Installing a Passenger Side Visor Vanity Mirror

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My wife really likes having a vanity mirror on the passenger side sun visor. So it was a big shock to her the first time she put the passenger side visor down and she was staring at a blank piece of vinyl!

No problem...I figured I would just pick up an inexpensive mirror at an auto parts store and be done with it. I wanted a mirror with a flip-down cover (just like the driver's side mirror). I also didn't want something that clipped onto the visor with big chrome clips and looked cheesy. Well...the more I looked, the more I didn't like the options I was seeing.

You also can't just buy a driver's side visor and install it on the passenger side...it won't really work. They are right and left specific. Uhh...not to mention that a driver's side sun visor is something like $80 from Mitsubishi!?! Hmm....I'm starting to run out of options.

My final solution: I bought a used driver's side Mirage visor on eBay for $25, removed the mirror from it, and installed the mirror on my existing passenger side visor. It's kind of an expensive solution, but it looks completely original and I'm happy with the results.


* * UPDATE * *

Please see post #13 of this thread before you go through all of this work!



So here's a quick overview of the process...

First, I removed the mirror assembly from the donor sun visor. The mirror is clipped and glued to the core of the visor, so you just have to get your fingers around the edges of the mirror and RIP it out. That's when you discover that the core of Mirage sun visors are made of...CARDBOARD?!?! What the @#$!!!

Here's the donor visor with the mirror removed...




The cardboard core is covered with a thin layer of foam material on both sides. There is no foam between the mirror and the cardboard core. Here is what the foam piece looks like from the driver's side visor. Note the cutout in the foam in the shape of the mirror. We will have to duplicate this cutout on the passenger side visor shortly...




With the mirror removed, clean off all the glue and plastic clip remnants on the back with a razor blade. You want the back of the mirror to be flat. In the process of doing this, you may end up removing the plastic that holds the mirror into the plastic frame. I had to bust out a hot glue gun to put a few small spots of hot glue around the perimeter where the mirror and plastic come together. You can see these spots in the second photo below. Here's the front and back of the mirror...





You will notice in the above photo that there is some sort of brown paper/tape on the back of the mirror. I learned the hard way that nothing wants to stick to this material, so I peeled it off and cleaned off the back of the mirror with alcohol. Later we will be gluing the back of the mirror to the cardboard surface of the visor...so this needs to be clean.

Now it's time to remove and prep the passenger side visor for the new mirror. Using a razor blade, you need to cut a hole in the outer vinyl covering in the shape of the mirror (but a little smaller). Then you need to carefully lift the vinyl covering up as you use a razor blade to cut an opening in the foam layer. You are cutting the foam back underneath the vinyl. It's a bit challenging...but you can do it.

Here's what my passenger side visor looked like after I finished trimming the foam back. I know this hole looks rough, but the mirror frame will cover everything if you have been measuring correctly...



Now the mirror is ready to be glued to the cardboard core. First, take some sandpaper and lightly scuff the cardboard surface. I don't know what that cardboard is made of, but I learned the hard way that not all glues wanted to stick to it. Now apply some MIRROR ADHESIVE to the back of the mirror and set the mirror in place on the visor. I put a couple of books on the mirror to hold it in place and let it sit for a couple of days (mirror adhesive takes some time to cure properly). Then I re-installed the visor in the car.

Here's the finished product installed in the car. Nobody will ever know that it didn't come this way from the factory...




BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE...


So now that I have a spare driver's side sun visor with no mirror, let's rip it completely apart and take a look at how it's made.

Here's what the visor looks like with the outer vinyl covering removed...




Now let's peel off the foam layers from each side and see what the core of a sunvisor REALLY looks like...






Holy smokes...the visor is made of wire, cardboard, foam and vinyl. No wonder Mitsubishi wants $80 for this thing! LOL...