Replacing the driver's side mirror

Feb 18, 2006 6 Replies
F

An unfortunate altercation with a parking garage pole has left my driver's side mirror in shambles. I maintain that the pole was clearly at fault, although it was admittedly not moving at the time.



Is such a thing best repaired by the stately but overpriced engineers at my local VW Dealership, or should I entrust the car to Joe's Body Shop and hope for the best? What sort of money should I expect to part with? I think the whole assembly probably needs replacing as a lot of the plastic has cracked and the motor doesn't turn on.



The car is a 2000 Beetle and has otherwise served me well.



Thanks for your expert guidance, Frank



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H

Try and find a used replacement from a breakers or eBay, preferably in the right colour. If not the right colour, get it painted. Fit it yourself.

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P

My guess: $200 at the dealership - assuming that the only thing damaged is the mirror (not the door).

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L

Duct tape keeps the repair price down! Go used a figure about 1 hour labor to have a shop do the exchange.

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F

Thanks for the replies.

The good news is that the motor started working again after I un-jammed the broken plastic and I think I can probably glue the plastic back together - but the glass is still shattered.

Any idea where I can order the glass? I searched a couple of parts web sites but for some reason they only stock the passenger side mirror, not the driver's side.

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M

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it might not be in their online catalogs but they still can probably get the part. I got mirror glass for my '91 GTI from parts4vws.com and got a fuel pressure regulator for the same car from europarts-sd (my point being mostly that stuff in their catalog isn't all they have...just call them or email and tell them what you need and they'll let you know if they have it). For mirror glass make sure you tell them that it's power and also if it does or doesn't have heating capability.

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R

You might try checking the Classifieds on The VW Vortex, which can be found at forums.vwvortex.com should my HTML be rusty or you don't want to clicky the link. I search their before going anywhere else and you might be able to find the whole deal for cheaper than replacement glass, although I know they have people who will sell nothing but the glass as well. Good luck, and good hunting.

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