UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I need to bring my Saloon up to scratch (so to speak). It's a working car (not a flash one) which does a fair number of miles and I've let it go a bit. A couple of niggling cosmetic things remain which I could do with help on. My budget is basically zero as well.

Firstly, the passenger mirror was broken off a few months back (will eventually happen if you leave it parked on the street I guess) and I need to be able to remove the black plastic underside in order to get it back together properly. Having investigated it seems to require a very small bore allen key. Is this anything special or will any key of that dimension do the job? In the long run I will get a whole new mirror, meantime stick-on replacement glass from Halfords does the job.

Secondly, touching up paintwork. The boot and front spoiler are now showing up big spots and scratches down to the white plastic (all that maneouvring in car parks). Do you need to use a different kind of paint for going over plastic body panels as opposed to the regular bodywork? I believe all the colours are coded and wondered if you could point me to VW's colour chart (Colorado Red).

Thanks.

hello!

the top coat paint will be the same no matter what material is painted on - but the primer is based on whether it's metal / plastic.

there's either the touch up option, or the DIY spray can option. my mate's had ok results with a spray can - touch up is pretty bad but better than the white plastic showing through. problem with touch up sticks is that they thickness varies, so it never matches well. with a spray can, make sure you mask off everything, but don't spray onto the masking tape - otherwise you'll get an edge on the new paint - bad idea!

get paint from vw direct, much better than halfords for most colours.

as for the mirror - not sure, I think it'll be difficult to take it apart - much easier to source a new one for a tenner or so rather than waster time dismantling your current one. if all you need to do is replace glass - you can pull it off from the outside.