Mirror Fix

[Way2go]

Hi, I mentioned in one of the threads that my rear view mirror had fallen off and before fixing it with superglue as I had successfully done for a mate, I decided to approach a windscreen company as recommended by Tim and get a "fix (pad) for pennies".

Well, at Autoglass to cut a long story short the guy looked at my mirror and said you cant use pads on a BX mirror, the mount is not big enough and with that he peeled of the plastic pad that was adhered to the mirror mount and threw it on the floor. It will be £11 he said, we need to use a special glue and process.

I said I'd come back secretly fuming that he'd pulled off the existing pad that I needed to be the buffer between the metal pad & glass to apply the superglue to.

Now can anyone recommend what I should do to fix this?

1) Pay Autoglass £11+vat
2) Use Araldite directly between metal pad & windscreen?
3) Other tried and tested solutions that you kind people can recommend?

All suggestions welcome as I do miss this despite my door mirrors being good.

[Barnsley BXer]

It was me that reccommended going to a windscreen place.I'm very sorry that you had a bad experience,but my dad got a pad for pennies(we had to push on the screen and mirror very hard,so I assume it was some sort of contact adhesive)If the windscreen place he used is still open,I could call in to see if they still do the pads

[MULLEY]

Sounds expensive to me, glue is no good as for some technical reason which i dont know about, although it will stick the mirror onto the glass, over time the glue just disintegrates & then the mirror is to be located on the floor. Its probably to do with UV (sunshine) on the glue which makes it brittle.

Thats exactly what happened to my mirror, Tim bless him had used the glue technique, no good. Went to local garage & they gave me a sticky pad gratis. They did say that the glass needs to be spotlessly clean where the pad is going to get stuck on & make sure that you have the car heater on to make the inside of the windscreen warm to ensure that there is no moisture, otherwise the pad will fall off. They suggested that i take the car for a run to ensure there was a lot of heat to actually warm up the inside of the windscreen glass.

I'm not sure if my mirror is an authentic citroen one, but the pad was slightly larger than the plastic mounting bit on the mirror, the pad can be cut to size. I cant see any reason why you cant superglue a bigger mounting piece of plastic onto the mirror, then attach the pad & hopefully never have to think about such a trivial but annoying thing as mirror falling off agian.

Hope this helps, if not then feel free to ignore, lol....

[Way2go]

It was me that reccommended going to a windscreen place.

Memory playing tricks, apologies Tim.

Thanks BB for info. My metal pad that the plastic slides onto is I suppose the same size as the plastic but as it can be fitted and left to set on the windscreen before the mirror is fitted on to it. It can be held in place with insulating tape on the glass if any thing has to set. I think that Autoglass must use an epoxy thats cured using a UV lamp through the glass?

All ideas help

[Terry Brooks]

When my daughter was learning to drive about 10years ago I bought a mirror with a rubber suction windscreen mount for her car [Visa 652] ,so that who-ever was sat with her could see behind too ..............it cost only "a few quid" from a motor spares shop [Halfrauds?] ............prob'ly a cheaper option than £11.........if they're still available.
HTH
T.

[jeremy]

Well to make sure it never came off again I'd drill a hole in the windscreen and then use one of those special nirror screws with chrome heads that screw on after, sealing the lot with loads of silicon bathroom sealer.

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/sea/sea ... l&x=9&y=12

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro ... 7&ts=92685

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro ... 5&ts=92739


After all that I think £11 lto have the job done properly looks good value to me.

[sleepy0905]

The ones i use and they never fall off again is a thin mesh which is activated by the tude of glue Halfords sell it dont get the one which is just a double sided pad the mirror wobbles around all over the place it is a blue packaging with a tube and a piece of black square mesh follow the instructions and it will never come off again.

[docchevron]

I agree with Sleepy.
Halfrauds are uniformly and universally sh*te but the kit with the mesh is actually very good!

The mirror was fried in dad's BX but the fixing is still attached, very firmly to the screen and it has the mesh sticky, er, thing!

Cheers
Cheers

[Geoffrey Gould]

Hi yes had the same thing F**d used the sticky pad which worked but had a much bigger base area. When the mirror fell off the BX, silly person tried adjusting it, then I tried super glue which didnt, a sticky pad which didnt (well I lie it did for about 30 seconds.) and was going to use Aroldite but was warned not to because of the danger of cracking the windscreen. Aroldite does not move with changes of temperature compared to glass which evidently does move a lot.
The mesh ( and sticky pad.) does allow for movement and does work IF the screen is CLEAN, sorry to shout but being clean makes all the difference. Use Meths or Isopropyl alcohol.
Cheers.
Geoff.

[docchevron]

sorry to shout but being clean makes all the difference. Use Meths or Isopropyl alcohol.

Depends what your cleaning I guess!

Cheers
chris G

[Philip Chidlow]

I've used the Halfords kit and it worked a treat on my old black GTi - unless it's fallen off again since (ask Mr Fearn!)...

[cauchoiskev]

Going (slightly) off topic, does anybody else find that BX rear-view mirrors are too low ? In bend I would often find it exactly in my line of sight, although I'm only moderately tall (just over 6 feet - a dwarf compared to some on here apparently).

So I got Citroen to stick another mirror holder a bit higher up, which did solve that problem, but they put it too high and now I can only see about 150 yards back .

[Stewart (oily!)]

When I broke the mirror off my F**d escort many years ago the dealer sold me the sticky pad for 38p. I cleaned the glass, removed the backing, stuck the pad to the mirror, removed the other backing, located the mirror and applied pressure to the mirror with my thumbs, the windscreen cracked from top to bottom instantly the mirror was stuck on though and at 38p I had had the presence of mind to buy two, £11 sounds somewhat excessive.
Stewart

[Geoffrey Gould]

Ah Chris you are quite right about being careful with cleaning ( walked into that one.) meths gives one a headache and isopropyl does sting on the more sensitive areas. whiskey works quite well on me but doesnt work too well on windscreens. *
Cheers
Geoff.

Yes I have tried whiskey and it was a silly silly thing to do. Such a waste.

[djoptix]

the windscreen cracked from top to bottom instantly

The mirror fell off my F*&d Es!"@t too, I fixed it back on with the aforementioned mesh kit. I highly recommend it, get one and do the job yourself; mind your fingers on the glue.

I find myself a bit annoyed by the actions of Mr Autoglass, I suggest you follow him home and urinate in his garden - this may make you feel better about the whole affair