Recommendation to keep the prices down

Grab the bits you need from a used one; there are plenty on eBay.

Or:

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Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan
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You can access lots of car breakers on the internet. I bought a complete Laguna headlight assembly for £25, list price new several hundred.

Reply to
Davey

Or spray the new one? Rattlecan of primer, rattlecan of colour, mebbe one of clearcoat if required, and a couple of sheets of wet'n'dry, then an hour or so of your time in various short bursts.

Alternatively, shrug and accept it's an 11yo dullmobile that you're wanting to run as cheaply as possible - so non-matching mirrors won't kill kittens.

Reply to
Adrian

Drivers side wing mirror has just been battered on a 2002 Corolla.

It needs a mirror and the electric motor unit (The main frame is still in good condition) apart from losing the outside cover.

I think if I went to the Corolla Dealership the prices would be pretty heavy. So could anyone recomend a reasonably priced place to buy these pieces from either on line, or in the North West London area please? Thanks.

Reply to
t jones

Not a chance, on plastic, I reckon, and it would take forever. I've done the rattlecan route, in the past.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

No. Just... no. Not a hope. Uh-uh. No way. It will be one world of hurt and you will end up wondering why you bothered. Then you'll paint the sorry mess to try to hide it.

Hell, if a pair of black ones is your preferred option, then painting the other old one black would be by far and away the easiest way to achieve it and have two looking roughly similar.

You may even find that the painted one is a different finish or even colour of plastic.

Reply to
Adrian

My 2p: Painting it black won't be any easier than painting it the correct colour and you're making twice the work. Painting it with a spray can will give an infinitely better finish than brush, etc if that's what you're thinking.

Find a rock and practise running the spray can over it at a steady distance (~30cm) and speed, starting and finishing away from it. The action is similar to those hair spray adverts; spray and waft over the surface. For a wing mirror cover suspend it from a piece of string/wire from something to allow access to the various faces. It's dead easy to get a good finish with a rattle can on items such as these.

Reply to
Scott M

Scott M put finger to keyboard:

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OTOH painting it the "correct" colour will almost certainly end up with a colour different from the rest of the car.

Reply to
Scion

You can access lots of car breakers on the internet. I bought a complete Laguna headlight assembly for 25, list price new several hundred.

Davey.

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Toyota wants an eye watering 27.19 + vat for one plastic wing mirror cover (65 for a pair). Even the toyota parts man sounded embarassed.

If i get the black plastic one, it means taking off the paint off from the nearside cover on the other side of the car. Would there be a way of taking the paint off it (so as to match the new black plastic one) with a chemical without damaging the plastic underneath? Or would wet and dry paper be a better but more laboroious way?

The other alternative is a 'pair' of chromed mirror covers i've found on the internet for 28. The idea of shiny chrome sounds a bit 'noisy' to me, so i'm wondering if there is any way to tone them down without getting involved with spray painting ?

Reply to
t. jones

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Thank you. But taking the paint off the painted one on the near side seems a lot less trouble than painting and buying cans, dont you think? Especially as i have little experience of painting.

So would normal household paint remover deal with car cellulose please, anyone? And perhaps more importantly would it damage the plastic underneath?

Reply to
t. jones

For something small life a wing mirror, not significantly different to be particularly obvious. I've done some flat and some metallic and been impressed at how close it finishes up.

Halfords do tins and it's always worth asking the dealer for a price.

Reply to
Scott M

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Thanks to all. So i'll go for getting a new one that is primed with undercoat and paint it and the old one black. Since i dont rate my chances of producing a nice finish with a spray can, would it be easier to get an acceptable finish if i used a 'matt' black finish? Like for instance the paint cans you can use on car bumpers etc?

Reply to
t. jones

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hearing from you guys has given me the confidence to have a go at spraying, thanks.

Is there any particular make or supplier of spray cans that you would recommend please?

Reply to
t. jones

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