My three year old was rather helpful recently and pulled the rearview mirror off the windscreen in our S-Max. There is a bonded metal hex fitting on the glass which the mirror “clips” to via a twisting motion – thankfully the clip popped off the bonded windscreen fitting rather than the glass cracking.

However – the hex fitting is worn and the mirror won’t stay on anymore, so I need to remove it & bond a new one on.

Has anyone done anything similar before? I’m guessing it’s mighty strong glue so prising it off is just going to result in a broken windscreen.

You used to be able to get double-sided rubberised pads specifically for re-attaching adhesive rear view mirrors onto windscreens, but I’ve not seen them for years. No doube some decent double sided Gorilla tape or something like that will do just as good a job.

Replaced my BMW screen mount using Loctite 318. Read instructions carefully as its a bit hit and miss if it’s not all prepped correctly.
BMW told me the whole screen would need replacing, so yea, take care if you have to remove the old mount!

loctite do a specialist kit for bonding mirrors back on. Can get it from any car motor factors.

Vern0n – how did you remove the old mount?

(It’s this bit I’m more concerned about than bonding the new mount on BTW – as per above posts there are known good methods for that)

Could you leave the old mount there and bond on a whole new after-market replacement mirror?

APF

cant you just bond the existing mirror to the worn hex?

Could you leave the old mount there and bond on a whole new after-market replacement mirror?

Yes – that’s an option, but the existing mirror is quite a good spec, auto-dimming unit which also fits to some specific trim so an aftermarket unit wouldn’t look great.

cant you just bond the existing mirror to the worn hex?

Yes, this is my fall-back if all no other options fail – just fill the existing clamp with araldite or similar, reassemble and make it permanent.

Go back to Ford & pony up. Used to refit mirrors all the time 🙂

markwsf – My 4y.o. Boy took the whole thing, including mount, off with a well timed head butt. Seems to be the way to do it
😀

If the mount is securely fixed I’d leave it and try to find a way of fixing to the old mount.

Given the risk of damaging the screen I’d only try removing the mount as a last resort.

Quite a few vids on YouTube, so maybe check that or one of the car forums (fora?) re safe removal!

Thanks Vernon. Im tending towards leaving it in place as you suggest. The boy wont be 4 until January and I cant wait that long to try your technique out.

Oink1 – I did give the local Ford main stealer a call – their solution is a replacement windscreen because the mounting buttona come ready bonded and arent available seperately.