKODA w/site one enters into the Search facility  up comes door mirrors from Screwfix!!. Amazing, or pathetic?.

[chimaera]

What problem are you having with the mirror?

[Tony R]

I hit the mirror of a parked car  with my passenger side one, the parked one looked OK but mine was out of position. When I got home and looked at it and   the top part had parted  company with the lower supporting part, each seem to have silver coloured round metal piece with serrated edges,which presumably should be fixed one to the other but mine have parted company. The motor still works as does the flashing aspect so the question is can the two parts which have  become unjoined, be made to " mate "again?

[langers2k]

You've probably snapped the central post on the door mirror base. Got any pictures?

 

Easiest repair is to replace the entire mirror although as it's electrically folding it's not the cheapest. Alternatively, you might find a used non folding mirror and be able to reuse the base from that. You should be able to reuse your exterior plastics to save respraying.

 

Either way, the door card needs to come off to access the bolts to remove the damaged mirror base from the door.

[williamshatnerspants]

I just replaced the flashing indicator part of our 2010 car's mirror. I found a bunch of information on the net, but still managed to break off one tab. They are a PITA to disassemble.

[AMartinD]

Another question about a broken door mirror...

 

Last weekend I managed to damage the n/s door mirror on my 2011 Superb Estate CR170, Elegance trim, by hitting the mirror on the handle of a wheelie-bin as I was reversing down my driveway - stupid me!!   The mirror was knocked back in the opposite direction to which it folds, and became floppy so I had to secure it with some PVC tape to enable me to go away on a trip for a few days.  The mirror glass is intact, as is the outer shell, and all the motors that control the mirror itself all seem to work, as does the heating element.  I haven't tried the power-folding for fear of causing more damage!

 

I've managed to obtain a complete 2nd-hand mirror assembly from a dismantler, at about a quarter of the cost of a complete new mirror base unit assembly, and the 2nd-hand unit seems to have all the expected features - power-folding (so I was assured), indicator repeater, puddle-light - so will hopefully be a direct replacement for the damaged mirror.  The dismantler assured me that the mirror came off what he described as a "fully-loaded" vehicle he was breaking, which I took to be an Elegance (or higher?) trim level.  However...

 

The 2nd-hand mirror assembly has 13 wires going to its connector; although I haven't yet tried to remove the damaged mirror from the car I seem to recall reading somewhere that a full-spec mirror assembly has 15 wires.  Can anyone confirm this, and offer any suggestions as to whether or not the 2nd-hand unit is going to be a direct replacement for the original?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

--

Martin

[Tony R]

All sounds horribly complicated (15 wires!,what for ,for goodness sake? ) . I am just wondering if the two serrated teeth round " plates " can be stuck together  with some ultra strong super glue?

[CombatWombat]

I have an 'S' level of trim, so a much less complicated mechanism, with loads fewer wires.

 

My mirror suffered the same fate as yours three years ago, except my car was stationary, when it was struck by some a******e in a flatbed transit, who didn't stop.

 

I did a modification/repair to the casting, but it took hours of fiddling and experimenting, and if a secondhand mirror was available then I'd go that route.

 

After removing the complete unit from the car (door card and tweeter needed removal to access 3 fasteners and cables), I 'squared off' the broken castings with a file to remove the cracked remains.  I then cut a short piece of hollow steel pipe (off some old, scrapped furniture) and cut a circlip groove at each end. And drilled the remains of the casting to the outside diameter of the tube.

 

I assembled all this, whilst holding the spring (shown in picture, after repair was done) compressed in a vice.  This was an absolute bu***r of a job, and took ages.

 

The spring is extremely stiff, and the wires pass up the middle of the new tube, as they did before.  This means all the connector ends have to be carefully removed to get them up the tube, then refitted.  It will be harder on an Elegance as there are more wires and motors.  As the original casting is so thin (puny?), there is more room in the original, hollow, cast tube to pass the wires that you Elegance jonnies will have to fit into any modified bits.

 

I initially, briefly, considered gluing it, but, when it's apart in front of you, you can see the stresses would overwhelm the bond, and it would never fold afterwards.

 

HTH

 

Edited 11 November, 2017 by CombatWombat

[langers2k]

I second everything CombatWombat said, great repair by the way!

 

Gluing it probably a bad idea, it'll be unable to fold when hit so it'll either snap again or cause damage elsewhere.

 

Couple more images of the bases and the underside of a electric and manual folding version, getting the cir-clip in and out is certainly a challenge.

 

 

[Tony R]

13 hours ago, CombatWombat said:

I have an 'S' level of trim, so a much less complicated mechanism, with loads fewer wires.

 

My mirror suffered the same fate as yours three years ago, except my car was stationary, when it was struck by some a******e in a flatbed transit, who didn't stop.

 

I did a modification/repair to the casting, but it took hours of fiddling and experimenting, and if a secondhand mirror was available then I'd go that route.

 

After removing the complete unit from the car (door card and tweeter needed removal to access 3 fasteners and cables), I 'squared off' the broken castings with a file to remove the cracked remains.  I then cut a short piece of hollow steel pipe (off some old, scrapped furniture) and cut a circlip groove at each end. And drilled the remains of the casting to the outside diameter of the tube.

 

I assembled all this, whilst holding the spring (shown in picture, after repair was done) compressed in a vice.  This was an absolute bu***r of a job, and took ages.

 

The spring is extremely stiff, and the wires pass up the middle of the new tube, as they did before.  This means all the connector ends have to be carefully removed to get them up the tube, then refitted.  It will be harder on an Elegance as there are more wires and motors.  As the original casting is so thin (puny?), there is more room in the original, hollow, cast tube to pass the wires that you Elegance jonnies will have to fit into any modified bits.

 

I initially, briefly, considered gluing it, but, when it's apart in front of you, you can see the stresses would overwhelm the bond, and it would never fold afterwards.

 

HTH

 

 

THANK YOU, very interesting/useful

[superbdreams]

Surely the mirrors are designed to snap at a certain stress point to prevent injury to a pedestrian?

Perhaps this adaptation could now cause serious harm and also perhaps tear the mirror out of the door should you hit anything else?

[CombatWombat]

The mirror folds with much less effort than it did before due to the spring preload being less.  Because of this, instead of snapping off next time, the mirror is more likely to fold out the way. I have absolutely no concerns about this change harming a pedestrian or damaging the door.