Corrosion on the base of the mirror assembly
Discussion
I spent the weekend removing my mirror arms to get them powder coated, however the aluminium part at the bottom of the mirror assembly is in a far worse state than the mirror arms themselves. Has anyone else had this problem? If so how did you deal with it? I guess my only option is to mask up the mirror assembly, clean off all of the corrosion, and spray with etch primer and mat black paint. I know it's not visible when the mirrors are in the normal position (they are not powerfold), but I will know it's not a proper job.
Also, how can I remove the mirror caps?
bullet7 said:
You do need to completely separate all the parts of the arm, which will enable you to deal with treating all the corrosion. There are links on how to do this if you search the forum., as this has been written about many times.
I've already removed the arms from the car and separated the 3 pieces. I'm just waiting for a local powdercoating company to come back to me with a price to powdercoat the arms. My issue is dealing with the corrosion on the base of the mirror assembly where it fits onto the arm. I've ordered some etch primer and Matt Black paint and will have to mask the mirror assembly and use a dremmel to clean back the corrosion and then spray them, but I just wondered if anyone else had had this problem and how they dealt with it and how successful it was.stevana1630 said:
I've already removed the arms from the car and separated the 3 pieces. I'm just waiting for a local powdercoating company to come back to me with a price to powdercoat the arms. My issue is dealing with the corrosion on the base of the mirror assembly where it fits onto the arm. I've ordered some etch primer and Matt Black paint and will have to mask the mirror assembly and use a dremmel to clean back the corrosion and then spray them, but I just wondered if anyone else had had this problem and how they dealt with it and how successful it was.
I had a wheel restoration company lined up to do mine, including prep.Unfortunately the garage that removed the mirrors didn't feel up to stripping the unit down to just a bare metal lump, and neither did I, so I took them to a sprayer who masked off the dangly bits and sprayed them.
If you've managed to get it down to just a lump of metal, and your powder coat man won't prep it, my instinct would be to use appropriate grades of wet/dry paper.
[quote=stevana1630]
I've already removed the arms from the car and separated the 3 pieces. I'm just waiting for a local powdercoating company to come back to me with a price to powdercoat the arms. My issue is dealing with the corrosion on the base of the mirror assembly where it fits onto the arm. I've ordered some etch primer and Matt Black paint and will have to mask the mirror assembly and use a dremmel to clean back the corrosion and then spray them, but I just wondered if anyone else had had this problem and how they dealt with it and how successful it was.[/quot
I have already told you how to repair the corrosion to the mounting with the Epoxy I have done this on an extensive restoration of a DB9 with no issue at least for the following 18 months that I still owned the car . There is no other worthwhile remedy other than powder coating for these mirror stalks so anything else will simply be a waste of money . If you have already done the disassembly this isnt going to be big money .
You will want Thermoset rather than Thermoplastic Powdercoating
I've already removed the arms from the car and separated the 3 pieces. I'm just waiting for a local powdercoating company to come back to me with a price to powdercoat the arms. My issue is dealing with the corrosion on the base of the mirror assembly where it fits onto the arm. I've ordered some etch primer and Matt Black paint and will have to mask the mirror assembly and use a dremmel to clean back the corrosion and then spray them, but I just wondered if anyone else had had this problem and how they dealt with it and how successful it was.[/quot
I have already told you how to repair the corrosion to the mounting with the Epoxy I have done this on an extensive restoration of a DB9 with no issue at least for the following 18 months that I still owned the car . There is no other worthwhile remedy other than powder coating for these mirror stalks so anything else will simply be a waste of money . If you have already done the disassembly this isnt going to be big money .
You will want Thermoset rather than Thermoplastic Powdercoating
Edited by reddiesel on Tuesday 28th February 21:07
Simpo Two said:
I had a wheel restoration company lined up to do mine, including prep.
Unfortunately the garage that removed the mirrors didn't feel up to stripping the unit down to just a bare metal lump, and neither did I, so I took them to a sprayer who masked off the dangly bits and sprayed them.
If you've managed to get it down to just a lump of metal, and your powder coat man won't prep it, my instinct would be to use appropriate grades of wet/dry paper.
The Blasting followed by the Pretreatment automatically takes care of the Preparation in any Powdercoating Process , absolutely no need for the Customer to do anything other than strip the components . I have seen some crap work out there so make sure its within the Companies capabilities .Unfortunately the garage that removed the mirrors didn't feel up to stripping the unit down to just a bare metal lump, and neither did I, so I took them to a sprayer who masked off the dangly bits and sprayed them.
If you've managed to get it down to just a lump of metal, and your powder coat man won't prep it, my instinct would be to use appropriate grades of wet/dry paper.
stevana1630 said:
bullet7 said:
You do need to completely separate all the parts of the arm, which will enable you to deal with treating all the corrosion. There are links on how to do this if you search the forum., as this has been written about many times.
I've already removed the arms from the car and separated the 3 pieces. I'm just waiting for a local powdercoating company to come back to me with a price to powdercoat the arms. My issue is dealing with the corrosion on the base of the mirror assembly where it fits onto the arm. I've ordered some etch primer and Matt Black paint and will have to mask the mirror assembly and use a dremmel to clean back the corrosion and then spray them, but I just wondered if anyone else had had this problem and how they dealt with it and how successful it was.bullet7 said:
Sorry OP, are you saying you have removed that corroded part from the rest of the arm? If so, I misunderstood. Your photo shows it still attached.
I've removed the arm from the car and separated the mirror assembly from the arm. Both arms are ready for powdercoatiing. The corroded part in the photo is the base of the mirror assembly that is fixed to the outer part of the arm with two screws, I can't see any way of removing it from the mirror assembly, but I don't think Painting it in place is going to last very long as I can't easily remove all of the corrosion.The following may be of some help.
divetheworld Posted
2,565 posts
122 months
[report]
[news]
Tuesday 27th June 2017
In a nutshell, there's two ways to solve this.
The long and proper way:
1. Remove inside door trim
2. Lift rear of fixed quarter window, remove rubber surround at top and pull out window
3. Remove the door mirror rubber cheater panel
4. Disconnect multiplug and release harness from fir tree clips
5. Remove Torx bolts (x3) and screw from glass channel, remove mirror assembly
6. Removing the mirror head from mirror arm by folding the mirror one way and it exposes torx screws. Fold the other way to get the others. Dont forget ones underneath.
7. Strip and paint or replace the arm.
8. Reassemble
My advice?
The short and good enough way:
1. Unscrew the mirror head and pull away from the rotten mirror arm (point 6 above).
2. Mask up the mirror and door to prevent any spray damaging the mirror or paint.
3. Dremel off the coating where rotten and surrounding areas (be meticulous).
4. Spray with etching primer.
5. Spray with textured black paint.
6. Reassemble.
IF you use the etching primer, it will last a very long time.
Two worthwhile links.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
divetheworld Posted
2,565 posts
122 months
[report]
[news]
Tuesday 27th June 2017
In a nutshell, there's two ways to solve this.
The long and proper way:
1. Remove inside door trim
2. Lift rear of fixed quarter window, remove rubber surround at top and pull out window
3. Remove the door mirror rubber cheater panel
4. Disconnect multiplug and release harness from fir tree clips
5. Remove Torx bolts (x3) and screw from glass channel, remove mirror assembly
6. Removing the mirror head from mirror arm by folding the mirror one way and it exposes torx screws. Fold the other way to get the others. Dont forget ones underneath.
7. Strip and paint or replace the arm.
8. Reassemble
My advice?
The short and good enough way:
1. Unscrew the mirror head and pull away from the rotten mirror arm (point 6 above).
2. Mask up the mirror and door to prevent any spray damaging the mirror or paint.
3. Dremel off the coating where rotten and surrounding areas (be meticulous).
4. Spray with etching primer.
5. Spray with textured black paint.
6. Reassemble.
IF you use the etching primer, it will last a very long time.
Two worthwhile links.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
bullet7 said:
It does come off and it will make your job a lot easier.
Sorry for my short reply this morning, I was about to go off to work and didn't have time to search for more information! I did mine 3 or 4 years ago and from memory, there are three small torx screws holding that part on. You have to remove the screws to separate it from the arm.
bullet7 said:
Mine looks different, there are no screws. I can see how it might come apart. The centre plastic part marked by the red arrow in the attached picture would need to be twisted clockwise. There are 3 small holes on the other side of the plastic part that could be used to turn it whilst holding the aluminium part still. I have attempted this using long nosed pliers to try and turn the plastic part whilst using mole grips to hold the aluminium part, but without success. It will take quite a bit of force to turn it and my concern is if I did manage to get it apart, it would need quite a bit of force to re-assemble it and it might even need a press to push the two parts together. The plastic part is very hard and the lip on the aluminium part is about 1mm deep. I will take another look tomorrow to see if it might be possible to push the plastic bit in if there might be a spring behind it, but unfortunately I don't have a vice, so not sure if this will be possible.
Clearly an 'improvement' over the type on mine. If you can't get it off, you could always ask your sand blaster to blast the whole arm including that part, but then when it comes to the powder coating, ask him to mask it off so you can finish it by spraying yourself using etch primer first yourself. Depending on the level of corrosion, you may not need to repair it as it is not particularly visible.
I wonder too if it would still take three grub screws, maybe not.
I wonder too if it would still take three grub screws, maybe not.
The two pictures of the casting in question are carrying the same identification numbers, the only part that seems to be different is the center bush.
I think the OP has cracked the the removal conundrum, my guess would be that the center part has to be lifted so the the three lugs clear the casting and then twisted, to free.
No vice....an alternative to a vice could be ....... some studding ,coach bolt or a hefty machine screw two matching nuts a big washer and some type of material to lay across the top of the casting...... with suitable hole to take the studding. Thread one of the nuts onto the studding sip on the big washer, place studding through center hole, place material of choice with hole in it onto the studding wind nut down and use as a compressor. Obviously make sure bottom washer is seated on whatever it should.
If wood is used for the top of the casting a washer may be needed to stop the nut compressing the wood.
I think the OP has cracked the the removal conundrum, my guess would be that the center part has to be lifted so the the three lugs clear the casting and then twisted, to free.
No vice....an alternative to a vice could be ....... some studding ,coach bolt or a hefty machine screw two matching nuts a big washer and some type of material to lay across the top of the casting...... with suitable hole to take the studding. Thread one of the nuts onto the studding sip on the big washer, place studding through center hole, place material of choice with hole in it onto the studding wind nut down and use as a compressor. Obviously make sure bottom washer is seated on whatever it should.
If wood is used for the top of the casting a washer may be needed to stop the nut compressing the wood.
AdamV12V said:
The mirrors and electronics were Volvo sourced (V70 I think), but I think the arms which are the damaged part for the OP, were not.
I may be misunderstanding, then, I thought OP had successfully removed the arms and separated them for refinishing, and this corrosion he is trying to sort out now is on the underside of the mirror body itself.Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff