Wing Mirror Glass Repair and Scratch Damage - DIY repair advice?

travel_freak

Hi,

I will try not to swear, but some extremely inconsiderate "person" drove into the side of our car scratching/denting the whole side and damaging wing mirror. We didn't see it happen and no-one bothered to stop or leave a note. Still fuming! Not worth claiming through insurance as car is old with high mileage.

We've been lucky it seems(!) as the casing came off the mirror but it came off whole and we've been able to put it back on and at least the whole mriror wasn't ripped off. The mirror glass is completely shattered.

Went to a few places to get quotes - Halfords told us we could just "stick" replacement glass over what is left. They said we don't have to "chip" away the bits of broken glass but can just stick the new bit on to the broken bits. Is this true as it doesn't seem right? Don't want it to fall off.

A smaller car part retailer said we need to order the glass and a plastic backing and remove the old glass and its backing and then put the new plastic bit and the glass in its place. But this is more expensive.

Also, have googled just replacement glass on ebay and it's half the price of Halfords. It's a VW Polo - pls can anyone advise if just the flat piece of glass itself would work and, if so, whether we should first chip off all of the old broken glass or leave it and stick new mirror on top?

Also any advice for a good polish to make the best of hiding the scratch damage?

We assume removing the dents will be too difficult a job for us to try to do ourselves so we'll have to live with that.

Thx in advance for any advice.

Hammyman

Yes it is right as long as the existing glass is securely attached which yours isn't. I'd be looking at a replacement mirror from a scrapyard though - the quality of the image on these stick on ones isn't very good. I would have thought £20-£30 would get you a replacement mirror from a scrapyard and they're usually just fixed to the car by three screws.

If the panel damage is bad enough to have dinted it, there's no polish in the world which will make the scratches look any better. As yours is a common car, I think I'd also be on the lookout for some replacement doors from a scrapyard and you should get some in the right colour. You should be able to find them for £50 or so per door and a garage would charge no more than an hours labour to swap them over if you don't feel confident doing it yourself.

s_b

sticky padded mirrors invariably fall off
i use araldite or glass fibre to attach glasses mirrors
of course on your polo it might be heated or electric so a replacement unit might be a better option
http://www.crashrepairparts.com/parts/markid/893/volkswagen_polo_door_hatchback_2002_2005/cat/door-mirror?_ts=1335 ?
for starters

travel_freak

Hi,

Many thanks for the helpful replies.

Hadn't thought about a replacement door but that is something we could look into, though not sure where local scrap dealers are. Got one re-spraying type quote at over £500 which is way too expensive.

The mirror is one you fold in manually, but the glass is adjustable using a button inside the car so guess it is electric? It also has a heating button but to be honest we never use that option, just scrape off frost if necessary.

At the moment the outer plastic casing has snapped back on okay and stays in place. One small bit of it has chipped off but we have the bit and will glue that back hopefully. The button inside the car still moves what is left of the broken glass.

The stick on ones on ebay, specific for the Polo, are only around £5 delivered. But if it is really only going to fall off or be useless to see in then S_B's suggestion and link looks like a better option. The "door mirror glass - electric type" in that link looks fine - but is this easy to fix ourselves - would we have to take the whole casing apart or the mirror off to fit this?

Sorry for so many questions - just looking for the cheapest and easiest DIY option.

travel_freak

Hi again,

Also have another question re insurance, if anyone can help. We reported the damage to the police because the damage was done whilst the car was parked and whoever did it didn't stop.

If we are not making an insurance claim do we still have to declare the damage to our insurers? Just worried this might adversely affect premium/cover. Seems you can't win either way.

If they're going to put the premium up anyway then wonder if we'd be better off just claiming and getting everything properly repaired rather than making do. Have 8 years no claims bonus - would we lose all of that or just part if we were to claim? It is unprotected unfortunately. Have never made a claim before.

Many thanks.

mcjordi

your meant to report it but personally i wouldnt bother..

ive never had any problems with the stick on mirror glass.

you'd proabably get a whole mirror for 15-20 quid.

where are you in the UK. i can advise where to go if your in the north east.

mikey72

Your insurer requires you to report yourself. They may well raise your premium as a result. But, they can't find out if you don't, all they can say is the car was previously damaged if you need to make a another claim at a later stage. Obviously it will affect the resale value, so if it's worth £10,000 it's different to £250.

I've used a lot of the stick on mirrors, they come with the back covered in a sticky foam, and once on, they never come off again. Until the next time I clip someone coming the other way overtaking parked cars on their side of the road. (Bugbear of mine)
I've stuck a couple over broken glass, they work well enough, I had to pick a few pieces of broken glass of a backing plate, then stick a new mirror onto that, that was ok, and my current one I filled the missing bits in with silicon rubber and stuck the new glass onto that.
The flatter the surface, and the more intact, the better the demister/deicer works, and degrease everything with meths first to ensure it sticks.
Make sure you get it right first time as well. You don't get a second try.

LudaMusser

Dents - You can get small companies with a van that will come to your house or place of work and do paintless dent removal. They are VERY good, I know two guys who do this. It depends on the size of the dent though, if your whole door is caved in then I doubt it will help. One is Dent Devils, there will be one in your county.

Paint - If you can feel the scratches with your finger nail then they are too deep to do alot with, if you can barely feel them then I would have a go with some T-Cut found in places like Halfords. It`s basically polish that will remove a layer of paint and help reduce the scratch, it`s a very good product. You can get it to match the colour of your car, best to polish the area afterwards with some proper polish as in the sun you will be able to see where you have used T-Cut.

Mirror - I would go to a local scrapyard and just buy a mirror and the glass, or if the mirror is okay, just the glass. I have a 2001 mk5 Polo and the glass just pulls straight out as far as I can remember, mine are electric so you`ve got wires to disconnect as well. If you`re struggling try google and Sanburn VW breakers Coventry. They are the largest VW/Audi breakers in the country or at least cliam to be, their good guys and do mail order too

HTH

elsien

My mother got one of the stick on mirrors from Halfords onto a shattered wing mirror - she thought it was worth trying on a temporary basis and 2 years later it's still going strong.

travel_freak

Hi

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. Have done some more pricing and tried a local scrapyard who unfortunately had nothing.

Have found a local car parts place which can order just the stick on glass, specific for the Polo, at about £6.50 (this matches ebay and is half the price of Halfords) and it's better because if it doesn't work at least we can return to the shop, which would be more difficult with ebay.

So have decided to give that a try and in the meantime will keep looking for a cheap scrap whole mirror to keep as a replacement - we're on a main road and this could happen again so would rather be prepared for next time.

Thanks for the advice re using meths to "degrease" - that's helpful as wouldn't have known that. May also try to fill in the "holes" with silicone as suggested, so there is a flatter surface to stick to.

Have now washed car and some of the black scrape marks (from tyres?) came off the side which made it look a lot better. VW put some of their TCut stuff on it and polished it up (free - whilst getting a mirror quote from them) and that has improved things a lot - but dents and some scratches still visible.

At least it looks a lot better than when we first saw the damage and with the age of the car - and state of our finances(!) - it's probably not worth any more expense unfortunately...

poppasmurf_bewdley

Loads of doors in loads of colours for sale on eBay for VW Polo (54 pages to be exact).