Hi all,
As I mentioned in a post earlier in the year, the rubber dust boot of the LHS side mirror on my 1993 505 GTI wagon had perished. Fair enough after 25 years.
The best options to fix this problem are:
1. Get a mirror for a 405
2. Get a mirror from a wrecker
or
3. Perform a DYI jerry-rigged repair.
I chose the last option. Option 1 can be expensive and option 2 involves rubber that is also probably about 25 years old. And I just didn't want to throw away the whole mirror just because one part of it had failed.
So here are a few photos to show the repair. It was time consuming and is definitely not for everyone, but if you are looking for some ideas, check it it. This sort of DIY solution is definitely not the easy path to take since you are kind of redesigning a complex mechanism.
The original dust boot is 5 sided which I replaced it with a section of universal steering dust boot from Repco that only cost $8 or so. I then made two adaptors to attach the dust boot to the mirror side and the car side.
I made the adaptors from 1.6 mm brass sheet and silver solder. The dust boot is contact cemented to the adaptors and the adaptors themselves are attached to the mirror and car sides with silicon sealant.
Because of the wall thickness of the rubber of the dust boot, then mirror is somewhat restricted in its movement. I might get around to replacing it with a more suitable, thinner walled steering boot section one day.
I was concerned that the end result would look out of place, but I think it looks pretty good.
Cheers,
Hugo
As I mentioned in a post earlier in the year, the rubber dust boot of the LHS side mirror on my 1993 505 GTI wagon had perished. Fair enough after 25 years.
The best options to fix this problem are:
1. Get a mirror for a 405
2. Get a mirror from a wrecker
or
3. Perform a DYI jerry-rigged repair.
I chose the last option. Option 1 can be expensive and option 2 involves rubber that is also probably about 25 years old. And I just didn't want to throw away the whole mirror just because one part of it had failed.
So here are a few photos to show the repair. It was time consuming and is definitely not for everyone, but if you are looking for some ideas, check it it. This sort of DIY solution is definitely not the easy path to take since you are kind of redesigning a complex mechanism.
The original dust boot is 5 sided which I replaced it with a section of universal steering dust boot from Repco that only cost $8 or so. I then made two adaptors to attach the dust boot to the mirror side and the car side.
I made the adaptors from 1.6 mm brass sheet and silver solder. The dust boot is contact cemented to the adaptors and the adaptors themselves are attached to the mirror and car sides with silicon sealant.
Because of the wall thickness of the rubber of the dust boot, then mirror is somewhat restricted in its movement. I might get around to replacing it with a more suitable, thinner walled steering boot section one day.
I was concerned that the end result would look out of place, but I think it looks pretty good.
Cheers,
Hugo
