Mirrors Question...

The glass or the reflector on my rearview mirror and one of my side mirrors is permanently fogged. Any suggestions on repairing this? They're usable, but annoying.

 

i'm curious to see who has addressed this probelm successfully before. i remember an old thread about it, but my attention span is way too short to find it. however, i know this is a common problem.

slightly different topic, but it would be a good time, based on the way this threads title reads, to discuss side-view mirror questions and configurations. i don't want to hi-jack, but when searching in the future, it would be nice to have all mirro discussions easily found

 

Hijack away, always looking for mor info in general.

 

don't encourage me.....

can some one post the types of "acceptable side mirrors"?

i know of at least two, the round and the rectanglular.

my very late dino has 308 style mirrors that i believe are original to the car. does anyone else know of , or have seen these style mirrors on an original dino?
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The FCA Concours Judging Guideline say "Safety-related items that are not original, but which were added for safety purposes, such as seat belts, fire extinguisher, side view mirror, or alarm system, will be acceptable provided the installation of such items is neat, unobtrusive, and does not detract from the original appearance of the automobile."

Since Dinos came (as far as I know) without outside mirrors from the factory, I think there are a lot of choices when it comes to mirrors.

 

Inside mirror is an easy fix.

It pulls away from it's mounting, you have to pull firmly!! IT has a round ball and cup arrangement in it that holds it in place.

Once removed, there are small tabs that hold the outside black frame in place. Remove the outside frame by carefully prying it away from the base at those clip points.

Go slowly. The plastic day/night flip is held in lace by a small spring which will pop loose, but is not hard to reseat when you go to put it back together.

The mirror is protected by a piece of glass. once you get the outside frame off, simply take the piece of mirrored glass to a glass shop, they'll cut you a replacement. Insert it in place of the original and viola!!! new looking mirror that works much better.

Also, there's a ratty rubber seal/gasket around the metal frame. That's going to disintegrate when you take the mirror apart. I used some rubber sheet material and cut a new gasket, but I would think that liquid gasket would do the job too. Without the gasket the mirror will rattle around a bit.

I did post a thread here somewhere with pictures some time ago. I guess a search with "mirror" and my ID might turn it up.

Outside mirror? pffft. spend a few bucks and buy an original replacement, although I'm sure you could remove that (two screws at the base) take it to the same shop and they could replace that mirror too.

Good luck,

Dave

 

That sounds much easier than what I was expecting! WIll do it this weekend. Thanks!

 

Dave thanks for the instructions. My original inside mirror has a smile on one corner of the glass, and up till now have been looking (to no avail) for a replacement mirror. Sounds like your way can address this issue cheaper and easier. The only question would be if my L-series inside mirror is the same as yours (can't recall if you have a later model- if so, any chance you could post a pic of your mirror for comparison, before I attemp disassembly?). I suspect the vibration in the mirror, giving you a "motion picture" while driving, is inherent in the rel. poor design. Thanks again.

 

My car is in the shop this week.

Post a pic of yours and I'll tell you if it is the same.

DM

 

embarrassed to say I've never posted a picture and don't know how. Are there instrux somewhere on FChat?

 

When you post, look down the page under "Addidional Options", there's a button "Manage Attachments". Click on that, and a window opens up with the option to "Upload attachments from your computer". Click on the first "Browse" button, then locate the photo you want to uplaod on your computer's drives, and click "Open". You can add more pictures by using subsequent "Browse" buttons. When you have all the pictures chosen, click "Upload" and they will be attached to your post when you are done and click "Submit Reply" -- after they are added, you can close the "Manage Attachments" window,

 

When you post, scroll down past the submit reply buttin and there is a "manage attachements" button. Click that, pops up a screen that lets you add images to your post.

Picture must be no more that 800 pixels in the larger dimension, slightly larger is ok, as fchat software will re-size it for you.

Upload the picture , then close the pop up window, hit submit reply, and there you go!!!
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Mike, you and I are up toooooo early.

Dave

 

My son graduates from junior high today (my daughter did high school last week). So he's up and jumpin' around. Besides, like rust on a steel panel, I never sleep!

 

Yesterday, after polishing and waxing the car this weekend, I went out for a spin. I noticed I had moved the right side mirror out of line, so I adjusted it. Pulled out of the driveway, hit the gas, and heard the sound of glass hitting pavement. It was the glass out of the mirror -- it fell out, and I watched it roll across the road into oncoming traffic in my rearview mirror. I pulled over, and searched the weeds along the road, but couldn't find it. Meanwhile, an architect friend zips by in his Porsche Carrera 4 shooting me this quizzical look -- what the f..... is that wacko doing walking along the side of the road?? Turns out the adhesive behind it had totally dried up. So, the driver's side is still there, but that one is fogged a bit.So, I guess I'll just measure the spot, and get a couple of replacements made at the local glass shop and epoxy them in, along with the rearview glass.

Middle age -- when bits start falling off your body. The other lesson to be learned -- when you hit a certain age, the view behind gets hazy!

 

Now that we've totally hijacked the thread. My last one graduates from HS tomorrow, has a "practice" today and is likewise jumping around the last couple days.

He's off to engineering school in the fall, wants to work in the car industry when he's done, (Go figure.)

Back sort of on topic. I just went through all my pix here at home and don't have a single shot of the mirror. I'll look through my stuff on the server at work this AM.

Dave

 

My original mirror had spots on the silver. I went to a motorcycle shop and was able to find exactly the same size mirror glass from a number of sources. Bought one and it fit fine and has been good for more than 10 years. Seems that bikers go through more mirrors than cars do.

John

 

I took off the rearview mirror using the small nut that holds the bolt from the mirror body to the window mount. Much easier than taking the mount off. I pried the body open, and discovered there is a glass lens over the mirror, which, with a squirt of glass cleaner and a rub, cleared up perfectly. Cleaned the lens, reassembled, snapped closed, remounted and DONE. Easiest fix of anything so far. The outside mirrors happen to be the exact size of the plate on the tie down for the spare tire I just got from Sweden. I'm not kidding, the thing fit into the mirror opening like it was machined for it. Taking that down to the glass shop in 10 minutes, and having them cut me four rounds... extras just in case.

Pretty soon, things might clear up around here!!

 

Congratulations!
Decades of effort, well rewarded.

Yes, standard 4 inch diameter exterior mirror glass is the shape of a circle, shouldn't be too hard to get a new one. Will you use mirror adhesive or epoxy to adhere it to the chrome, outside mirror mounting?

 

The dried stuff where the old mirror was mounted looks kind of amber, like an old adhesive. I was thinking JB Weld or locktite. The lady at the glass shop told me their installer would leave me a tube of what he uses -- she said he's put a bunch of replacement mirrors into trucks -- narrow NYC streets!

 

Little JB Weld or any 5 minute epoxy is fine. Won't cut the coating on the silver. Just a few spots is all you need. Don't coat the whole thing. You may want to replace the mirror in 5 or 10 years. Leave a little prying room. Some LocTite products do eat paint and plastics. Take care.

John

 

Mike,

I noticed that you cleaned the inside rear view mirror and that worked for you. Mine was so fogged up... that I had to replace it. Turns out, you can find a glass replacement kit from FIAT parts store (it's a vitaloni mirror).

http://www.fiatparts.com/


Hope this helps

Pietro

 

Just a little heads up on installing new mirror glass. The coatings that are used on the backs of mirrors are reactive to many adhesives. When installing a mirror at home, the contractor advised only to use their special mastic. All glass shops should carry it. Epoxies and silicones sound good but beware of the possible reaction. No one wants to do a job like this twice.

 

I got the replacement mirrors today, and pried out the left side mirror, which had three really odd rectangular spots on it. They turned out to be the adhesive from the double-sided tape used to secure the mirror to the three mounting posts eating through the silvering!

Put the new mirrors in with the mounting mastic from the shop, and they seem A-OK... there was about 1/32nd clearance around the edges, so I used tiny shims to center them the best I could. Hopefully, I won't see them rolling down the road behind me any time soon.

It's so nice to have clear glass in all three mirrors -- now I can see all those poor folks who don't have a Dino behind me!!