Broken Wing Mirror - WWYD

peachyprice

I noticed yesterday that the casing around my passenger side wing mirror is cracked and a piece has broken off. It's taken a whack at some point over the last few days.

I found the broken off piece in the grass verge outside my house. I'm 99% sure that the only way the damage could have occurred was when the council cut the verge with their ride on lawn mowers last week, it can't have been a passing car because the broken piece would have been on the road not the grass and i really can't see anything other than a vehicle hitting it hard enough to crack the casing. I've tried to source just the casing that is broken but it looks like I've got to buy the entire electric wing mirror assembly just to get the piece I want.

Problem is I can't remember exactly which day last week the grass was cut, could have been Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Do you think it's worth contacting the council and asking them to pay even though the only proof I have is the broken piece on the grass, the cut grass and grass cuttings on that side of my car, or is it a complete waste of time and should i just take the £60+ hit for a new wing mirror? WWYD

Herzlos

You can certainly give it a go, but they'll probably reject the claim.

I'd see if you can source the bits you need from a local scrappy, or if the mirror is structurally sound and works fine I'd be inclined to leave it alone.

peachyprice

I guess it's worth the price of a stamp, at worse it'll give them something to laugh about.

It's at time like this I wish I had a Ford or a Vauxhall, something you can easily pick bit up for at the breakers.

GAZ237

What car is it, model, year, 2 door ect?

Is the DOOR mirror colour coded?

westwood68

Scrap yard (as above) is the best option, but if it's just the plastic bit it should be far less than £60 even from a dealer...

Course you could go real money saving and just stick it back with Gaffer tape

shortdog

My wing mirror casing is cracked with a bit missing after I misjudged the entrance to my driveway and had a small argument with the wall a few months ago (the wall won). I glued the missing piece back on, but it vanished a few days later - assuming it fell off somewhere, so don't use UHU.
I've ignored it since, and the car passed it's MOT on Monday, so it's obviously not an issue.

GAZ237

Just being pedantic, but they are door mirrors. Wing mirrors went out 30 odd years ago.

Lum

Also, since it's the passenger side one, they're not legally required so long as the other two work and are unobstructed (parcel shelf not full of crap etc), but if fitted they must work and the glass be intact.

So you can take it off, tape up the hole and be perfectly legal, even pass an MOT, while you look for a replacement. Just be careful when moving left.

peachyprice

GAZ237 wrote: »

What car is it, model, year, 2 door ect?

Is the DOOR mirror colour coded?

It's a 2009 Mitsubishi Colt 4 dr, colour coded an airforce blue colour

westwood68 wrote: »

Scrap yard (as above) is the best option, but if it's just the plastic bit it should be far less than £60 even from a dealer...

Course you could go real money saving and just stick it back with Gaffer tape

You can't buy just the bit that I need, it's a whole unit, I need the piece that goes around the bottom of the unit and along the top of the door.

I found the missing piece in the grass last night, going to have a go at sticking it all together at the weekend, although half of the screw hole that holds it onto the door is missing, there might be just enough to hold a screw.

shortdog wrote: »

My wing mirror casing is cracked with a bit missing after I misjudged the entrance to my driveway and had a small argument with the wall a few months ago (the wall won). I glued the missing piece back on, but it vanished a few days later - assuming it fell off somewhere, so don't use UHU.
I've ignored it since, and the car passed it's MOT on Monday, so it's obviously not an issue.

I'm not worried about the MOT, the mirror works fine, it just looks nasty on an otherwise unblemished car.

peachyprice

GAZ237 wrote: »

Just being pedantic, but they are door mirrors. Wing mirrors went out 30 odd years ago.

I shall ignore your pedantry

peachyprice

Lum wrote: »

Also, since it's the passenger side one, they're not legally required so long as the other two work and are unobstructed (parcel shelf not full of crap etc), but if fitted they must work and the glass be intact.

So you can take it off, tape up the hole and be perfectly legal, even pass an MOT, while you look for a replacement. Just be careful when moving left.

It works fine, so yes, I'll bodge it together for now I think and write a letter to the council with photos of the pieces covered in blade marks, nothing to lose there other than the price of a stamp.