156 wing mirror mounting bracket

[Viper_Larry]

Both the wing mirror mounting brackets on my 156 GTA have corroded badly - took one off today to have a better look. I'm going to see if I can have them shot blasted and re-powder coated.

Does anyone know what metal they are made of? Seems too heavy for aluminium and not steel.

[chrisga]

Ours have done this too. Please can you let us how you get on. Thanks.

[RicksAlfas]

It's like some weird casting. I know some people have had success removing the old powder coating and then painting them (say satin black) rather than powder coating again.

[chrisga]

Rick,

Do you know if you can replace just this part or is it a whole new wing mirror asembly?

[RicksAlfas]

Part of the whole caboodle I'm afraid. You can get new ones from
http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/parts/156_Mirror.sht...
and
http://wingmirrorman.co.uk./alfa156.html
for instance.
Or you could get some from a scrapper to paint up while yours are still on the car. I left mine on the car and bodged them but they looked better than loads of white corroded monkey metal showing through!

[Viper_Larry]

There's also some on eBay I've been watching if I can't get the powder coating done.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

[Camoradi]

This thread prompted me to take a look at the mirror on my sportwagon yesterday which has this problem. Here's what to do if you want a DIY refurbishment

1. Unclip trinagular cover on inside of door. This just pulls off.
2. Unplug connector for mirror electrics.
3. Remove 3 M6 bolts from inside. Keep hold of your mirror as you undo the last bolt!
4. Remove mirror from door, taking care to feed wiring through from the inside.
5. Remove three small Torx bolts (sorry not sure what size they are) which hold mirror assembly onto bracket
6. Remove mirror from bracket, again feeding wiring through hole in bracket.
7. The bracket is an aluminium casting. I used a soft wire brush in a dremel to remove all the flaking paint, corrosion etc. Took about 30 minutes to get it all shiny.
8. Paint with an aluminium primer. (This is how far I've got so far)
9. Spray with a satin black aerosol

There you go. Save yourself £90 for an hour or so work

ETA I'll post up a couple of pics later today

Edited by Camoradi on Monday 6th April 12:53

[Viper_Larry]

Found a local company who do shot blasting and powder coating - http://www.perfect-coatings.co.uk/index.html

Dropped the housings off yesterday, should be ready Friday for £30 the pair

[alex_p]

I did a DIY job on mine exactly as described above a couple of months ago, they look much better, although for £30 I might have been tempted to get them powder coated, does that price include prep?

[Viper_Larry]

alex_p said:

I did a DIY job on mine exactly as described above a couple of months ago, they look much better, although for £30 I might have been tempted to get them powder coated, does that price include prep?

Yep, shot blasted, prep'd and matt black powder coating...