Mirror glass removal

[tnt9339]

Is it possible to remove the mirror glass? I am painting the bike, and it would be much easier to spray the housing if the glass was out. I have tried prying it, but am afraid I might break it. I see the aftermarket chrome ones come with the mirror installed. Anyone ever removed one?

Thanks, Tony

[oldcase]

I just removed one yesterday using a heat gun. There are discussions on another site that refer to putting it in the oven on low heat and using butter knives to gently remove it. There is really sticky glue behind the mirror, but heat softens it quite well. Good luck.

[tnt9339]

I should have been more clear in my description. I want to remove the glass assembly. The mirror unit fits into a socket on the mirror housing. I want to remove the whole unit from the housing.
Thanks for the response though, I appreciate it.

Tony

[Happytrails]

Hopefully I understand the question, but if you want to remove the mirror glass assembly the screw is underneath the mirror glass itself. So your kind of stuck removing that glass, unscrew it then you can remove the black plastic assembly. Its not a prefered design. And I hadn't heard of heating the mirror them getting it out with a butterknife before, amazing. Usually people use a knife and cut a seam just behind the lip of the mirror glass enough to slide the glass out. Have given lots of thought to attempting this to get LED mirror signals sort of like muth but there are now maybe better options.

[tnt9339]

Well that explains why I can't pop it off. I think I will try to airbrush around the edge of the glass.

Thanks, Tony

[PedroTQ]

I went through this last year when I painted my 88 outfit.

Trying to prise them out I spalled the edges of the glass badly and destroyed the mirror backing.

I have a 90SE which I am stripping down to naked, so the mirrors are spare, but the plastic surrounds were in bad shape so I hacked the edges off.

I then carefully cut through the corner edges of the mirror backing on the 3 widest corners,

carefully cut down and around these corners.

Using just my fingers I prised the edges open just enough to slide the glass out the end,

Use your fingers to prise open and slide the glass out the end.

Now you can undo the screw that holds the mirror backing to the surrounds,

Access the retaining screw.

Now you can clean the dirty components being careful not to scratch the back of your mirror, the Silver coating is only about 1 atom thick,

Clean the components ready for assembly.

Screw the mirror base back into the freshly painted mirror outer,

Screwed together.

Carefully slide the glass back into the backing, it is a bit tough on the tips of your fingers, I also used a pair of old snap off blades thoroughly blunted on the concrete floor to assist in the fitting as they are thin and strong.

Glass slid back in.

I can hardly see the original cuts to the ede of the mirror backing and now have forgotten that they are there.

I hope this helps, Peter.

[Erdeniz Umman]

I had read somewhere that someone used hot water to remove the mirror.

[tnt9339]

Thanks Peter, I'll try your approach.

Tony