Center rear view mirror droops

The center rear view mirror (autodimming homelink) in my 2004 Prius has begun to fall forward; the ball/socket joints just aren't holding tight enough, so every day or two I would have to readjust the mirror up as gravity causes it to fall down.

There don't seem to be any screws or other ways of adjusting the tension on those ball and socket joints.

I brought it into the Toyota dealer and the only idea they had was to replace it for three hundred some dollars.

I then decided I would be clever and try forcing some Museum Wax into the ball and socket joints, but that actually made it much worse. Now the mirror won't stay up at all, just flops down pointing towards the floor.

It's clear that I have to clean that gunk out somehow now. Has anyone found a solution to the drooping mirror issue?

 

Thanks for the idea. This link shows the new 453 model mirror, which seems to have a stronger mounting system than the 313 mirror from my 2004 Prius:

Gentex HomeLink Autodimming Mirrors GNTX-313 and GNTX-453 Series comparison

 

I just spent hours jury rigging lots of solutions, and nothing really worked well.

I tried:

- Disassembed the mirror assembly to get inside (not clean; using a scraper to pry it open left a few marks and required lots of forcing).

- I was able to remove the ball/socket assembly from the mirror, to clean it out. I dipped it in some iso alcohol and that seemed to give back some friction.

- I used coarse sandpaper on the balls to roughen them up, improved grip a little.

- Feeling this wasn't enough grip to prevent the droops, I got out a crescent wrench and tried to crimp the sleeves around the balls more tightly. Unfortunately, I messed it up with too much pressure, and popped one of the balls out of it's socket, and completely trashed it making it unusable.

- So I decided to try and replace the ball and socket assembly with
http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B000UVODFC?tag=priuschatcom-20 required finding the right nut (it's not a standard size) enlarging the hole in the metal plate inside the mirror, and thinning it out with a larger drill bit. But I figured the mirror was toast anyway, so might as well go for it.

- One of these Wink mirror install kits was too tight around the wedge on my windshield, and the included plastic size adapter broke while installing it. So I went back to the auto parts store.

- The next Wink mirror install kit had too much play in the adapter, so I decided to epoxy the adapter onto the Wink mirror install kit. But then when I went to install that, the plastic adapter cracked again. I think the toyota wedge on the windshield is just a bit wider than aftermarket.

So I'm giving up and ready to buy a new gentex mirror. But which one? I'd prefer to just buy the $69 GENK2A which only has autodimming, but an ebay listing

eBay Motors: GENTEX 50-GENK2A AUTO DIM DIMMING REAR VIEW CAR MIRROR (item 270369906002 end time May-05-09 16:03:53 PDT)

shows a different connector, so I would probably have to rewire a new harness.

So I'm thinking of getting one of the autodim/homelink models, which seem to be the least expensive ways to get a plug-compatible mirror.

 

Turning it upside down and loctite would be good ideas for next time.

I ended up finding an ebay seller of gentex mirrors, wembleysells.com, who was very helpful in figuring out what parts I needed, and sold me a replacement gentex 453 mounting arm (which is beefier than the 313 mounting arm that my 04 Prius homelink mirror came with). I had to pry open the mirror with a scraper along the seam to change it out which left a few small scratches, but I installed it and now the original mirror is stronger than ever. I have no relationship with him other than being a very satisfied customer for this purchase, but I would recommend that people take a look at his auctions if they are in the market for gentex mirrors; again he was very helpful.