Not sure if this will be of help to folks, but thought I'd offer it up in case.

Backing out of my garage in a particular hurry about a week ago I hit the driver side view mirror hard enough on the side of the garage door frame and it broke a chunk of the plastic housing off the mirror. Fortunately, the glass did not break because after calling around, I found out from Sewell that Lexus now sells the housing seperately from the glass for ~250 vs the $570 I was quoted by my dealer for having to buy the whole assembly including the glass.

So, if you happen to be as knuckleheaded as me, you can just replace the housing and not the glass. The housing comes with everything in it, except the glass. You just need to pry the glass off the old mirror (CAREFULLY, the glass is $300 if you have to buy it)

As far as replacing the mirror, it was pretty straightforward. You remove the door panel as has been discussed before. For those who can't find that post,

1) Roll window down

2) Pop off the plastic cover behind the door handle.

3) Usy a pry tool to pop up the window switch panel. Then carefully pull it out, remove connectors, and set aside

4) On the left inside the hole exposed by removing the window switch assembly, there's a 10mm bolt you then remove.

5)Carefully pull the bottom and sides of the door panel off. The top will remain attached. Do NOT try to force the door panel off by pulling out on the top of the panel.

6) Once you have the door panel pulled off except at the top, you will need to pull the door panel UP. The way I was able to get it off was by lifting the back part of the door panel up before the front. This was a hint I got from the tint shop that did my car. When installing it, you will need to do the reverse (the front of the door panel will need to be pushed down before the back). Make sure you either have located any clips that fell out of the door or have replacements.

7) Disconnect the remaining wiring harnesses and the door and lock mechanism linkages and set panel aside.

8) Do whatever you pulled the door panel off for. In my case, that entailed disconnecting the wiring harnesses for the mirror from the control unit. I also removed the control unit to get access to the hole you have to reach through to get to the 3 bolts holding the mirror on. Then, remove the plastic sheeting covering the hole to gain access to the bolts. Then CAREFULLY take the nuts off by accessing them through the holes you've freed up by removing the sheeting. I highly reccommend using a magnetic tool if you have one because if you drop the nuts, you're in trouble. I used a 10mm socket on a 6" ratchet extension and was able to carefully get them out without dropping them. Then it's pretty much reverse and wire it back up. The plastic clip holding the existing wiring harness to the door was a pain to get out, but I had to just go at it a bunch of times and break it. The new mirror came with a new clip, so that wasn't a big deal. Not the right way, but it worked.

9) Basically reverse 1-7. Of note however:
a) When you reconnect the lock and handle linkages, make sure the cable housing slots into the notch on the door. It's hard to explain, but the cable has a groove in it, that is supposed to ride in a cutout in the door panel frame just behind the door handle and lock. If it doesn't ride in there, it won't operate the lock and handle correctly.
b) Some clips will fall out as you are putting the door back on. I found the best way to deal with this is to lower the top part of the panel back onto the metal frame by lowering the tweeter side first, then the back side. Now your panel will be hanging loose on the frame. If any clips, fell out, you can now go back and put them into their place.

Hopefully this helps. Apologies for the lack of pictures, but I didn't have a camera handy when I did it.

 

Thanks for the info. Speaking of mirrors, Do the IS250s have the "folding mirrors" feature when parked??

 

^^^ Not the US version.

 

Is there anyway to get it on the US version??

 

^^ that would be cool. iv seen it on a Mercedes and it pretty cool

 

Great info. I was wondering if our cars are prewire for the folding mirrors, like some other brands? it will be nice to just get the mirrors and the control switch and plug & play...

 

does the 2is have auto dimming mirrors? i saw it on my friend's new Acura TL sh-awd

 

U can fold the mirrors urself I think yea I think the mirrors do auto dim. The rearview

 

Thanks for the detailed instructions on how to replace the side view mirror housing, can you elaborate on how to pry the mirror glass off? I want to be extra careful as the replacement glass is so expensive.

 

I backed out and hit my driver side mirror on a pole. Only the plastic above the mirror is damaged. I see it on Sewell for $440 painted. OP, or anyone else, where did you see it for $250?

 

There is a junk yard in Sacramento, Ca with about 6 IS's for parts right now

 

Thanks for the heads up. Whats the name of the place or phone number? I'm in NC btw.

Anyway, might help others. I found it on Sewell's site. Its part number 87906B. $143 with CL discount and painted.

http://is.sewellparts.com/oem-catalo...S350-2008.html

 

how do u get CL discount?

 

https://secure.sewellparts.com/account/index.html

Register with your clublexus screen name. Then login and you will see the discount.

 

[QUOTE=istarzan;6793881]https://secure.sewellparts.com/account/index.html

Register with your clublexus screen name. Then login and you will see the discount.[

thanks. My side mirror housing cracked and chipped a little and it doesn't look like they sell housing separately so i'm still deciding whether to install a brand new one or just try to fix it.
one body shop said they'll find the same type of plastic and weld it and seal it and paint it for ~$200.
wonder what will be a better option...