Rust: side view mirrors

U

undergrad.

Member
Has anyone else had issues with rust behind you side view mirrors? Something behind both of my side view mirror is rusting and its started to spread down the side of both my front doors. My car is white so the rust stains are very prominent. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

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Well yes, there is a known issue but without seeing it, that could just be the grease. Are those motorised mirrors or not?
 
For some reason it won't let me embed the images. I was only able to link to the images above.

The side view mirrors are not motorized but they do have the blind spot monitor light in them.
 
Right well its this one then. It refers to white stains but as yours is white, you are just seeing the same residue.
 

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Anchorman said:
Right well it’s this one then. It refers to white stains but as yours is white, you are just seeing the same residue.
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Thanks for the info! That will make things easier when I take the car in next week. Can anyone suggest a particular cleaner that might woke well to remove the stains?
 
If you take the mirror caps off you will see a ton of rust growing. My wife broke the mirror housing on one side and someone nicked the cap on the drivers side. I replaced the cap on the drivers side and the entire mirror assembly on the passenger side and both metal housings were full of rust. Carefully pop the cap off and clean it up as best you can so it doesn’t keep marking your paint continuously.
 
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Anchorman said:
undergrad. said:
⋯ The side view mirrors are not motorized but they do have the blind spot monitor light in them.
Click to expand...
Right well its this one then. It refers to white stains but as yours is white, you are just seeing the same residue.
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I'm confused. OP did say his CX-5 has manual outside rearview mirrors, but the TSB applies only to power mirrors. And OP has metal rust stains but the TSB describes white stains.

TSB Subject: White Stains under Power Outer Mirror Base

There's one member with 2014 CX-5 GT found plenty of rust inside of of his outside rearview mirror housing while he's replacing the broken mirror:

Heritage07 said:
Go over to Miata.net, they are finding rust all over their shinny new RF's and MX5's hidden under the seat pans. I had to replace my side mirror last month because my wife hit a mail box. When I took it off the entire inside housing was rusted out. I have replaced mirrors on 10 years old Nissans without any rust on them. Go to the dealer with a flashlight and you will find rust on the seat hardware and seat pans. How is Mazda's steel of less quality than the big 3 Japanese makes?
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(And just noticed Heritage07 did post his finding on rust too.) :)
 
What’s confusing you? The one I’ve posted is for oxidised alloy residue and the 07’s is for internal rust. Either way they are solutions to his problem. I’m surprised you can get the mirror back off without breaking it though.
 
Anchorman said:
What’s confusing you? The one I’ve posted is for oxidised alloy residue and the 07’s is for internal rust. Either way they are solutions to his problem. I’m surprised you can get the mirror back off without breaking it though.
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Because the TSB says the corrosion problem only applies to 2013~2017 MY CX-5's with power mirrors but OP has manual outside rearview mirrors. And his stain definitely looks like brownish stain from metal rust, but the picture in the TSB shows the white stain from white oxidation from frame structure made of some aluminum alloy.

Then I was surprised the mass production change by Mazda to fix this ongoing problem is: "the shape of the gasket for the outer door mirror base has been changed so that water drains to inside the door" based on the TSB.

Isn't to improve the anti-oxidation process on this alloy structure the obvious fix to this problem? (uhm)
 
Anchorman said:
What’s confusing you? The one I’ve posted is for oxidised alloy residue and the 07’s is for internal rust. Either way they are solutions to his problem. I’m surprised you can get the mirror back off without breaking it though.
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I had to replace my passenger side mirror housing a few years ago (maybe late 2014, early 2015ish?). No rust at that point with mine, but regarding the bolded, it was difficult, but doable.
 
yrwei52 said:
Because the TSB says the corrosion problem only applies to 2013~2017 MY CX-5's with power mirrors but OP has manual outside rearview mirrors. And his stain definitely looks like brownish stain from metal rust, but the picture in the TSB shows the white stain from white oxidation from frame structure made of some aluminum alloy.

Then I was surprised the mass production change by Mazda to fix this ongoing problem is: "the shape of the gasket for the outer door mirror base has been changed so that water drains to inside the door" based on the TSB.

Isn't to improve the anti-oxidation process on this alloy structure the obvious fix to this problem? (uhm)
Click to expand...

You could change the material I guess but once aluminium gets oxidised, that’s it, or at least in practical terms. You’d be surprised how much water drains through the door but maybe it would show up on the sill. There is another later TSB about the motor failing due to corrosion and I had one on my CX-3, one on my 16 CX-5 and one on my red 2017 CX-5 (ordered when a truck knocked it off) all fail in the same way, the drive motor/mechanism stopped working. They have come up with improved sealing of the internal parts for that one. The later ones are fixed in production.

ColoradoDriver said:
I had to replace my passenger side mirror housing a few years ago (maybe late 2014, early 2015ish?). No rust at that point with mine, but regarding the bolded, it was difficult, but doable.
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Yes, I think I’d take it off and dunk it hot water or get the heat gun going on that.
 
Anchorman said:
Yes, I think I’d take it off and dunk it hot water or get the heat gun going on that.
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Probably not a bad way to go. The other hard part though was also putting the mirror back on into the new housing. You had to get it to connect correctly to all these little plastic pieces, the ones that adjust it when you use the mirror adjustment controls.
 
What does power mirrors mean in this situation? A motor to adjust the mirror face or a motor to fold the mirrors? Might explain the confusion between yrwei52 and Anchorman, as Europeans are usually offered the power folding option. Im unaware of any manually adjusted mirror faces on the CX5... I assumed even the sport had motors to adjust the glass face.
 
banjos-n-beer said:
What does power mirrors mean in this situation? A motor to adjust the mirror face or a motor to fold the mirrors? Might explain the confusion between yrwei52 and Anchorman, as Europeans are usually offered the power folding option. I’m unaware of any manually adjusted mirror faces on the CX5... I assumed even the sport had motors to adjust the glass face.
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That must be the case. In this review we see a bare bones 2013 Sport model and it has power mirrors: http://www.cleanmpg.com/community/index.php?threads/43832/
 
banjos-n-beer said:
What does power mirrors mean in this situation? A motor to adjust the mirror face or a motor to fold the mirrors? Might explain the confusion between yrwei52 and Anchorman, as Europeans are usually offered the power folding option. I’m unaware of any manually adjusted mirror faces on the CX5... I assumed even the sport had motors to adjust the glass face.
Click to expand...

Good point, I was referring to the motor that folds the mirrors back. A lot is explained in the TSB which explains the failure mode and the long drawn out procedure for modifying mirrors. It’s the most colourful detailed TSB you can imagine but it’s 3.2 Mb so no chance of me attaching it. Anyway, in there it explains that some mirrors have an alloy die cast backplate and some are plastic which obviously won’t get the white residue problem. On my last 17, it failed in the same way and when I examined the shrapnel left from the obliging truck I could see that the folding worm drive was completely rusted despite being covered in grease. The TSB only includes KE but it certainly effects KFs too.
 
Anchorman said:
Right well it’s this one then. It refers to white stains but as yours is white, you are just seeing the same residue.
Click to expand...
I ended up taking my car in and you were correct! They replaced the applied cavity wax and swapped out the gaskets. Now that there is not drain whole under the side mirrors this shouldn't happen again. I spent a good 1+ hours cleaning off the stains on my door panels. They are almost good as new!

Thanks for help!
 
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