Outside mirror info

[91redspider]

I have a red 91 S4 in excellent shape. I bought it four months ago and both outside mirrors had tape around the stem. When I removed the tape, the mirrors do not come apart, but the top half is loose from the base. Is there a gasket of some sort that goes between the two pieces? Should the two be taped together? I have not been able to see one as it was new, so don't have a clue. Any help is appreciated.

[Stan Murray]

they were made to meet the safety feature of just popping in. Why? maybe for car washes or skinny garages or passer bys.
But your's are prolly broken. Both mine did. You can take them off, by removing the inside door panels and then you can us a piece of hollow lamp rod and nuts and run the wires through the rod and use the nuts to hold them together. Double nut the rods to lock them and put a little silicone glue on the threads to keep the nuts from backing off.
I did both of mine within a few months of each other about 5 years ago and they are hangin in there just fine.

Good luck!
Stan

[91redspider]

Stan - thanks for the tip. I want to install some new speakers anyway, so time for the door panels to come off.

Jim

[Oblio]

FYI, I had the same situation when I bought my Spider. I put a dab of super glue between the sections to hold them together. I figured I'll never be taking it through a car wash anyway, and it worked like a charm.

[tonycharente]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stan Murray they were made to meet the safety feature of just popping in. Why? maybe for car washes or skinny garages or passer bys. But your's are prolly broken. Both mine did. You can take them off, by removing the inside door panels and then you can us a piece of hollow lamp rod and nuts and run the wires through the rod and use the nuts to hold them together. Double nut the rods to lock them and put a little silicone glue on the threads to keep the nuts from backing off. I did both of mine within a few months of each other about 5 years ago and they are hangin in there just fine. Good luck! Stan

[E.J.]

Tony, I might have an extra one, I got a driver side mirror and the passenger mirror is the one that is bad (as described above), i am going to take apart to fix in the next month or so, thanks to your advice i should be able to get the mirror out with the plastic clip still on.

[vlb76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 91redspider I have a red 91 S4 in excellent shape. I bought it four months ago and both outside mirrors had tape around the stem. When I removed the tape, the mirrors do not come apart, but the top half is loose from the base. Is there a gasket of some sort that goes between the two pieces? Should the two be taped together? I have not been able to see one as it was new, so don't have a clue. Any help is appreciated.

[tonycharente]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stan Murray they were made to meet the safety feature of just popping in. Why? maybe for car washes or skinny garages or passer bys. But your's are prolly broken. Both mine did. You can take them off, by removing the inside door panels and then you can us a piece of hollow lamp rod and nuts and run the wires through the rod and use the nuts to hold them together. Double nut the rods to lock them and put a little silicone glue on the threads to keep the nuts from backing off. I did both of mine within a few months of each other about 5 years ago and they are hangin in there just fine. Good luck! Stan

[91redspider]

I wound up using 3M 5300 adhesive to cement the two parts together. So far, so good. Other replys recommended using a threaded part and bolting them together, but i did not want to pull the door panels, etc unless absolutely necessary.

[vlb76]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonycharente Hello vlb76, The answer, I'm afraid, is as per the above. You have to strip down the mirrors and rebuild with a hollow threaded tube. Or pay about 300 Dollars PER SIDE for new mirrors. Or glue back together and try not to think about it.... Tony

[tonycharente]

Hello Gary,
When I bought my 1990 S4 the previous owner's garage had repaired the right hand mirror by glueing it together with black windscreen sealant/glue. It worked fine, but did start to vibrate a bit. Then one day I came back to the car and someone had broken the L.H. (good) one.... So I repaired this one properly (using the threaded hollow rod method), and encouraged by the success of this I then also did the R.H. one. The first one took me several hours to do, feeling my way. The second one about two hours from start to finish. The cost was minimal. I now have two properly pivoting mirrors that are literally "better than new". If you are planning to keep the car long term, this must be the way to go...

Unless, that is, anyone knows of identical or near identical mirrors cheaply available from another model???

Tony

[CC alfa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonycharente Hello vlb76, The answer, I'm afraid, is as per the above. You have to strip down the mirrors and rebuild with a hollow threaded tube. Or pay about 300 Dollars PER SIDE for new mirrors. Or glue back together and try not to think about it.... Tony

[tonycharente]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CC alfa vlb76, where you can get the mirrors for 300$? I been looking for quite a while now and the best is around high 500$... thx! CC

[CC alfa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonycharente I think that the price has gone up a bit, but your main problem is that the $ has hit the fan since I made my posting... Nevertheless they list them here http://www.classicalfa.com/shop/category12_1.htm for £205 (around 410$). No UK tax if for export to USA - you may have to pay US taxes but this would still be under 500$ I should think). Hope this helps, Tony

[tonycharente]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CC alfa Tony, thanks! I just send an email to see the details... again thanks! CC