Side View Mirror Replacement

Driving a car these days is an exercise in concentration. As a car driver in action, you need to have your attention, not only in front, but also on the sides and at the back. Unfortunately, we humans only have two pair of eyes at the front and no eyes at the back. That may be because evolution has yet to catch up with humans driving cars. What evolution does not provide us with, we cure with technology. Instead of eyes at the back, we have side view and rear view mirrors attached, which can give us a total 'rear' vision while driving. What happens when a side view mirror is broken? You fix it if it can be fixed or replace it of course.

A side view mirror can be of two types, depending on what is the car model. It may either be a manual side view mirror assembly or an electric side view mirror assembly. We will only discuss the replacement of a manual side view mirror here. The cost of replacement can be $40 - $160 (cost of new side view mirror depending on build and brand) plus labor charges extra. You can save the labor charges by buying a mirror and fixing it on your own.

Manual Side View Mirror Replacement
Let us see the manual procedure. The tools you will need for the act are the following:

• Telescopic magnet
• Philips head screwdriver
• 3/8 inch drive ratchet and socket
• 3/8 inch drive 3 inch extension
• New side view mirror assembly

Let us now see the step by step procedure to replace side view mirror of the manual type.

• To replace the side view mirror, first open the car door to which it is attached and observe the inner side. See if you will have to remove the entire door panel or only a triangular shaped molded panel on interior side of the door. This houses the assembly which holds the mirror.
• Once you have located the door panel, locate the screws that fix it to the door. The screw holes may be masked with plugs which you may need to remove before you can gain access for removing the door panel screws.
• Manual side view mirrors come with manual windows. So, you will have to remove the window roll handle to remove the door panel. Once all nuts are removed along with the window roll, remove the door panel. In case, you have a triangular molding which gives an exclusive access to the back side of the side view mirror, remove that. Take care that you do not damage the molding or casing of the door panel.
• Now remove any more covering under the door panel, that hides the nuts which hold the side view mirror in place. Before removing those nuts, you may have to remove the mirror adjuster lever by unscrewing it. Next, using a ratchet, socket and extension, remove the nuts on the side view mirror studs. Use the telescopic magnet, so that, none of the nuts fall off after removal. While doing this, ask somebody to hold the side view mirror from outside, so that, it doesn't fall off.
• After you have removed the nuts, slowly remove mirror from the outside, without making any scratches on the door.
• Now that you have removed the old side view mirror, it is time to replace it, with a new one. Insert the mirror from outside and ask somebody to hold it. Fix the nuts from the inside using the ratchet. Align the mirror alignment liver again and fix it. Put back all the covering that you removed from the inside of the door panel.
• Fix the door panel back in place and tighten its screws using the screwdriver. Put the window roll lever back in place. This concludes the procedure.

As you can see, the procedure is quite simple and can be easily done by any body who is willing to devote a bit of his/her time to the job, using the right tools.