W210 Vanity Mirror Flap Repair
Out of the two W210 E class Mercedes I have owned the flap that covers the vanity mirror on the sun visor has been broken. Also a friend’s C Class had the same issue so maybe it’s a more common problem than I first thought!
Any way Ebay prices start from about £20 for a used grubby part with the shipping, if you wish to take a gamble on it arriving in the same trim colour - so I fathomed a cheap and quick repair that works very well and costs almost nothing but about half an hour of time at the most.
First remove the 2 screws from the headlining on the visor hinge and take out the visor.
Using a blunt knife from the kitchen drawer, prise out the mirror frame from the visor. Work from the bottom edge, away from the hinge side first.
Find some stiff steel wire about 1.5mm diameter and cut two 4 inch long pieces.
Cut off the existing moulded hinge pivots from the mirror cover flap, at least one should be broken off anyway!
Heat the end of one piece of the 1.5mm wire with a flame (lighter) until its cherry red.
Push the heated wire into the centre of the hinge pivot point in the mirror cover flap, repeat a few times until you get a depth of about 5 or 6mm into the moulding then let it cool fully, it will now be fixed into the plastic as the new hinge.
Cut the material away from the side of the frame to allow the new wire hinge pin to pass through the original hinge receptacle and rest flat on the back of the mirror frame. Part assemble and then clip off the excess wire length with cutters.
Repeat the process on the other side of the cover flap but assemble the flap into the frame before pushing the hot wire into the plastic for the final time – let it cool, blowing on it speeds things up, then when fixed clip off this side with cutters too.
You now have a robust hinge that will last for years, it won’t break as it rests completely behind the frame bezel .
To ease the process you may find it beneficial to remove the two spring bearers that apply pressure to the flap to prevent it closing in use, these can be simply refitted on reassembly.
Snap back in the mirror assembly to the visor, making sure the micro-switch is positioned correctly for the illumination lamp if your model has this.
Refit visor to car and make cup of tea.
Pictures of above showing some detail.
http://www.gr8moments.com/w210/mirror flap repair.jpg
http://www.gr8moments.com/w210/completed visor mirror flap repair.jpg
I hope this is possibly of use to some one!
Steve
Out of the two W210 E class Mercedes I have owned the flap that covers the vanity mirror on the sun visor has been broken. Also a friend’s C Class had the same issue so maybe it’s a more common problem than I first thought!
Any way Ebay prices start from about £20 for a used grubby part with the shipping, if you wish to take a gamble on it arriving in the same trim colour - so I fathomed a cheap and quick repair that works very well and costs almost nothing but about half an hour of time at the most.
First remove the 2 screws from the headlining on the visor hinge and take out the visor.
Using a blunt knife from the kitchen drawer, prise out the mirror frame from the visor. Work from the bottom edge, away from the hinge side first.
Find some stiff steel wire about 1.5mm diameter and cut two 4 inch long pieces.
Cut off the existing moulded hinge pivots from the mirror cover flap, at least one should be broken off anyway!
Heat the end of one piece of the 1.5mm wire with a flame (lighter) until its cherry red.
Push the heated wire into the centre of the hinge pivot point in the mirror cover flap, repeat a few times until you get a depth of about 5 or 6mm into the moulding then let it cool fully, it will now be fixed into the plastic as the new hinge.
Cut the material away from the side of the frame to allow the new wire hinge pin to pass through the original hinge receptacle and rest flat on the back of the mirror frame. Part assemble and then clip off the excess wire length with cutters.
Repeat the process on the other side of the cover flap but assemble the flap into the frame before pushing the hot wire into the plastic for the final time – let it cool, blowing on it speeds things up, then when fixed clip off this side with cutters too.
You now have a robust hinge that will last for years, it won’t break as it rests completely behind the frame bezel .
To ease the process you may find it beneficial to remove the two spring bearers that apply pressure to the flap to prevent it closing in use, these can be simply refitted on reassembly.
Snap back in the mirror assembly to the visor, making sure the micro-switch is positioned correctly for the illumination lamp if your model has this.
Refit visor to car and make cup of tea.
Pictures of above showing some detail.
http://www.gr8moments.com/w210/mirror flap repair.jpg
http://www.gr8moments.com/w210/completed visor mirror flap repair.jpg
I hope this is possibly of use to some one!
Steve
