How to remove mirror glass from sideview mirror?

[Jim Salmi #21340]

I have a sideview mirror (early fifties) that needs to be resilvered.  Anyone know how to pop the glass out of the pot metal holder?  Applying heat from a paint stripper gun hasn't worked.  Is there a trick to it?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Bruce Berghoff-CLC #1476]

Might sound rather brutal but my best results have proven to be to break out the old mirror and clean out the old cement; then have a glass shop cut a fresh mirror and recement it in place. Probably much cheaper than fooling around with old glass trying to find a source to resilver scratched glass. bb

[Alan Harris CLC#1513]

I am in agreement. However, in my case I took the whole assembly to the glass shop and had them do it all, including the breaking.

The price was very reasonable and the job turned out very well.

[Eric Falk]

I placed some solvent in a pan that was small enough to house the mirror and allow the thinner to cover the round chrome mirror housing.  Let it sit for 24-48 hours and then lift it out of the pan.  The glass should remain in the pan.  Lacquer thinner or multi purpose solvent (found in auto body supply stores) will do the trick.  Remember that both liquids are flammable and should be treated as such.  You know.... avoid open flames, heat , pets children and anything else that could suffer from its exposure.

Good luck.

Oh yeah, I didn't resilver the mirror.  It was less expensive to have the local glass company cut a new piece of mirror that was the correct diameter and thickness. 

[Dan LeBlanc]

As a former glass guy, I can tell you that nearly nobody resilvers mirrors anymore.  It all has to do with environmental concerns.

When you do get a new piece of mirror cut and installed, make sure it is automotive mirror and not residential mirror.  Residential mirrors reflect 100% of light were automotive mirrors do not.  If you use residential mirror, you will be blinded at night.  If you hold up the two side by side, you will see that the automotive mirror is somewhat transparent where the residential mirror is not.