Re: Replacing mirrors

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

Scott;

    The mirror heater connections are two insulated female spade terminals
which attach to the male spades on the heater element.
    The heater is located in the backing plate which is bonded to the mirror
silvering. To repair your mirror you would have to strip the glass,
re-silver it, clean the old silver off the backing plate, and bond that to
the silvering on the refurbed mirror. To prevent a repeat of the failure,
you would have to seal the glass edge to the backing plate. As you have
probably noticed, the mirror discoloration starts at the edge and works it's
way inward - this is water/salt induced corrosion of the metallizing
compound ( it's probably not silver).

HTH

Fred Munro
'91 200q  260k km
-----Original Message-----
From: scott miller <macatawa@hotmail.com>
To: FRED MUNRO <munrof@isys.ca>
Cc: quattro@coimbra.ans.net <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 1998 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: Replacing mirrors


>VW must have been ahead of Audi on this cost saver, my '86 and '87
>synchros had the same rusty heated mirror disease as my '90 200qw.  Does
>the heater just plug into the same socket?  Heater peeling is probably
>in the archives somewhere if I need it.  Is the blue tint part of the
>glass, or a coating?  I remember seeing blue mirrors in the plant, never
>paid much attention at the time.  If it's in the glass, I could just
>have a buddy etch off the silver and run the glass through the coater
>again.  I suppose I could live without the blue tint as well.
>
>Scott
>
>>    Note that Audi changed the external mirror construction around '89
>>sometime. The old heated mirrors had the glass bonded to an aluminium
>>backing plate. The newer heated mirrors have the mirror glued to a
>plastic
>>backing plate. The newer mirrors are not well sealed, and the silvering
>>corrodes and separates from the glass, giving a rusty look. The older
>>mirrors are much more durable and, although they use a different mount
>> rotating locking ring vs new plastic snap clips), the newer mirror
>drive
>>will take the old mount and the old mirrors fit right in. I have
>replaced my
>>drivers side glass which had "rusted" with one from my '86 5ktq ( I
>saved it
>>from the wreck because it was convex - probably for a RHD car fitted by
>>mistake - great view and no blind spot). The old mirror is in perfect
>>condition - no sign of "rust".
>>
>>Fred Munro
>>'91 200q  260k km
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: scott miller <macatawa@hotmail.com>
>>To: mdaniels@a4.org <mdaniels@a4.org>
>>Cc: quattro@coimbra.ans.net <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
>>Date: Tuesday, October 13, 1998 6:30 PM
>>Subject: Replacing mirrors
>>
>>
>>>>10)The right side mirror is gone. The mirror assembly is there, just
>>>the
>>>>mirror itself is gone. What are the costs of something like that.
>>>>
>>>
>>>I used to work at Donnelly, where most auto mirrors come from.  Just
>cut
>>>a new one approximately, use an electric sander to round and trim the
>>>edges.  Convex is a little more difficult, maybe find a bigger mirror
>in
>>>the junkyard and trim it down.  Same would work for flat if you really
>>>don't want to try glass cutting.  Some day I'll get around to
>replacing
>>>my rusty mirrors, but I haven't looked at the heaters.
>>>
>>>BTW, team rusty mirror rose to great positions before putting a huge
>>>skylight over the mirror inspection area.  That finally got the leader
>>>fired!
>>>
>>>Scott
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>
>
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