Anyone have suggestion to fix the rear view mirror?

The little plastic/metal piece that provides friction to the ball at the end of my mirror broke. Its all floppy now. I added a few layers of electrical tape but that doesn't work so well.

Today I stopped by the dealer and looked to see if I could buy/order that little part. They could only offer to sell me the entire mirror assembly. The tech looked at my mirror and went back to the computer but he could not find a part number for that little plastic piece.

 

 

Help...

Junkyard. I know there are some good U-pull-its in the PNW, other members on here talk about going to them all the time.

Well I tried a few different things. The list of what didn't work is long, what did work is some open cell foam about .25" thick. I cut a long strip about .75" wide and wrapped it tightly around the ball. Then managed to get the clam shell together. The thing is pretty tight but can smoothly be repositioned.

 

Will have to see if it is effected by heat...

 

I hate to buy a new mirror just because of that crappy plastic insert...what a waste, Subaru should sell that part as a replacement.

what did work is some open cell foam about .25" thick.

 

 

i used several layers of card stock, similar to the small boxes raisin come in. it

 

you'd be surprised how many door hinges in homes today have a piece or 2 of hinge box behind them as a shim.

if it ends up not working you could upgrade. the newer ones have compass, temperature, auto-dimming, and my favorite feature is it has 3 or 4 buttons you can program to whatever you want. garage door openers, lights, etc. the temp feature needs a sensor installed so that's a bit of work but all the rest just need power, very simple. i installed one in my 02 OBW, which was easy since it was already powered/auto dimming/compass style, i just upgraded to the garage door opening buttons. didn't bother with the temp gauge since it's a bunch of work and it already has an in cabin/outside temp indicator.