I have a 93 VR FD Touring. Anyway, the side mirrors are faded quite a bit compared to the rest of the car which in great shape overall. Is there a way to brighten up the side mirrors short of repainting. I got a quote from a local body shop and it looks like it will be in the range of $200 to have them sanded, prepped, and painted to match. I imagine this is probably a common problem and I would appreciate any other options that others have had success with. I waxed/polished them when I did the rest of the car, and it looks about the same if not worse than before. Thanks in advance.

 

yes my one mirror is the same as you described its annoying...do you think some zaino would work?

 

respray whole car...well thats what i would do

 

My mirrors are faded too, but I'm going to repaint the whole car anyway.

 

Mirrors are pretty small and a good shop can match the paint very well. You are talking a price difference of $200 vs $5000. Not to mention the car being down for weeks for the full repaint.

 

My mirrors were pretty much the same way. I could buff them out, and they would look nice for a week or so, than fade out again. I replaced them with some direct bold on APR Carbon Mirrors. Check here for some pics:

http://www.bryanandsara.com/photo2.html

 

It sounds like my only option is to respray then? Painting the car is definatley out of the question and not necessary. Anyone have any luck with buffing or anything. Thanks.

 

From what you descirbed it seems like the clear on your mirrors is dead, so buffing it wont do you anygood, if your clear wasn't dead you could buff them with rubbing compound,then glaze it,and then some car wax.$200 to paint both mirrors is a pretty good deal.

 

Just rub them out with Easy Cut (a clearcoat polish and wax). You'll have to do it a few times a year.
Clearcoat? My vintage red has no clearcoat.

 

Easy cut has no wax. My bad.

 

I believe there was a couple of VR that didn't have clearcoats, someone correct me if im wrong.

 

If you use a little rubbing compound in a spot not susceptible to the usual fading you'll end up with a red rag. So, no clearcoat on my VR FD. Maybe a little clearcoat after polishing would keep them nice? I may try this.