ShawnOk

iTrader: (1)

The front thin frame has a screw on the back (mirror cover with chrome accent) side in addition to the three on the front (glass side). You won't be able to remove the thin front frame unless you take the cover off and remove that screw. Maybe that could be the problem?

Giambalvo

The problem seems to be at the hinge end of the housing. I can separate the area around the mirror, but it's stuck at the hinge.

ShawnOk

iTrader: (1)

As I did mine about three weeks ago, I'm sure I was able to dismantle the part you're referring to. Check out my thread... https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...n-signals.html... maybe it will help shed some light on the area with which you're having problems. I remember I was able to split the two pieces that surround the "arm" from the underside using a small wedge pry tool.

Poca2704

did you get a response/solution on this? im having the same issue. thanks

Harold57

So I'm going to tie these three posts together for those looking to repair their side mirrors. Obviously, there is this post, see post #1 in this thread.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...ml#post8148152

Then see the thread called "Anatomy of a side mirror".
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...ml#post2823631

And this video in the "Welcome to Club Lexus" thread
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...l#post10736976

All three have very useful information in them.

ossands

What you give is mostly correct and very helpful. However, in the first section where you explain how to disassemble the housing you state that there's a 'clip' behind the point 'E' on your photo. This is wrong. At least for the mirrors that I worked on (2006).

There's actually a screw there that attaches the aft side of the housing to the mirror frame FROM 'BEHIND'. You have to take the fore side of the housing off in order to access this screw and release the aft portion of the housing from the frame. You don't take the aft side off *first*. You have to take the fore side off first.

This is a bit tricky and I achieve this by using a set of "

ABN Angled Flush Cutter Pliers - Spring Loaded Flush Cut Side Cutters, Flat Wire Cutter Soldering and Modeling Clippers "

such as are obtained from amazon, to cut the top of the clips that are holding the fore housing to the frame. There are three, as I think you observed.

I did the 'mirror gut swap' as someone else here as suggested. My SC430 is Matador Red (paint code 3r1) and so finding a mirror on ebay that matches turned out to be a trick. So I ordered-in a black one and did the housing swap.

Following the instructions here I used the armstrong method to remove the aft housing firsts (and kind-of destroyed the aft housing in the process) of the donor mirror. The part of the aft housing that accepts the back-side screw is significantly beefier than would-be a simple clip and so there's a lot of damage that occurs to the aft housing by using the armstrong method. Removing the fore housing first, however, had the advantage that the retainer clips that hold the fore housing to the frame were preserved in the fore housing. Lucky for me. Lots of cursing here.

Learning from the experience, I synthesized the 'cut the clip' method for removing the fore housing *first* and used that on the matador red housing from the existing mirror with broken guts and, thereby preserved the integrity of both the fore and aft housings.

All else went pretty-much as usual. Lots of cursing. It's helpful to have a good set of plastic upholstery levers and a set of pick-and-hook tools and good hand strength and a lot of patience. Make sure to wear safety glasses as you're likely to have some flying plastic shards coming at you.

Not sure where to get replacements for the retainer clips that hold the fore housing to the frame. I don't have anything like that in either of my two Toyota upholstery clip sets. As I mentioned, I used the retainer clips from the donor mirror and that worked fine. If anyone knows this please post it. If you wish to preserve the clips and you don't have a second mirror and decide to remove the fore housing first, I suggest you drill the fore housing where the structure that hold the screw is instead of using brute force. I used brute force when I took apart the donor mirror (still was under the impression that there's a clip holding it all together) and so I can't testify that this will, for sure, work. Nonetheless, if I needed to do this again, and I didn't have a source of replacement clips, I'd try and drill it instead of force it.

Good Luck!
Scott Sands

[QUOTE=Pearlpower;2823631]As the miles and years pour on with a few examples, the side mirrors is an area that can cause some grief. Here is a brief write up on how to service the side mirrors on these cars.

Issue: Continuous clicking noise from mirror anytime the car is placed in reverse and the mirror only tilted half way down. Mirror was adjusted fine. My car is out of warranty.

Options:
1) New mirror-guessing here-$350.00-$500.00 installed.
[stuff deleted]

Raven01750

Good Morning Vietnam! 😁
OSSands. Sorry, but you are responding to a post that is 2-15 years old. We love it when someone clarifies info that may need updates though. 😎

Paul