Sun visor repair

My passenger sun visor rattled (the mirror rattling against internal card) and both the passenger and driver visor looked poor, so I watched a couple of youtube videos and started the repairs. I used a different method to the videos and think I have improved results.

The padding had disintegrated and the mirror is pitted.



I cut open the top edge with a scalpel along the seam.



The contents.



The driver side was in slightly better condition.





I cut out the shape from a 25mm foam sheet and bevelled the edges.



Cut a slit round the edge of the foam and inserted the wire frame.



I then glued the lower edge and sides of the foam to encapsulate the wire frame. Top edge left open.



Trial fit, it helps to heat up the vinyl cover with warm air to allow the frame to be inserted easier.



 

Before final fitting I glued a long tab to the inside edge of the vinyl cover using 3M vinyl glue.



I then glued the second side of the vinyl cover to the tab taking care to match up the join between the two sides. I glued about 15mm at a time then taped it down.



The end result looks like this.



The more time and care taken when gluing the better the end result.



I purchased a small piece of perspex mirror for the passenger side although this is not an ideal solution as perspex scratches very easily.



Cut out the correct shape.



Sanded to the correct size.



Glued into place.



I nibbled out a recess in the foam to allow space for the mirror and frame.



The passenger side was then finished the same way as the driver side.

Hi Jim,

that looks great! Can we use it for an article? And please also a picture of visor with mirror when it is finished.

Yes, of course, I'll take some more pictures once fitted.

Update.

I wasn't happy with the perspex mirror, I found that it could easily be scratched with tissue paper when cleaning, so this morning I went to the car salvage yard and took the glass mirror out of an old E class sun visor. The dimesions were correct for the mirror width but not the length.



After cutting the the dimentions were 58mm x 112mm. I rounded the corners off using a belt sander.

Trial fit.



Then glued in place with PU sealer.



A couple of other pics that may be useful. Here is the slot for the wire frame after I glued it back together, just the bottom and sides.



This is the vinyl material I used to create the new tab along the top edge to help glue both sides together.

Looks great Jim! I'm glad to hear that vinyl glue works well for these jobs. So originally they have a card in the middle and foam on either side? You left the card out?
Fortunately this is a job I don't seem to need to do (and for my former /8 I bought a better second hand version). But it's a neat repair all the same.

Best wishes,

Hello Kai,

Since I'm using thicker foam padding the card is not needed, it is stiff enough without it.

Just one remark to avoid a pitfall that I went through:
The side towards the front window was too think in the end so that the sun visor could not be lowered fully. It touched the A-Säule (englisch word missing ).

So either it was too thick or the original version was asymetric in thickness.

Bernd

Final pictures.

Great job, thanks for sharing!