Broken wing mirror - bushing required!
- Thread starter michelle Knight
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- wing mirror
So two weeks after getting the van I’ve clonked the wing mirror. Doh!!!
The main metal bracket has sheared off and half is on the wing mirror and the other half in the door. And the mirror is hanging by the cables.
The vehicle has DAB and heated / powered door mirrors.
I’ve tried to undo the torx bolts behind the mirror with no luck - they’re aluminium I think and although only 4 years old are soft/weathered enough that my torx set is stripping the star shape.
I can’t be the first this has happened to. As I see it,the bracket is about £20, and I need a new body coloured shell, also £20 + colour, everything works, so I’m really reluctant to pay VW for another complete unit, £170+Glass+shell+ bracket.
does anyone have any bright ideas to get round this without spending an absolute fortune?
and....can I get the attenae cable under a heat lamp to disconnect it and then resolder when the antenna is in the new mirror?
Any advice gratefully received...looks like this is headed to a £400 mistake if I use VW!
The main metal bracket has sheared off and half is on the wing mirror and the other half in the door. And the mirror is hanging by the cables.
The vehicle has DAB and heated / powered door mirrors.
I’ve tried to undo the torx bolts behind the mirror with no luck - they’re aluminium I think and although only 4 years old are soft/weathered enough that my torx set is stripping the star shape.
I can’t be the first this has happened to. As I see it,the bracket is about £20, and I need a new body coloured shell, also £20 + colour, everything works, so I’m really reluctant to pay VW for another complete unit, £170+Glass+shell+ bracket.
does anyone have any bright ideas to get round this without spending an absolute fortune?
and....can I get the attenae cable under a heat lamp to disconnect it and then resolder when the antenna is in the new mirror?
Any advice gratefully received...looks like this is headed to a £400 mistake if I use VW!
Thought worth updating this.
I've found a pair of primed shells from Traveinlite - £29 for a pair. Bought through their ebay account - slightly cheaper than on their website.
Removing the old unit.
Remove door card.
Unplug electrics
remove the rubber bung
unbolt the wing mirror
feed the cables through the hole in the door.
Now I've got the mirror in my hand - seperated from the van.
Next stage was interesting - the metal bush is broken - and the cables go through it. The cables have connectors on the end, one of which is too big to pull through. the mirror itself clips in, so it was easy to get that off. To release the broken mounting I had to take the whole lot apart, including the spring. I rolled up the attena into a tube, and fed that through (in the direction from outside to inside) and then fed the heated mirror connect through- from inside to out side. I didn't see way to do this with dismantling the lot! I'm sure I've made a mistake here - but at the time I couldn't see a another way.
The broken mounting is less than a tenner - and on its way to me.
I can foresee I'm going to struggle to compress the spring when it comes to putting it back together. From what I've read it looks like some strong cable ties will do the job - TBC.
Any advice gratefully recieved!
I've found a pair of primed shells from Traveinlite - £29 for a pair. Bought through their ebay account - slightly cheaper than on their website.
Removing the old unit.
Remove door card.
Unplug electrics
remove the rubber bung
unbolt the wing mirror
feed the cables through the hole in the door.
Now I've got the mirror in my hand - seperated from the van.
Next stage was interesting - the metal bush is broken - and the cables go through it. The cables have connectors on the end, one of which is too big to pull through. the mirror itself clips in, so it was easy to get that off. To release the broken mounting I had to take the whole lot apart, including the spring. I rolled up the attena into a tube, and fed that through (in the direction from outside to inside) and then fed the heated mirror connect through- from inside to out side. I didn't see way to do this with dismantling the lot! I'm sure I've made a mistake here - but at the time I couldn't see a another way.
The broken mounting is less than a tenner - and on its way to me.
I can foresee I'm going to struggle to compress the spring when it comes to putting it back together. From what I've read it looks like some strong cable ties will do the job - TBC.
Any advice gratefully recieved!
Just had my wing mirror hit by a motorhome in the New Forest and think I can save it. I can see where the brown/white connect to the glass but where does the “superseal like” two pin plug go? Thanks in advance.
Whilst touring through Slapton Sands at the weekend some t**t in a motor home decided to remove one of my mirrors. I was totally gutted, the guy didn't even stop, luckily the lower half wasn't damaged. On the plus side I was surprised how cheap it was to repair - the aluminum bracket was only £6 and a sprayed Candy white cover £16 from Banggood. After a Polish and shine the vans back! For anyone in my situation there are some OK vids on youtube with some good tips like using cable ties for compressing the spring.
Drop off the door card (vids on YouTube) and all the connectors you need to release are there for the cables
I assume that’s for an electric folding mirror? DIY or VW fitted?
A couple of zip ties Will compress the spring.
If you have DAB don't worry about not replacing the wingmirror aerial, just follow a YouTube video to remove your head unit and it takes all of 5 minutes to run the cable and install a windscreen dab aerial (£8) that will dramatically improve coverage!
If you have DAB don't worry about not replacing the wingmirror aerial, just follow a YouTube video to remove your head unit and it takes all of 5 minutes to run the cable and install a windscreen dab aerial (£8) that will dramatically improve coverage!
Wayne7450
Member
Wasn’t even electric folding! Wouldn’t like to know the price of one that was!
Whole Unit and standard black covers the heated mirror plus the VW Fit charge
Donttouchthevanmate
New Member
I did mine too. Electric folding and heated. Bought a dodgy 1 off eBay as skint at the time. It folds up ok, but takes it’s time to come back down, say 5-10 seconds. Bit annoying. Wish I’d saved and bought the real 1. I gave mine a good whack. Window doesn’t like to go up when it’s dry now. Window is scratched and I’ve just fitted LED lamps in the front lights (look amazing) which have zapped my DAB signal. New aerial ordered, again off eBay, hope it works, I’d say a new door, mirror etc is needed of anyone has a silver passenger door in the garage?¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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