Loose Wing Mirror Mirror

[jameswhit]

Hi All,

Just had my car in for MOT and they picked up the below:

• Offside Obligatory mirror slightly loose (3.3 (b) (i)) - MINOR

Basically the mirror on the offside wing mirror seems to be loose, does anybody know how I could get into the back of this to possibly tighten it up? I’m guessing the plastic cover unclips somehow?

Thank you!
James.

 

[SRGTD]

If they’re held in place in the same way as the glass in VW’s door mirror housings, I think they have an adhesive backing. Over time, the adhesive can fail with age - especially if the mirror heating function is used regularly as that seems to weaken the adhesive.

Some Mk7 Golf owners have had the mirror glass drop out of the door mirror housing while they’ve been driving or when shutting the door. If the mirror glass hits the bodywork when it falls out it can damage / scratch the paintwork. As yours is showing signs that it might also be at risk of falling out, I’d get it sorted sooner rather than later.

I don’t think there’s a way to tighten it as such; some forum members on vwroc.com forum have managed to remove their loose mirror glass and stick it back in place with a strong waterproof glue (there’s a risk the glass may break during removal). The safest method is probably to replace the glass, which I dare say is supplied with a new adhesive backing. Assuming your door mirrors are heated, you’d need to ensure any replacement glass is also a heated one with the heating element on the reverse side.

There’ll no doubt be videos on YouTube showing how remove the glass from its housing - either to apply a suitable adhesive to the reverse side or to fit a new replacement.

 

[jameswhit]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

From what I can tell it does look like it’s adhesive on the back, which attaches the mirror to a plastic bracket. Mine is the heated version, so will defo need the one that has the relevant cables etc. I’ll take it out and see what’s going on, I think you can get the whole unit under part number 5F0857522A, from doing a quick search.

 

[jameswhit]

Took the mirror glass out of my wing mirror over the weekend, discovered it wasn’t actually the adhesive or the bracket that was lose but the actual electric mirror adjuster that fits into the housing of the wing mirror itself!

It looked like the plastic thread on the fitting had completely worn out, so had to use a bit of spare black plastic and a bit of superglue to get something I could actually re-bed the screw into properly. Fortunately it seems to have done the trick!!