How easy is it to change the door mirror?

[davek_964]

My passenger mirror is refusing to fold out properly again so I think it's time for it to be replaced. I think I was quoted about £650 from an Indy a year ago - maybe plus vat - about half of which was labour.
I know it's a Volvo part but they seem to be ~£250 vs ~£350 for the Aston part so isn't a huge saving.

I know the door card has to come off, and I think the mirror clips into the surround? I've had the glass out and could see a couple of clips but was wary about breaking them.

I assume you don't need specialist knowledge, so I should either be able to do it myself or find a 'normal' garage at £50 an hour rather than the £100 an hour the Indy would want? (I'm actually dubious it should be 3 hours labour anyway so maybe my memory of the price isn't right).

(2006 V8V - forgot to say)

Edited by davek_964 on Thursday 16th February 17:26

Edited by davek_964 on Thursday 16th February 17:32

Edited by davek_964 on Thursday 16th February 17:33

Edited by davek_964 on Saturday 18th February 21:59

[4Q]

I had mine off to paint them and think I posted on here about 4 years ago with pictures. There are so many Aston mirror threads though that it wouldn't be easy to find.

It wasn't a big job to do, probably less than an hour to remove and refit. The door cards did need to come off and then there were three screws on the back of the mirror housing iirc.

[davek_964]

4Q said:

I had mine off to paint them and think I posted on here about 4 years ago with pictures. There are so many Aston mirror threads though that it wouldn't be easy to find.

It wasn't a big job to do, probably less than an hour to remove and refit. The door cards did need to come off and then there were three screws on the back of the mirror housing iirc.

Thanks. I did search but didn't find what I wanted. I'll search some more - am hour sounds reasonable.

[davek_964]

Got a quote from the Indy - they say it's 2 hours labour, and hence quote a total price of £630 inc vat.

Not willing to pay that, so I will sort it myself I think.

[Car mad enthusiast]

It wont be hard to do. Just take your time and save a small fortune along the way. When I did both my mirrors on my 7VV I just stuck some soft foam on the door under the mirrors and on the door edges just in case they were accidently knocked and or if the mirror unit fell onto the door as removing can be a tad fiddly.

davek_964 said:

Got a quote from the Indy - they say it's 2 hours labour, and hence quote a total price of £630 inc vat.

Not willing to pay that, so I will sort it myself I think.

Edited by Car mad enthusiast on Friday 17th February 10:41

[Sump]

davek_964 said:

Got a quote from the Indy - they say it's 2 hours labour, and hence quote a total price of £630 inc vat.

Not willing to pay that, so I will sort it myself I think.

Can't be right.

Check vehicle damage - 5 min
Fill paperwork etc etc - 5min
Remove door panel - 10 min
Remove mirror - 2 min
Refit and check work 15 min

It's too easy work, maybe they don't fancy getting involved?

[davek_964]

Sump said:

davek_964 said:

Got a quote from the Indy - they say it's 2 hours labour, and hence quote a total price of £630 inc vat.

Not willing to pay that, so I will sort it myself I think.

Can't be right.

Check vehicle damage - 5 min
Fill paperwork etc etc - 5min
Remove door panel - 10 min
Remove mirror - 2 min
Refit and check work 15 min

It's too easy work, maybe they don't fancy getting involved?

I must admit, I think it's taking the p**s slightly. I don't think it's because they don't want to do something so minor, because I was asking what the cost is to do it when they service the car at the start of March. When they quoted the price, they stressed that the labour was because "the door panel, quarter window and window carrier all have to be removed".
When I booked it in for a service, I was debating between them and somewhere else. Although I will probably do it myself, I think I might get a quote from the other place I was considering - if it's a bit more realistic, I may move the service.

[davek_964]

Well, the other specialist quotes £690, and also said it's a lengthy process.

I will take the mirror off and lube the mechanism myself this weekend. If that doesn't solve it, I'll replace the mirror myself. I don't really understand why specialists are commenting on taking the door card etc off as if it's comparable with a top end rebuild....

[davek_964]

Took my mirror off this morning and added some grease to the moving parts. Will see if that solves the problem of it sticking sometimes.

If it doesn't, I did confirm its a Volvo part. The number on it (015846) shows results on eBay but I couldn't find it from online Volvo part sites. However, from the eBay listing it seems to be from V50 / S60 - I couldn't even find any of those listed in Volvo stores which seems odd, but I'm sure you must be able to buy them somewhere!
So if it continues to stick, I will visit the nearest Volvo dealer to see how much they are.

[davek_964]

Since I had nothing else planned this morning, I thought I'd see how hard it was to remove the door panel.
I had it removed and then refitted in just over 15 mins. I've already had the mirror off the arm, so I know that takes literally a minute.
It didn't look to me like the multiplug that the mirror had would fit inside the mirror arm, but I've since realised that the bottom of the mirror arm comes off - although you need to unbolt the arm to do that.

In any case, it clearly isn't rocket science and also clearly wouldn't take me 2 hours let alone a specialist. So if / when my temp fix fails, I will definitely fix it myself.