Another mirror question

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » 23 Jun 2006, 14:13

I really dislike the 'panoramic' type mirror glasses fitted to the Xantia and want to swap them to flat mirror glass.
On the BX the glass was simply glued onto a plastic plate (from what I remember).
Are the xantia ones attached the same way and is it possible to prise off the glass without dismantling the whole mirror housing ?

Dave.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 23 Jun 2006, 17:01

Yep -

The BX early type mirrors were glued in. Later types were fixed by sort of a rubber strip along the edge.

The Xantia Mk1 mirrors are fixed by a metal spring clip. The ends of this clip should be found on the upper long-side of the glass edge. If you twist the 2 ends apart (small screwdriver) the glass should unlock.
IIRC from the CX (which had a tiny lug to unlock the glass) - then these glass locks can be buggers to operate. May certainly need a couple of tries before you hit your luck.

http://www.citroen-pr.net/catalogues/il ... 42055A.gif

PowerLee · Post by **PowerLee** » 23 Jun 2006, 17:27

That wonderful spring clip on the back of the glass

My local Peugeot dealer fits these mirror glasses for free ( if they have supplied it ) because they have had no end of trouble with customers coming back moaning there new mirror glass they fitted themselves has fell off after a couple of days down to that stupid clip.

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » 25 Jun 2006, 00:06

Thanks for the information, I'll have a go at the clip when I can

Dave.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 25 Jun 2006, 00:51

If you're changing the mirror glass anyway you're not worried about the demisting heating elements so it follows you can simply stick a non panoramic glass mirror on top of the existing ones - there's cut down mirror glass easily bought and tailored to fit out there:

http://tinyurl.com/lusoa
http://tinyurl.com/s43th

Andrew

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » 25 Jun 2006, 10:50

andmcit,

Thanks for the links and the suggestion.
In the past I have cut replacement mirror glass for BX's etc from plain mirror glass stock - saves a lot of dosh to do it yourself and it's not hard to do - but in those cases it was easy to prise off the old glass and glue in the replacement.
I was trying to find out if the panoramic glass on the Xantia is just stuck to a removable backing piece of some kind that can be removed without taking the whole mirror unit off the car.
The only (minor(?)) problem with sticking a new flat glass on top of the old is that the panoramic ones are curved. This might make for a slightly bulky installation.

Although the panoramic ones give a wider view they do diminish the size of the image and make it difficult to judge just how close following vehicles are. I always feel happier when using a plain glass mirror especially when driving on a motorway.

Dave.

andmcit · Post by **andmcit** » 25 Jun 2006, 11:18

One thing to bear in mind about the clip is that whilst it's relatively easy to spring undone, it's a right little bstard to get back clipped into place...

I resorted to looping some fine twine/fishing line around the second lug to pull it sideways and past it's retaining lug whilst working blind with it all hiding behind the mirror glass.

Another thing that may/may not be relevant; check lower spec LX cars as these may use the different mirror glass to the panoramic one's on SX and VSX.

Just a thought,

Andrew