One thing that annoys me is shabby parts on the outside of a car. It is the first thing people notice when viewing any vehicle. The Phoenix Power Electric Mirrors, sprayed myself years ago, hadn’t stood the test of time. The paint had reacted and they needed a full restoration.
For whatever reason the mirrors wiring had also been tampered with, they were not working.
To start, I removed the mirrors for closer inspection. To my horror one mirror had a horrible sealant glue used on it, fixing it in place to the original mirror bracket. One bolt fixing had also sheared off. I had to remove the bracket from the door, cut the bolt head off and use a heat gun to soften the sealant. Unfortunately the bracket was unable to be saved so I ordered a new pair of mirror fixing brackets from Toyota.
The first part of the restoration was to fix the sheared fixing point. It appears that one of the rivet nuts used had been over tightened and stripped away from the fiberglass. The sealant was removed and the hole prepped for fiber-glassing.
The mirror was repaired using a thick mat fiber and then a fine mat on top for a better surface finish.
The next stage was to fully sand the mirrors ready for paint. It is quite amazing how many colours they had been sprayed over the years, many the original demo car colours. It was possible the mirrors had gone from car to car because Phoenix Power were known to leave ex demo cars standing in their yard and remove parts from them when customers were interested.
Next step was to sort out the wiring issue. It appears that they had been stripped of the connectors that I had fitted years ago. I sourced a second hand pair of non heated standard mirrors and removed the 3 pin connector to fit onto the Phoenix Power mirrors.
I tested the electrics on the car before fully soldering and sealing the connectors in place. This was to ensure the correct directional movement on the standard mirror controls.
I picked up the mirrors from the local paint shop. Unit 49 based in Wolverhampton. I can’t fault their work… excellent quality and turnaround.
I refitted the mirrors and electrics/brackets to the painted outer casings. 2 pop rivets on each.
I had also received the new brackets from Toyota and sourced new stainless fixings for the mirrors.
Overall I was really please with how they turned out. Wiring done correctly, fresh paint and new brackets. A proper job!