R171 Interior Mirror Loose

[E55BOF]

The car is an '05 R171 SLK. The interior mirror (manual dipping) jiggles around when the car is moving. The mirror ball connection to the mounting is still good and stiff, but the mounting itself is loose against the screen.

I cannot see any way of tightening it up; there is a small oblong horizontal slot in the mounting, about the size of a smallish slot screwdriver tip, but if there was a grub screw I would expect a round hole, and there doesn't seem to be one.

There's plenty on this on the US website SLK World, but it all relates to the R170, which has a different mounting, with a grub screw. Does anyone know how to solve the problem on the R171?

 

[E55BOF]

I've found this:

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It looks to me as though the problem is likely to be that the retaining spring (8) has over the years somewhat lost its tension (more giving up the unequal struggle with modern British roads coupled with pretty stiff suspension, really), and if I bend the lugs a touch further apart, that should sort it. How long it will last I don't know, but it's worth a try...

 

[E55BOF]

Disassembly was easy, but nothing is ever that simple with a Mercedes, is it? It's not the retaining clip; it's the plastic mounting plate, which was coming unbonded from the windscreen, and came away with the mirror unit.

MB can supply the part - but only with a new windscreen attached... Feck Orf!!!

A bit of Googling later, I've found just the thing - Sikafast 5211 NT, which the windscreen replacement companies use. (My go-to adhesive for mirror mounts is Loctite 319, but apparently that's really only for bonding metal to glass)

So solved, or will be when the adhesive arrives.

 

[E55BOF]

"...nothing is ever that simple with a Mercedes.." with knobs on. The UK importer has no stock; the two UK regional distributors have no stock; Amazon has no stock. Ebay to the rescue yet again, and I'm now reliant on the Italian parcel network to get it to me. One day...

 

[E55BOF]

The stuff arrived - three days. . The last thing I ordered from Italy took three weeks...

When I cleaned up the mounting, it became obvious that it had been off and refixed twice before, once (bodged) with what looked like some sort of impact adhesive, and once with some sort of black hard-setting mastic. The black stickum had only been pressed home and stuck to the screen on one side of the mounting, and still lasted at least two years (the time I've had the car); if it had been properly done, it would have been there still, so the Sikafast isn't the only thing that will do the job.

Happy now; all sorted.

 

[Willy100]

My rear view mirror is fixed tightly to windscreen, it it does seem to be mounted lower than it should be. I’ve tried to push it upwards, but it will not move.

New item

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[E55BOF]

If it's coming loose, it will wobble when you go over a bump. It will get steadily worse until eventually it will drop off.

 

[Willy100]

It's not loose, it's rock soloid! Just lower than it should be.

 

[E55BOF]

It was designed that way. The position is determined by the mounting plate, which can only be in one location.