Restoring Exterior Mirror

[Bentley]

Does anyone know how to remove the glass from the exterior mirror so the base can be re-chromed? I saw a post from October, 2015 on this topic, but it did not explain how to separate the glass from the metal. Thanks.

[Bob Hoffmann CLC#96]

What year car are you working on?

[Bentley]

Bob,

It's a '68 DeVille.

Wes

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

You have to make the direction cables slack enough to move the mirror enough to get to the screws to remove it from the car. I was able to peel back the metal edges to get the glass out. I did break the glass so watch your hands. I then put new glass in and bent the metal back. Problem is that I was afraid of breaking the new glass and it ended up looking like crap. In hindsight, I should have just stuck the new glass over the old.
What I would suggest is that you buy a new mirror on Epay....... get one with good glass but with pitted and bad metal. Or try a salvage yard. Should not be that expensive in that condition  and you can just take the good glass out of the bad mirror and just transplant it.
Jeff

[Bob Hoffmann CLC#96]

Jeff,
I suggest you read his post again. He's trying to get the mirror out of the mirror body so he can get it chromed.
#1 Remove the joy stick from the bezel.
#2 Remove the mirror from the door & thread the joy stick out of the door.
#3 Carefully remove the cables from the joystick. This involves spreading the pot metal. I suggest marking their position.
#4 Then remove the screws holding the mirror in the head. You can then thread the cables out of the mirror base.
#5 Then remove the base from the head.
#6 Make DAMN sure your plate can duplicate the brushed finish. Most can NOT do it.
HTH, Bob

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

Woops,
Thanks Bob.
Jeff

[Scot Minesinger]

I sent my entire mirror to Finishing Touch in Chicago for 1970 Cadillac with that special matt/brushed chrome finish and they took care of mirror and all shipping it back all assembled - looks perfect, almost like jewelry.  Most places cannot duplicate the special finish of the mirror, so be careful.  All that time and trouble is not worth it if mirror comes back wrong (you might not get mirror back until you pay).

[Bentley]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for your help. Before I restore the mirror, I'm going to look for an NOS mirror. Does anyone know where to search, other than ebay? Would a mirror from a '69 or '70 would work on a '68? They look very close to me, but the back of the '68 mirror looks like brushed stainless, while the '69 and '70 mirrors look more grainy.  I would like to widen my search range if possible. Thanks.

Wes