Rear View Mirror Reattachment

My fiancee accidentally pulled to hard on our rear view mirror (1999 ACURA 3.2TL) and the mirror and attachment clip have detached from the windsheild. The problem is instead of simply coming unglued from the windsheild the mirror and clip took a chunk of glass with it. There is not a hole is the glass simply a quarter sized crater where the clip was glued to the windsheild. I am familiar with rear view mirror reattachment kits, but those take into consideration that the windsheild was not damaged when the mirror comes off. My questions is: Is there any way to reattach the mirror in its exact previous location? Is there a way to fill in the crater so that I have a flat surface again or should I simply reattach the mirror either simply above, below, or next to where is was positioned previosly. I’d prefer not to have the blemish windsheild be visible from the inside of the car but don’t want to try to reattach it at the same location and have it fall off or worse break through the windsheild and have to completely replace it.

Did it take th chunk out down to the plastic layer between the glass sheets? If it did, then you need to have the windshield replaced. If the “crater” is a concave hole with all glass surfaces, then you could try mirror mounting adhesive. It should hold.

I use Duro two part epoxy to attach rear view mirror medalions to windshields. So I can’t see how this wouldn’t work to bond glass to glass.

Tester

I’d glue it right back into the spot where it came out. I also would not be surprised if it eventually cracked due to the stress concentration caused by the sharp features and tiny cracks caused by the divot. Especially since repositioning the mirror will put stress on the compromised glass every time it is adjusted. But what have you got to lose by trying?

This just happened to a friend of mine. He ended up cracking the windshield pretty badly reattaching the mirror. The car is only worth about $400 so he doesn’t plan on replacing it.