interesting mirror problem

[tomls1]

today when i was washing the car, i tried to move the passenger side mirror and the spring inside popped out of place. i removed the whole thing and it appears that there's a little metal clip that holds the spring in place. the tricky thing is that you have to compress the spring (very stiff) to put the clip back on.

has anyone had this problem? is there a special tool that needs to be used for this? do i have to buy a whole new mirror assembly:confused ?

any help is appreciated.

thanks...

 

[DRTH VTR]

you are likely SOL. That is a fairly common problem, and the reason that I do not rotate the mirrors. I had one break just like that and the whole mirror assembly had to be replaced. The mechanic showed me a shelf with quite a few similarly broken C5 mirrors.

 

[tomls1]

you are likely SOL. That is a fairly common problem, and the reason that I do not rotate the mirrors. I had one break just like that and the whole mirror assembly had to be replaced. The mechanic showed me a shelf with quite a few similarly broken C5 mirrors.

that's what i was afraid of...i guess it's one of those things that's just not the best design. my days of rotating the mirrors are over.

drth vtr -- do you remember how much the new mirror cost you? also, was it the motor and everything or just the housing.

 

[DRTH VTR]

that's what i was afraid of...i guess it's one of those things that's just not the best design. my days of rotating the mirrors are over.

drth vtr -- do you remember how much the new mirror cost you? also, was it the motor and everything or just the housing.

It was on my '97. I am afraid that I used to take that car to the car wash. I was fortunate that the car wash broke it, so they paid for it. I think it was in the $200-$300 area. The whole assembly was painted and replaced. I no longer take my Corvette to the car wash. I have never taken my Z06 to the car wash. Only hand washing by yours truly...

 

[tomls1]

It was on my '97. I am afraid that I used to take that car to the car wash. I was fortunate that the car wash broke it, so they paid for it. I think it was in the $200-$300 area. The whole assembly was painted and replaced. I no longer take my Corvette to the car wash. I have never taken my Z06 to the car wash. Only hand washing by yours truly...

went to the dealer today. they wanted $240 unpainted ...i'll have to wait on that one. i temporarily bolted it together so i can get to carlisle...looks great, but it's stationary so i have to be careful around that mirror.

thanks for the responses.

 

[medicine man]

Both mirrors went about 2 weeks apart. Lucky for me warrenty covered both,but State Farm was willing to take care of them if not covered. I have never touched them since. T always wondered what egghead thought that thru,with that chincy metal clip holding back millions of lbs of pressure. Oh well since replaced cannot tell difference

 

[tomls1]

Both mirrors went about 2 weeks apart. Lucky for me warrenty covered both,but State Farm was willing to take care of them if not covered. I have never touched them since. T always wondered what egghead thought that thru,with that chincy metal clip holding back millions of lbs of pressure. Oh well since replaced cannot tell difference

i couldn't agree more. there are so many other ways of retaining that spring, such as a lock nut, or welding it in. perhaps it's designed to be a consumable item...a pricey one at that.

 

[VETTEX2]

this has been discussed on the "other" corvette forum and HAS been successfully repaired without changing the whole assy.

 

[medicine man]

Well I think the OTHER corvette forum should notify GM of there quick trick,why keep such an annoying problem be only available to only a few on the OTHER forum. Who knows there could be a reward available for such information.

 

[tomls1]

Well I think the OTHER corvette forum should notify GM of there quick trick,why keep such an annoying problem be only available to only a few on the OTHER forum. Who knows there could be a reward available for such information.

i know i'd pay a reward for that information...assuming it's less than $240.

i did come up with some creative ideas for fixing the mirror, but i'm sad to say that they all failed. so, for now, it stays in one place.

 

[Patrick]

You know, someone at my local Corvette club posted a message to the effect that you could solve that annoying problem of water trapped behind the mirrors after you wash the car by turning the mirrors in towards the car, and then turning it back to the mirror's end stop. He found that by doing this, all the water simply flowed right out.

Based on what you folks are saying here, doing this is a bad idea, because it's a good way of easily breaking that spring inside the mirror assembly. I'm gonna have to post this information to the club. Thanks! You may have saved many members a costly repair bill.


-Patrick

 

[tomls1]

You know, someone at my local Corvette club posted a message to the effect that you could solve that annoying problem of water trapped behind the mirrors after you wash the car by turning the mirrors in towards the car, and then turning it back to the mirror's end stop. He found that by doing this, all the water simply flowed right out.

-Patrick

this is precisely what i was doing when the mirror broke. needless to say, i won't be moving them around anymore...i'll just let the water drip and then wipe it with the chamois.

 

[bowpulpit]

The solution to this problem is

Mirror-Seals. Go to www.mirrorseals.com. These covers fit on your mirrors so that water cannot get into your mirrors duirng washing. C5 mirrors were not designed to rotate all the time. $23.95 is a lot cheaper than the $500.00 it takes to buy, paint and install a new mirror!