Thursday, October 4, 2012

Bad Mirror Mojo - Keeping Your Visor Mirror Attached

Less Than Manly Daisy
Bad Metal To Glass Mojo
Not My Feet
On a recent trip, I noticed that one of the clear plastic "Daisies" that hold the vanity mirror to the back of the passenger side visor had disintegrated. Probably happened when I was putting on the reflective windshield screen. I use the visors to hold the top of the screen tight against the windshield. Less light leakage that way. I've never really liked the "look" of them. Not all that manly, you know? Well, since only one of them was broken I figured I'd just replace it. Since I WAS at an RV show with lots of vendors, surely someone would have these.

Nope.

I know NOW that you can buy them at most big box home stores.

 Ah well...
Cut Disk

Two New Disks And Some Broken Daisies
Since I didn't want to drive over bumpy roads with nothing between the glass mirror but a hard aluminum screw, I had to come up with a solution with stuff I had on hand. They say, "Necessity is the mother of invention," I couldn't agree more. I had some Kydex (a stiff plastic used mostly in automotive interiors) and a hole saw. I was beginning to formulate a plan. I took the Kydex plastic and cut four equal sized disks out. Then used a file to clean up the edges a bit.

Leftover Daisy Impression
 Not perfect, but OK for now. They would be mounted on both sides of the visor, re-using the central "barrel" and screw assembly. After carefully (every one of them broke into MANY pieces) removing the existing daisies, I gently unscrewed one of the metal bits while holding onto the mirror itself. I then threaded the new disk onto both sides and pressed the screw and barrel back through the visor. Not so easy since the visor is "squishy." Finally, it lined up enough to start the screw without cross-threading it. *Cross-threading any screw is very bad. If you try and tighten it too much, the threads will get "stripped" out, either on the screw itself or more likely the hole/nut/threaded insert it's going into. It can be re-threaded, but that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.
Better to get it in right the first time!

All Done And Holding Up The Sun Shield
I noticed that the imprint of the daisy was still on the visor. They were there a LOOONG time. In the sun. I figure it will slowly vanish over the next few years. If you have a tip to get rid of the outline sooner, let me know. On the glass side of the visor the black disk actually looks pretty good. Transparent WOULD have been better, but I didn't have any transparent plastic with me. I'm not even sure they manufacture transparent Kydex. I did have some white, but thought that would have looked odd. What do I know? Aesthetics aren't my strong suit. I'm more of a "function over form" guy.  All in all the "quickie" repair works fine. I do not fear losing my mirror or having it shatter over the next bump in the road. This technique will work on just about any mirror that is fastened with the daisies as well as ceiling panels and wood trim and whatever else you have that uses them. I never really noticed them before, but now that I've had one break, I see them in a lot of RVs.

Most times you can find a part you need. Not this time. But, in the end, it worked out well. A little bit of ingenuity will go a long way.

Be Seeing You...Down The Road,

Rich "The Wanderman"
www.thewanderman.com

1 comment:

Thank you for your comment. Our moderator checks each one to make sure we keep the Spammers away. So the comment will likely not appear immediately.