Mirror, mirror off the wall!

[Pudentane]

When I got back from the Winterport Music Festival Rally last weekend I discovered that the mirror over the sink in my 2007 28' Safari SE had come off the wall. The mirror is a sheet of thin glass (I think) which was held to a plywood backing by four clips which slid on screws. The road vibrations had caused the two lower clips to slide down releasing the top of the mirror from the upper clips. It was prevented from falling all the way and probably breaking by the covering for the Tv wires on the adjacent wall whch backs up to the dinette.

I removed the mirror and discovered five 2.5" globs of something that was probably supposed to be an adhesive - but which only stuck to the plywood mounting back and didn't adhere to the mirror back at all and wasn't even sticky - it looked like liquid nails. The mirror back has what appears to be a white plastic film to protect it complete with a sticker that said not to remove it.

I hope I've solved the problem by removing the adhesive globs from the plywood and applying a border and two above center strips of about 2.5 " industrial strength velco to the mirror and then remounting it with the clips - which never were removed from the wall, but just forced back into position with finger pressure.

I was appalled at the inadequate adhesive material and the clips which can drop down through vibration and thereby not hold the mirror in place. So if you have a mirror that is held in place by four clips you might want to check it to see that it really is secure.

[Airslide]

Hello Louisa and Jasper,

Im glad you averted a disaster of broken glass. You would assume that Airstream would have considered better mounting since each roadtrip is somewhat of a mini earthquake to the mirror.

Sounds like your solution is a good fix. It makes me want to pull of my mirror and check it out...

Vinnie

[Pudentane]

Hi Vinny,

Yes, I was astounded that they didn't consider road vibration when mounting it - it was a disaster waiting to happen. I suppose that the adhesive was supposed to do the job - but it didn't stick to the mirror at all. We were on secondary two lane roads which weren't always smooth - but we weren't on dirt/ washboard which certainly would have been worse. I was very glad not to have to clean up a broken mirror and then find a replacement.