Wing Mirrors

[djd]

Hi everyone,

Have been looking at the website for a few months now and have found out a great deal of info about these cars from you all. I will hopefully be in a position this spring to make a dream come true and finally own one. Will also be purchasing a new home and have noticed that many of the driveways are very narrow so the question was,

Do the wing mirrors fold flat to the side of the car or are they fixed.

Also I live in the Midlands area (Coventry), is there a dealer or indie that comes well recommended to buy from locally.

Cheers

[pbrettle]

Mmm, mirrors - yes the fold - do they fold flat? Nope. Bodywork gets in the way. They fold a little, but not much.... kinda useless really.

However, do be aware that they are old Citroen CX mirrors and hence available from breakers etc. Not common, but you can get the internal bits for next to nothing and whole mirror of only a few quid....

[big_treacle]

pbrettle said:

However, do be aware that they are old Citroen CX mirrors and hence available from breakers etc. Not common, but you can get the internal bits for next to nothing and whole mirror of only a few quid....

I got a mirror from a breakers for £47 inc VAT. I think they're around £170(?) from TVR.

[.Mark]

If you will have to fold the mirrors flat to get up the drive or in the garage then I fear you may have a bigger problem.
The doors are quite long and need a fair opening to get out. See if a local can pop round with their car so you can try it out.

[zumbruk]

big_treacle said:

pbrettle said: However, do be aware that they are old Citroen CX mirrors and hence available from breakers etc. Not common, but you can get the internal bits for next to nothing and whole mirror of only a few quid.... I got a mirror from a breakers for £47 inc VAT. I think they're around £170(?) from TVR.

AFAIK, they're not available from TVR any more. There was a thread on here about it some weeks ago.

[tvrbob]

Folding mirrors every day will soon lead to a loosening of the sprung ratchet. You'll soon end up with mirrors that wobble when you drive.

[nawarne]

Believe these mirrors were also OE on the Lotus Esprit -so possibly another source of new items. Note that the 6(?)mm grub screw on the alloy spider casting tends to vibrate loose,causing the female casting to rotate around the door mounted male thingy so it's worth installing said screw with a good whack of Loctite. (does this sound pornographic?)

[the dodger]

DJD, I think they are supposed to fold flat. Well flat-ish. My passemger mirror is indented on a spring so "notches" round until the glass is almost parallel to the door glass. The drivers one doesn't move at all!

p.s. - they are Door mirrors btw!

[RichardR]

nawarne said:

Note that the 6(?)mm grub screw on the alloy spider casting tends to vibrate loose,causing the female casting to rotate around the door mounted male thingy so it's worth installing said screw with a good whack of Loctite. (does this sound pornographic?)

I don't suppose anyone can confirm whether the grub screw/allen bolt is 6mm or not? Mine managed to do a vanishing trick somewhere in my garage when I removed it and I'd like to get a replacement so I can dispense with the Heath-Robinson arrangment that I have in its place.

Thanks.

[Voltaire53]

djd said:

Do the wing mirrors fold flat to the side of the car or are they fixed.

Well I don't think they're keen to fold flat but OTOH if you check the width (6'1.4" including mirrors I believe) it's 2" less than a Mondeo (incl mirrors) so most driveways should be fine... TVRs look wider because they're much lower.

Griffith is 3" wider than the Chim though so be aware if you change your mind for one of those.