I bought my XJL with chrome mirror caps that are badly pitted. I don’t know if these are the ones stuck on by adhesives or clips. I tried tugging on it but it wouldn’t budge. Anyone have any insight?





Thanks!

 

It seems like the chrome covers are just over with original covers. My bet are that they are either clued or taped, since original covers have flat surface. (original covers are clipped on place, so you might want to remove them together to get them on your desk for further investication. Originals are clipped on place. Start working inner edge, first side and then lower part, with plastic flat tool.

 

I was thinking the same about these since the chrome ones on eBay sit flush with the rest of the mirror. Will see what I can do with these since these have been on the car for 11 years so they’re stuck on pretty darn tight.

 

Maybe just source new ones?

 

The chrome covers look like they have been applied on top of the original covers (as others have noted). To loosen the adhesive, heat the cover with a hairdryer and then pry them off with a trim tool.

wombat

 

You'll probably cause less damage to the original paint on those mirrors if you use dental floss instead of a plastic trim removal tool to remove the chrome caps. Just heat up the caps as mentioned above and work a long piece of dental floss back and forth to cut through the adhesive.

 

Are you suggesting I replace the whole side mirrors? I’m trying to to remove the existing chrome covers.

 

will give that a try, would the heat cause any damage to the electrical stuff inside the mirrors? Wouldn’t want to risk damaging any of that stuff.

 

I doubt that a hair dryer would get the mirror hot enough to cause any damage. All you want to do is soften the adhesive enough for the dental floss to cut through it.

If you touch the mirror cap and it burns your hand turn the heat down.

 

Haha, the only other time I've used a hair dryer to loosen up adhesives are when watch screws are covered in loctite and the metal gets pretty hot after a drying session.

 

No, just source new covers for the mirrors. They are not expensive. Then you can dump the old covers with add-on chromes.