Mirror Base Refurbishment

[Ian_C]

It's fairly well known that the mirror bases on Z3's are susceptible to corrosion and will ultimately break if you don't do anything about it. I've recently refurbed one of mine so thought I'd post pics of the steps involved.

This is what the mirror base looked like initially:



1. To remove the mirror you need to remove the door card ( viewtopic.php?t=11887 ) and disconnect the mirror motor wiring:



2. Twist the mirror inwards and remove the 2 allen bolts:



3. Thread the mirror wiring through the holes in the door skin and remove the mirror from the car.

4. Removing the mirror glass is tricky (I broke mine but know what to do now! ). Prise the mirror away from the housing and flick the mirror clips away from the holder such that you can pull the mirror free:



These are the clips you're looking for:



And this is where they locate on the housing:



5. Remove the 4 allen screws holding the front and rear of the mirror housing together and you'll be left with this:



6. To start the refurb you need to rub down all the loose material and generally clean the base up:



7. Work through the grades of wet & dry until you're happy with the surface finish:



8. Mask the surrounding areas and apply a primer (I used a filler primer with rust inhibitor):

Edit - use an etch primer first as the base is aluminium; see fi fi's post below



9. Let the primer harden for a day, lightly sand with very fine wet and dry, then apply the top coat and lacquer. Let the top coat and lacquer dry for a day then put everything back together on the car (and hunt around on eBay for a replacement mirror glass if you've managed to destroy yours! )

Voila!





Finally, it's probably worth applying a drop of oil to the mirror mounting screw heads and swivel mechanism to stop it all corroding again.[/b]

[BigDave]

Looks good

Just one thing, you dont have to remove the door card. Just take the mirror apart and then you can get to the allen screws.

Saves a bit of time and effort ( just dont let the wires drop down inside the door)

Dave

[Ian_C]

Looks good

Just one thing, you dont have to remove the door card. Just take the mirror apart and then you can get to the allen screws.

Saves a bit of time and effort ( just dont let the wires drop down inside the door)

Dave

I tried this but couldn't get the mirror cable through the door skin as it was secured with a cable clip - perhaps some zeds don't have the cable clip in place.

[BonBon]

You missed the point.
If you remove the mirror first, you can remove the 4 wires that contact the mirror motor. so when you remove the mirror you leave the cable hanging from the car.
This has the added benefit of not having to swivel the mirror - eliminating the risk of smashing the molded parts which are already in poor condition - cuz that's the reason for doing the job.

[BonBon]

There are good pictures in this thread
http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... &highlight

[johnz3]

Sure enough tried to remove the passenger side door mirror and the aluminium base snapped.

I will try BMW tomorrow but anyone know if I can obtain just the snapped bit. Sorry I am not that clear but it has snapped at the base where the return spring is.

There is a myredzed post on Mirror Base Refurbishment and picture 7 shows the spring and that is where the break has happend.


Thanks

[fi fi]

as its alluminium i should point out that aerosol primer will not key to it without first using an acid etch primer allso available in aerosols seems a shame to go to all that trouble and do such a nice job for it to be of waste as the paint will chip and scratch very easily