Thanks to you and neil - power windows may be a good fix.  I'll keep an eye out for some inexpensive used ones.

There are a million side view mirrors out there on the market - are there any non-VW mirrors that will fit the OEM bolt holes that anyone has used?

Dan
Los Angeles, CA
'85 Westy Weekender

On Jul 2, 2011, at 2:33 PM, pickle vanagon wrote:

> Daniel,
> the best solution is to replace them with the power mirrors.  I know this
> sounds crazy but I wrestled with the manual mirrors on our '83 for years
> (multiple sets), and they were never nearly as functional as after I put on
> some good used power mirrors.
> 
> You wouldn't even have to wire up the power mirrors.  Just bolt them on and
> move the glass manually.
> 
> The problem of course is that power mirrors are expensive.  But like you
> said, it's dangerous to drive with bad mirrors... I broke down and but ours
> before moving to the city, where I considered reliable mirrors a must.
> 
> As a bonus, if you *do* wire them up, the power mirrors have a heating
> element which can be wired into your defrost switch.
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Jul 2, 2011 at 3:17 PM, Daniel Rotblatt <d.rotblatt@verizon.net>wrote:
> 
>> My side mirrors do not stay in place.  Closing the door moves them, the
>> wind of a passing truck can lay one flat!  I figured they where old (which
>> they were) and bought some new ones on Amazon - they are K-Source OEM
>> mirrors - same thing.  So what's with these mirrors?  I could get them in
>> the right position, pull them off, and tighten the nut under them but that
>> didn't work with the old ones and I don't think it will work with these.
>> It's both annoying and dangerous to have to adjust them every time I drive
>> and again every few minutes when I drive.
>> 
>> Is there another mirror that is good?  Is there a trick to get them to
>> stay?  Suggestions?  Help?  Validation?
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Dan
>> Los Angeles, CA
>> '85 Westy Weekender
>>