My son's car was hit in a parking lot, and the right side view mirror housing was damaged. It wasn't just the skullcap, but also the bottom piece and the main, inner body. Although I have access to Chilton's from the library, it doesn't show anything about taking the mirror apart. Fortunately, I could look at the new body to see what goes where. The last screw was just about invisible and just as difficult to get to. I broke a piece off the housing to make it easier to get a screwdriver in there. I won't be able to do that when I put it back together, though. Maybe I can find a flexible screwdriver in one of my tool drawers.

Another challenge was removing the glass mirror itself. Honda's directions say to push a screwdriver in there and twist. I played it cautious and used a Dremel to cut away the bottom of the housing so I could see what I was doing. Putting it back in blind will be a challenge. Even when I could looked inside, it was not easy removing the mirror from all the clips. There are two connectors (five wires) that move the mirror, so the mirror-mover must be removed before the unit can be taken off the car. I don't know why they didn't make those connections removable from outside the body. Removing the mirror-mover was another challenge because the four very tight screws are partially under the platform that holds the mirror.

Cars should be designed with input from mechanics. I'll post pictures later. This would have cost $100+ in labor. Parts cost $241, but one skullcap was for the driver's side, probably my mistake. My Fit was hit in the left mirror, and the skullcap and trim cost $200. All cars should have mirrors that automatically fold into the body when the engine is shut off.

 

I went through the removal and reinstall as well. I attempted to install a universal light weight CF mirror

I'm in full agreement, uninstall, and for fun .... disassembly of the mirror is just plain crazy. so many screws, hiding underneath other plastic panels. and lots of screws going in odd directions

 

Making the mirror difficult to disassemble was designed to prevent crazy people from wanting to work on their car. Obviously the design needs further refinement with additional hidden screws maybe even requiring a special tool that these crazy people won't have. Then maybe they'll finally throw in the towel and surrender to their dealership.

 

Cars are designed for speed of assembly. The mirror is most likely a subassembly from a third party. The assembly plant I worked at we built a car every 45 seconds. That means the mirror has to be put on in 45 seconds or the line stops. Three nuts and a clip on the assembly line. I assume Honda has a similar cycle time at their assembly plants?

Use youtube

You should have just bought the whole assembly used from a junk yard. I paid $125 because I was impatient and wanted one local that day. Took about 20 minutes to remove the door panel, remove the three nuts holding the mirror assembly to the door, disconnect the clip, attach the used mirror assembly with three nuts, reconnect the wiring clip, and reinstall the door panel.

Automatic folding mirror cost lots of money. Thirty cents per car is HUGE in the auto industry. When I worked at Chrysler one of the supervisors in the final a assembly area figured out how to save thirty cents per car. That was Kaizen of the month. Picture up on the big light up board, blah, blah blah. No offense but we bought low priced little sh_t box cars. If you want those type of mirrors you need to spend more than $20K for a car

 

We used to have a fantastic local junk yard. T\When the owner died, those who took over couldn't maintain it. Now there are stores on that lot.

 

I would look at my ytube channel for the mirror removal when I did the heated mirror mod. No dremel needed. That bottom piece is not sold with the skull, but the entire base assembly of the mirror itself. Thats big $$$, more than the skull. 4 tabs hold the skull, and a flat head screwdriver pries the mirror off the white plastic mount that moves. I've done this job like 4 times already so Im sure of all this info.

 

Aside from the actual glass mirror, that part was easy. The difficult part was figuring how to remove the main body. There is one Philips screw that holds the pivoting section in place, and there;'s no direct straight path to that screw. With the skull cap removed, you can see that the mirror pivots on a thin round column. There is a small Philips screw that must be removed from the bottom of that column. I'll get pictures when the car returns.

 

You cant remove the pivot part of the mirror from the base thats attached to the door itself. It is clipped in with a spring mechanism. You need to remove the inner door skin and remove the 3 bolts holding the whole mirror assembly to the outer door skin.

 

Right. The pivot part is remaining on the car door. Removing that "underneath" Philips screw let me lift the body of the mirror assemble off the pivot mechanism. With my son's work schedule and my own schedule. it will be a while before I get the mirror back on.

 

I got the mirror put back on yesterday. Now I have to put the door panel back. As it turned out, I bought a complete mirror.

At first, I bought the parts I thought I needed. Then I needed something else. Then I needed something else. There must be at least a hundred separate pieces in the mirror, and there are no good illustrations available. Even buying the entire mirror, I still had to put on the skull cap and bottom piece. It all snaps together, but you must have the order just right.

So now I have most of the parts, including the LaneWatch camera, for another mirror. All I have to do is assemble it.

 

Sounds like you have to be an expert at jigsaw puzzles and a crazy amount of time to get it back in shape.