Does anyone know where a person can get rear view mirrors re-silvered? I have removed the mirror from the frame (and that was a trick!) of a couple of 70-72 inside mirrors and need to get them re-silvered.
Regular mirrored glass won't work because the glass of a rear view mirror is wedge shaped, thick at the top, thin at the bottom. That's why I need to have original mirrors re-silvered.

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Tom Parsons

Tom,please share it with us,how you can disassemble the mirrors without damaging.I have one at home,which is in need of repairing.
thanks in advance
HR

Tom
I have a bin full of 1969-72 GM A-body rear veiw mirrors.I kept because they too need to be re-silvered.PLEASE share with us your procedure how to remove the glass without breaking them.I always break it.

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Rick Peters ACES#175
1970 Red/Red Chevelle SS
L-78/M-40/4:10 Restored

Tom: There is a place I know of here in Seattle, Wa. that re-silvers any and all mirrors. I had an antique beveled glass mirror out of a dresser re-done about 3 years ago. Not many places do it because of the hazardous waste from chemicals. Unfortunately I don't have their card with me here at work though.
Will have to get back to you later if you don't find someplace there in O.K.

Well guys, for some time now I've been struggling with finding a way to get the mirriors out so that I could put a good mirror in a different frame (map light mirror). It has turned cold here now, so I had turned on an electric heater on the work bench. I have tried several times to peel back the rubber frame surrounding the mirror glass but it was just too stiff. So I wondered if the heater would soften up the rubber frame, and I placed the mirror up close to the heater. Well the heat did make the rubber more pliable. I got about a 2in length of rubber folded back and then GENTLY stuck a THIN putty knife between the folded back rubber and the back side of the glass. Then I did the same to the opposite side with another putty knife. I carefully and slowly worked my way to one end of the mirror until I had the rubber lip that goes around the front of the mirror pulled back behind the the glass. Once I had one end of the mirror done, then I slowly worked toward the other end of the mirror until I got about 3/4 or more of the rubber lip folded back. On one of the mirrors, the the rubber backing was stuck to the back of the mirror so I just gently seperated the rubber from the back of the mirror with one of my longer putty knives and then was able to pull the mirror from the remainder of the rubber frame. I have 4 putty knives and I found it necessary to use all 4 to get the rubber lip folded and worked back from around the edges of the mirror. Once I got one end of the mirror uncovered, it went pretty easy after that.
I selected the best mirror and started working it back into a frame, which was a much easier job than removing it. Again, just use lots of patience and take your time. If you have a heat source to soften the rubber lip, that will help. I never chipped one piece of mirror.

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Tom Parsons

I did the same as tom & had the mirror resilvered. An antique shop gave me the adddress of a local who does resilvering. Check locally.

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Rick
72 El Camino (http://members.home.net/jimmy4/rick1972elky.html)
TPI350/700r4
TC#00038
ACES#00140

[This message has been edited by rick (edited 11-13-2000).]

Well guys, I found a place in the OKC area which re-silvers mirrors. I haven't hade one done yet, I just looked through the Yellow Pages and there was one listing. Apparently the guy works out of his home and he charges $38 each for auto type mirrors. I don't know if that is high or not, but I guess if you have an original mirror and want to keep it, then you have to pay the price. I advertised for a map light mirror a while back, bought 2 and 2 were given to me. All 4 needed to be re-silvered to some degree (the 2 free ones were really bad). So what do you all think about the $38 price? Pay it, or just use the the better of the 4 mirrors?

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Tom Parsons

Tom,
I'd say it depends on you. If you want a perfect mirror, it sounds like you have no real choice. I'd bet $38 for a perfect map mirror is a pretty good deal? At least that's the way I'd look at it.

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought too. I'll get one done and see how it looks.

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Tom Parsons

Have you considered going to a salvage yard and looking for a good glass? That is what I have done and paid $1-$2 each for them. In the heat we have here it is usually easy to extract the glass from mirrors.