Do all replacement side view mirrors shake?
May 28, 2014 1:08 PM   Subscribe

My 2001 Honda Accord was sideswiped and I had to replace the driver's side mirror. The first replacement shook and was an aftermarket part, so I paid an extra $150 out of pocket (the other driver's insurance covered the first one) to have a Honda mirror attached today. I just took it for a test drive, and I think it shakes less... but it still shakes. Like it barely noticeably shifts at 30mph and distinctly vibrates at 60+mph. What do I do now?

I took a cash out settlement from insurance because I'm not popping out all the dents and having a third of my car repainted (it'd look worse in the end) so I think all repairs now are on me. Is it just this body shop that's not doing it right? Or is this just what happens when your mirror gets hit and replaced? The other mirror (original with the car) doesn't shake at all and the old one pre-accident didn't either.

I get the sense that the body shop is mildly irritated that I wanted to replace it; they only charged me the difference in cost extra though. I'm not sure what response I should expect from them if I call back so I wanted to get an overall sense of how reasonable my standards are first. I do feel a bit like a chump having paid $150 for a possibly slightly less shaky but not fixed mirror, however.
posted by vegartanipla to Travel & Transportation (12 answers total)
 
Was where the mirror mounts to the car bent or damaged in the original accident, perhaps?
posted by Rumple at 1:10 PM on May 28, 2014


Maybe it's the car shaking, and not necessarily the mirror. It's a unibody car. Is there any chance the frame or subframe got tweaked when it got hit, or that the wheel alignment got knocked around?
posted by mosk at 1:16 PM on May 28, 2014


Response by poster: Was where the mirror mounts to the car bent or damaged in the original accident, perhaps?

Possibly? No idea. If so, though, I would assume that was part of the repair cost to putting on the new mirror as they were very clear on that I wanted the mirror fully fixed from the get-go.

Is there any chance the frame or subframe got tweaked when it got hit, or that the wheel alignment got knocked around?

I was told it had mostly cosmetic damage, but this might be the case. The other mirror is fine, though, and you'd think if it was the body or wheels it would affect both mirrors, right?
posted by vegartanipla at 1:25 PM on May 28, 2014


I've had a mirror replaced on my Honda Accord and it doesn't shake at all.
posted by dawkins_7 at 1:34 PM on May 28, 2014


I have replaced a couple of mirrors on different cars and none of them shook.

I wonder if the entire mirror compartment somehow became loose in the accident.
posted by parakeetdog at 2:09 PM on May 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


My driver's side mirror shakes. I put a stick-on wide angle mirror, about 3" in diameter, on it, and that wider angle means the field of view shakes less... or something. It definitely looks less shaky.
posted by MonsieurBon at 3:09 PM on May 28, 2014


My first thought was are they reusing already compressed rubber grommits and such that were already on there, that might not have been included in the mirror kit? every time i've had an interior piece of small exterior piece of a car like that replaced the new one didn't even include screws, and they just re-used what was there as a matter of practice(only replacing any screws they couldn't find, or something). I've discussed this with the shop before when i wasn't just doing the work myself.

All you might need here are some brand new rubber washers that aren't compressed to the unique shape of the mirror+body panel, or aren't too compressed to actually be exerting pressure against the mirror. Obviously i'm not looking at a diagram of the design of your particular car, but this seems like it could blatantly be the case to me. Total spitballing, though.

As a cheap-ass test, i'd probably fold up a couple pieces of paper and jam them under the edges of the mirror in a few corners and see if it helped at all. If it made ANY difference i'd assume that the washers/grommits were bad. Another possibility is that the screws/bolts holding it on were OVER tightened over compressing the washers(or, simply because the rubber bits were semi permanently compressed), not allowing the rubber bits to do their job...
posted by emptythought at 3:21 PM on May 28, 2014 [1 favorite]


Take it back to the shop? Maybe they didn't install it properly.
posted by oceanjesse at 4:39 PM on May 28, 2014


Is it the entire mirror assembly shaking, or just the glass that's shaking?
posted by Thorzdad at 5:16 PM on May 28, 2014


Response by poster: Just the glass.
posted by vegartanipla at 5:21 PM on May 28, 2014


Response by poster: Or at least that's what's noticeable.
posted by vegartanipla at 5:48 PM on May 28, 2014


We DIY-replaced a driver's side view mirror on my '98 Civic and it's shaky. I assumed it's from using an after-market product.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:41 PM on May 28, 2014


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