Anyone dis-assemble a side-view mirror? Silly q, but...

[wombatsauce]

I got a replacement door mirror for my car - the LH door mirror is broken. So, I got the whole assembly from a SAAB spares yard. I was walking out to the garage to see if it were the same color, and on the way, tripped, fell and dropped my new mirror. The mirror is fine, but broke only the small black trim on the vertical that attaches to the door. Aside from feeling like a total idiot, I don't want to install it and stare at the broken piece forever, so I would like to take the good mechanism and put it in my good housing. Can anyone help with tips on how to take it apart?

[Saaber95er]

Remove the moulding that holds the mirror adjustment switch to expose the 3 bolts; and your good to go.

[Genespleen]

Hmmm...I've not done it, but I had a deer disassemble one for me last week. That and the other work he did came to a $5300 estimate at the bodyshop.

[bob3000]

Originally Posted by Saaber95er

Remove the moulding that holds the mirror adjustment switch to expose the 3 bolts; and your good to go.

Be carefull not to drop any of the three screws into the door, you willl be taking ALL the interior trim off the door for retrieval.

.

[wombatsauce]

Originally Posted by Saaber95er

Remove the moulding that holds the mirror adjustment switch to expose the 3 bolts; and your good to go.

That's how to get it off the car - which I do appreciate - but I needed to tear the mirror itself down (because I broke the new one darn it).

Originally Posted by bob3000

Be carefull not to drop any of the three screws into the door, you willl be taking ALL the interior trim off the door for retrieval.

.

That is exactly the sort of thing I probably would have done, so thank you as well! I used some paper shoved in there as a little ramp to have them roll out if they dropped.

All back together now. I thought the worst as the plugs and adjuster units were different, but strangely enough, even though the pinouts were different - it worked. If it weren't a SAAB, this would probably worry me.

Here's why I needed to do this, here's what got broken when I dropped the new mirror:



At the same time, I wanted to do this after noticing that the new mirror's outer cover looked like crap, it was all rock chipped and actually broken toward the car side (hard to see in the pic):



My original is on top.

This is what was actually broken on my car - the adjuster unit. There is a fin that sticks up into the middle of the white arm, and it snapped off, letting the mirror glass flop around.



Here's the mess I made on my livingroom floor:



Wives love stuff like this!

Here's my assembled hybrid mirror with the 2002 plastic trim and 1999 guts, case and adjuster. Still need to install the outer cover which was drying in the dish drainer at this time (everything was very dirty):



It's on the car now and works well. It was like a "bad puzzle" to take it apart but not really that bad for a European car.

In case anyone needs to do this in the future:

Remove the adjusting unit:

1. Move/tilt the glass enough to get a flat-blade screwdriver in behind it to un-snap the mirror glass off the adjuster. There are two clips that hold it on, in 4 places around the circle on the adjuster directly behind the glass. There is a perfect ~5mm wide area between each two clips where you can stick a screwdriver and GENTLY prize it apart. Be super careful as the plastic is pretty brittle at this age. The clips are not flat on the contact side, so they will slip apart but you need to be careful.

2. Once you release two of the sets of clips, the mirror should just pop off. Unplug the contacts for the heater if equipped, and lay the glass aside. Now, you will see the adjuster unit and the two motors and such. There are three small-headed brass colored screws that hold this unit to the inside of the mirror housing. One is accessed through the center bar. Remove these, and the unit simply comes off the housing. Un-plug it and you are done. If you want to remove the cover, there are two screws to pull out, and 4 sets of "pinch clips" to release. Remove the screws, and using a needle-nose pliers, pinch the clips together to release the cover off the back. NOTE: there is a small clip that is at the car-side of the mirror housing that was already broken on my replacement mirror. You can get this released by GENTLY pressing in on the black plastic tab while wiggling the cover out of it's hold. I was able to do this on mine, but it wasn't super easy.

Anyway - hope this helps in case anyone needs to pull their side-view mirror apart! I didn't find anything when I searched, which is why I added all the above stuff.

Thanks again for the tips!! Cheers!

[Whasaabi]

I don't mean to thread-jack, but;

Can you guys tell me if the mirror glass can be tightened somehow. My driver's side mirror glass vibrates on the highway.

[Saaber95er]

Check the bolts for the mirror assembly, when they loosen the mirror vibrates; at first I thought it was booming system but then with the volume down it would shake; when I removed the molding one bolt missing.

Originally Posted by Whasaabi

I don't mean to thread-jack, but;

Can you guys tell me if the mirror glass can be tightened somehow. My driver's side mirror glass vibrates on the highway.

[wombatsauce]

Originally Posted by Whasaabi

I don't mean to thread-jack, but;

Can you guys tell me if the mirror glass can be tightened somehow. My driver's side mirror glass vibrates on the highway.

Yep - my used one did this. It's most likely one or both of the two metal spring tensioners behind the mirror glass. There is one on top and one on the side away from the car. The ones on the used glass were bent, and mine were straight - and the new glass does not vibrate. Sitting in your seat, aim the mirror as far down and to the right as it will go, and you should see the metal springs I am talking about pointing back from the glass. See if those are bent.

Failing all of that, you could stuff a piece of soft foam behind the mirror to stop the vibes.