got some electric chrome flag mirrors - still stuck to the doors

[igotae30]

Hey,

I found some (apparently quite rare) electric chrome flag mirrors on the weekend. They were still attached to some pretty rooted doors, but the guy just wanted to make space in his garage so i took the complete doors. Anyway - I looked at realoem.com and found the little mounting screw, however its rusted in place pretty badly or something because it just wont move. I left it soaking in CRC 5.something penetrant over night and tried again with no success. Im gonna leave it to soak for the week and try again but if that fails I dont know what to do. I tried vice-grips on a screw driver and the screw driver always just slips out of the notch in the screw. I dont want to strip the screw either. I also dont think i could drill the screw out without stuffing up the mirror. Any great idea's??

On a side note - I tried to remove the front bumper on the weekend as well, and the thread on the bolts on the side stripped. On both sides too. My car hates me. Gonna try a die grinder and carbide burrs on the weekend...after i replace the copper tube that cracked on my air compressor when my bonnet fell on it (dinting the bonnet slightly too). Ah life....

[epmedia]

Spray it several times within several days.
It's just one screw, right? Be patient, or drill it very carefully, re-thread if necessary.
OR, The mirrors will pop off when smacked, just have to be careful while smacking.

Not sure if this will help:

Either that, or work from inside the door, which will be a PITA, unless you cut away at the doors.

Here's what the OE (non electric) mirror mount looks like after the mirror has been accidentally "smacked off", or properly removed.

[igotae30]

Yeah im in no real rush so i'll keep spraying it. I was thinking i could grind the door panel off around the mirror and then cut the mount, thus removing load on the screw, allowing it to be screwed out easier -maybe. I dunno.

Stripped/stuck/rounded bolts and screws piss me off. I feel like Homer when he's trying to build a bbq.

[Layne]

It can be drilled out if necessary but I strongly recommend getting someone with experience to do the drilling. It is not easy to drill straight down the middle of the screw and you do not want to mess up the threads.