Leo et al -- I worked in a glass shop for several years, and we routinely replaced side view mirrors as you wish to do. It is only a second-best solution, as it will never be as good as the original, but it's cheap. You need to break all of the old mirror out of the plastic frame and glue (we used clear silicone caulk/adhesive) a replacement in. The difficult part is making a good fit. In the glass shop we had a variety of glass-cutting tools, including a water-cooled belt sander type of grinder. Generally after much trial and error, we were able to make a decent looking replacement. Use 1/8" mirror. Eventually we started to make plexiglas templates for the various "common" applications (can't remember ever doing a vw) If I remember correctly, we only charged around $15. Sould you try this at home, be sure to use clear silicone. The various colored silicones contain components that will eventually "eat" the silver backing off the glass Were I you, I'd just have the local glass shop handle it. As in the recent discussion re: windshields, if it breaks, they've got to replace it, not you. LOL Doug |
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