chaucercaterham Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 Hi allNew member to the club. I recently bought a Caterham and the Spa side mirrors continually become loose, the drivers side is particularly bad. Within a few minutes of driving they drop out of position. I've tightened them whilst in position in the top of the mirror with an Allen key without success. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong when tightening them. I'm looking at purchasing the standard Caterham mirrors, are these much better? I assume they screw easily into the two holes in the side panel shown in the photo. This would provide a solution for when I use the black side panels. Is there a common approach to fixing mirrors to the main body of the car so that you don't need to use the black side panels and still have the benefit of side mirrors?Any thoughts or experiences would be very welcome! Thanks very much Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM25T Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 Ditched my SPA mirrors. Fitted large carbon effect convex mirrors from Car Builder Solutions to the stanchions. Proper friction swivel ball head that stays where you set it. Excellent rear view. Edit ... just looked at their website and they don't seem to stock them at the moment, which is disappointing. They do have some with similar ball mounted heads that fix by a threaded stalk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM25T Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 This is what they look like. Very sturdy mounting. https://www.carbuilder.com/uk/large-carbon-fibre-effect-side-mirrors-260mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony P Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 On my (admittedly now old) SPA mirrors the screw on the top holds the mirror body's rotation in the horizontal plane. The screw for holding the arm in position is in the back of the lozenge shaped mounting plate, and acts on the back of the ball joint. If yours are the same, it looks like that screw might be inaccessible with those mirror mounts you are using.<< Is there a common approach to fixing mirrors to the main body of the car...>>Not really, rather a host of individual ones... one common drawback is that you cannot fold the doors forward to rest open on their own because the mirrors impact the screen.(Some wag will be along soon to tell you to ditch the screen!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotland North AR Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 The standard mirrors vibrate too much for me, not enough angle of view when driving on the continent. Changed to the Spa convex ones. Vast improvement. I do carry two Allen keys to tighten them up if someone knocks them. It does mean slackening the bracket off slightly to the get the cut down Allen key onto the inside one by the side screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotland North AR Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 I forgot to say that I have a set of standard mirrors which I'm not going to use anymore. Send me a pm if interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Cooper Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 I have the same mirrors, but mounted on the windscreen frame.I removed mine completely, then with the 'lozenge in a vice, tightened as much as possible with and extension on the Allen key.Col Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garth Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 Have the same SPA mirrors and they are fine if correctly adjusted/tightened as described by Tony above! Is a pain getting to the base fixing and I think you can get a different base which adjusts differently. Will post a link later if I can find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garth Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 Link for replacement bases for SPA mirrors - bit pricey though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vine Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 I think Tony P has the answer (#4). I think you'll need to drill a hole in the mounting bracket so that you can get at the clamping Allen screw behind.My R400D came with a composite aeroscreen plus mirrors. You can see the clamping screw at the back of the mounting plate.For screen use, I fitted the same mirrors that Ian recommended in #3. They are excellent in every way.I wouldn't recommend going for the standard CC mirrors. They shake like a cat after a pigeon, and don't offer a very good view.JV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malcolml Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 On the mirror mounts that you have there should be a hole between the two screw fixing holes ie. mirror to mount holes that is used to tighten mirror adjusting screw. You should be able to undo the two screws that hold the mirror mount to the door and rotate the mount on the hinge pin away from the door to tighten the screw that locks mirror in place. You should be able to do this till you get mirror adjusted and tightened then put back the two screws that hold mirror mount to the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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