A side view mirror is an essential part of a car or a motorcycle, which helps the driver to look at the vehicles approaching him from his behind. This helps the driver to know when to slow down or be extra careful while taking some sharp turns. All the cars are provided with a pair of side view mirrors, one at either side. Now, if this essential tool is broken, it should be immediately replaced by a new one. This article only deals with the replacement procedure of manual type side view mirror and not the electric type.
Firstly, the door of the car, the side on which the damage occurred, is to be opened and the inner side is to be examined, to see whether the entire door or only the triangular shaped molded panel is to be removed. Now, find the screws holding up the panel of the door and remove them. If some plugs are masking them, you will have to remove them first. Sometimes, the handle of the window roll is also to be removed before that. The casing or molding of the panel of the door should not be damaged in any way during this course.
Now the nuts holding the side view mirror up should be taken out carefully. Some additional nuts may have to be taken out prior to that if they are in anyway hiding the mirror nuts. Also, the lever of the mirror adjuster may have to be removed. Now, using a socket, extension and a rocket, the side view mirror nuts are to be removed. A telescopic magnet at this point will ensure that the nuts do not fall off after removal. In addition, at this time, somebody else can hold up the side view mirror from the outside to keep that from falling too. Now, the ratchet is used to fix up the nuts from the inner side. The mirror alignment lever then, is to be aligned and fixed and the door panel is to be assembled back, along with the window roll lever.
