4.2 Door Mirror - Glass Removal & Minor Mod

[Steve Graham]

I had one niggle with the new car: the driver's side door mirror wouldn't rotate far enough to give me a satisfactory view of the road behind -- too much of the side of the car in the field of view.

I searched the forums to see if anyone had mentioned how to get the mirror glass out for access to the mechanism behind, but didn't find anything, so I decided to just go for it. In fact, it's all very simple, so for the record, here's what I did.

First, the glass on its plastic carrier has hooks at the top and clips at the bottom. With a suitable lever inserted at the bottom edge -- I used a plastic ruler -- you can pop the clips. Then it's just a matter of pulling the piece down and outwards.

The white plastic component which holds the motors and jacks to move the mirror has three holes for access to the screws which hold its black mounting piece to the body of the mirror Shell. This means that you can take both off together without disturbing any of the mechanised parts. I liked that.

A little experimentation showed me that I couldn't change the maximum extent of the motorised rotation. Instead, I put two 2mm plastic spacers on the inboard two screws to make the whole mirror unit slightly more tilted. With the three-screw design, you could equally easily tilt in inwards, upwards or downwards with different combinations of spacers.

This second photo shows the "bare" inside of the mirror housing with the three screw holes where the motor unit and its carrier piece attach; with the little spacers between in my case now.

Re-attaching the mirror glass is just a matter of locating the top hooks (which face upward) and popping the bottom clips in.

The operation was a complete success. Even though I'd changed the position only by a couple of millimetres, that was enough to correct my view. (Of course, the alternate solution would have been to move the driver's seat forward...)

[Big Kev]

I had one niggle with the new car: the driver's side door mirror wouldn't rotate far enough to give me a satisfactory view of the road behind -- too much of the side of the car in the field of view.

I searched the forums to see if anyone had mentioned how to get the mirror glass out for access to the mechanism behind, but didn't find anything, so I decided to just go for it. In fact, it's all very simple, so for the record, here's what I did.

First, the glass on its plastic carrier has hooks at the top and clips at the bottom. With a suitable lever inserted at the bottom edge -- I used a plastic ruler -- you can pop the clips. Then it's just a matter of pulling the piece down and outwards.

The white plastic component which holds the motors and jacks to move the mirror has three holes for access to the screws which hold its black mounting piece to the body of the mirror shell. This means that you can take both off together without disturbing any of the mechanised parts. I liked that.

A little experimentation showed me that I couldn't change the maximum extent of the motorised rotation. Instead, I put two 2mm plastic spacers on the inboard two screws to make the whole mirror unit slightly more tilted. With the three-screw design, you could equally easily tilt in inwards, upwards or downwards with different combinations of spacers.

This second photo shows the "bare" inside of the mirror housing with the three screw holes where the motor unit and its carrier piece attach; with the little spacers between in my case now.

Re-attaching the mirror glass is just a matter of locating the top hooks (which face upward) and popping the bottom clips in.

The operation was a complete success. Even though I'd changed the position only by a couple of millimetres, that was enough to correct my view. (Of course, the alternate solution would have been to move the driver's seat forward...)

As a recently deceased fellow countryman over there used to say....."that's a cracker so it is...." Nice wee mod and thanks for the nod. (Sorta poetry, eh....?)

Big Kev

[Steve Graham]

Cheers, Kev.

[crofter]

Good work Steve

I gotta applaud this, a man after my own heart.(This is an old saying,so no sly inferences please)

A problem sorted in an inexpensive way with items that can be found in the toolbox. (Well in mine anyway !!)

Congrats matie

Del

[firemac]

Good job, Fella.

I must admit that I always found the 4.2's driver's mirror lacking in maximum articulation if the seat was near the back of its travel but I never thought that it could be "adjusted". Might give it a go at the weekend.

Mind you, having owned our 5-dr for 10 years now, it's probably a bit late to be worrying about it................