Replacement of external mirror casing

Stupid I damaged my passenger side external mirror, parts of the casing broke out. I glued them back on (leaving for holidays the next day), but this does not look acceptable.

I have bought a used complete mirror assembly (which includes the window triangle, the arm, the actual casing and all components therein) in the correct colour and now wonder, whether it is possible to replace the mirror casing only, leaving the arm as is. i.e. without removing it from the door (which would seem not exactly a swift job).

I unscrewed the 3 torx screws in the bottom of the arm. The casing comes off the arm, but the electrical wires prevent removal. I have not disassembled anything at the door, but can see from the replacement parts that the connector in the door will not fit through the arm cavity. I can look behind the mirror glas and see connectors (heating and motors), but there is no chance to get hold to them.

Is there any chance to remove the mirror from the casing/drive block therein without destroying any components? If so, it would be very straight forward to replace the casing, since then the wires could be removed from the old casing and fitted into the new one, followed by assembly of the casing to the arm and reassembly of the wires and mirror glas.

 

I found out.

Take a flat tool and carefully pry the mirror glass off the motor unit, best at the outmost end of the mirror glas. To the mirror glas a plastic element is jointed, which (reversably) clicks into a counterpart being part of the motor unit.

Then the two contacts of the glas heater can be removed, whereafter the mirror glas can be put aside. Then the motor unit can be removed and the contacts be disconnected.

Then remove the three screws holding the mirror casing to the arm and remove the casing from the arm, thereby pulling the wires out of the casing.

Fitting is simply the reverse process, wherein refitting of the mirror glass is somewhat less sweat raising.

Ich refuse to take responsibility for broken glasses, if this route is followed ;o))

 

Hi Bill,

I will make fotos this weekend and post them next Monday.

Exact, the (movable) casing is exchangable this way without a need to remove anything else in or at the door, since the mirror arm remains where it is and the electrical connectors are disconnected in the mirror casing.

An additional advantage is, that in case of a spare part of wrong colour only the casing needs to be painted. For a painting job the glass and the motor unit need to be removed anyway.

Cheers, Bernhard

 

So, here are the fotos in a step by step manner. Please disregard the awful provisional repair shown in the first foto, it happened just one day before start into the holidays.

The only special tool you need is a T10 Torx bit for the screws in der mirror housing. All other is standard stuff.

Be brave, when carefully prying off the mirror glas ;o)). Another issue are the heater contacts on the mirror. It might be advisable to fixedly hold the contact on the glas using a plier (with cloth) and then to carefully remove the connector, which sits rather strongly on the contact. Simply pulling off of the connector would presumably destroy the heating element by ripping off the contact.

All other steps are rather easy. At the end, watch out not to make a scratch into the door. Do not forget to remove dead spiders and the like in the case.

Fitting of the new mirror case is reverse, obviously. The glass snaps in easily.
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Sorry, but I do not know, whether this will work with a 456, but I would assume that it is quite the same. Maybe someone else knows for sure?

 

Bill & Bay, thanks for the kind words, I am happy and greatful to be able contribute to a community, where so much valuable technical information is provided openly by various users. Bay, I love those on-board track day videos on your homepage.

 

Having had the replacement casing repainted due to dents, I yesterday refitted the mirror and took the time during the (patiently) work. It took 15 minutes "door to door" in my private workshop. Give additional 5 minutes in case of the disassembly (due to particular care when taking off the heater contacts), then the total time needed for replacement is just a bit above half an hour.

The paint job was done by a local smart repair shop, very well done, costs 50.-- Euro.