Mirrors, Mirrors Everywhere

Our mirrors take a beating. Garage rash, tip-overs, whatever, after a few decades they can end up in pretty rough shape. Another issue with the second-gen mirrors is that the decorative plastic sheathing covering the mounting arm is susceptible to cracking from ham-fisted owners. I have a selection of mirrors in varying states, all needing complete refinishing before being used on one of my projects.

Recently I selected three sets of mirrors, one set with intact mounting arms and the others with cracked plastic sheathing. My solution is to remove the sheathing, sand and repaint. The actual arm beneath the sheathing is some sort of hard, solid plastic material, which is easily smoothed, primed and painted.

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Here's a look at a typical damaged mounting arm. This set had also been crudely repainted at some point in the past.

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I begin by using the Dremel with a cut-off disc to carefully cut the sheathing into smaller pieces, followed by cracking the plastic bits away with a screwdriver and pliers.
(click on an image below to enlarge)

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Next, I file the ridges and body-fill any imperfections followed by wet-sanding with 320-grit.
​(click on an image below to enlarge)

Next, the mirrors housings will need to prepped for repairs and paint. I attack heavy damage with a couple of grades of files, followed by a few grades of sandpaper, finishing with 320-grit. The entire assembly is then filled, primed and finished with color and clearcoat.
(click on an image below to enlarge)

Job done! Here's a comparison shot of the refinished mirrors with (left) and without (right) the mounting arm sheathing.
(click on an image below to enlarge)