Background
My Mother had a bit of an accident with her car. While trying to avoid a collision with an on coming vehicle(their fault not hers) she moved over and the door mirror of her car and that of a parked car collided. The over car's mirror was un damaged but the glass came out of hers and as the photographs below show that her mirror was broken off. The omner of the parked car confirmed that there was no damage to her car.
The door mirror was not repairable so i checked out the cost of an official Nissan replacement....the figure quoted was GBP210 for the unit itself, tax and fittting was extra taking the cost close to GBP300! I felt this was simply far too much so i decided to see if any pattern parts were available. I was able to track down parts fairly easily but confirming that they were for the exact model took a couple of weeks including one attempt where the wrong part was supplied. I was able to get a good quality replacement for slightly under GBP60, a considerable saving over the official Nissan replacement cost.
The door mirror was not repairable so i checked out the cost of an official Nissan replacement....the figure quoted was GBP210 for the unit itself, tax and fittting was extra taking the cost close to GBP300! I felt this was simply far too much so i decided to see if any pattern parts were available. I was able to track down parts fairly easily but confirming that they were for the exact model took a couple of weeks including one attempt where the wrong part was supplied. I was able to get a good quality replacement for slightly under GBP60, a considerable saving over the official Nissan replacement cost.
The door mirror was ripped from its mountings by the collision. Unfortunately the mounting studs were snapped and could not be repaired. The mounting plate was also cracked so the entire unit would have to be replaced.
The covers and door trim had to be removed to allow good access to the mounting holes. This picture shows how one of the mounting studs was still attached to the door panel. This picture shows the two units together. The new one is at the top and the original one at the bottom. The painted cover from the original unit will be put onto the new unit as it was undamaged in the impact.
On initial fitting of the new unit i was not happy with the fit of the mounting plate on the door frame so i gently heated the plate over a gas ring and gently re-shaped it holding it in place while it cooled and rechecking the fit. After a couple of careful patient attempts i was much happier with the fit and sure that water would not get in behind the plate. I reconnected the wiring and checked the operation of the mirror before refitting the covers
|
Here the remains of one of the mounting studs can be seen. Initially i had to recover the metal mounting studs as some of the replacement units did not include these. They were easily removed using mole wrenches and a pair of pliers.
For the first couple of weeks the mirror was secured in place using duct tape but i had to keep taking it off to show possible suppliers the actual mirror unit so i decided to tape up the hole to stop water getting in until a new unit had been replaced
Here the new unit mounting studs can be seen with the securing nuts from the old unit in place. The internal cover plate is also shown. I had to repair one of the securing studs as it got damaged when i removed it.
After checking the fit, alignment and operation of the mirror the internal and external panels were fitted and the car was back to normal. Now my mother will be able to reverse again using the mirror without leaving a huge gap between the car and the kerb.
|
Although trying to locate the correct parts was a little time consuming and frustrating, primarily due to the manufacturers making modifications mid production run the cost savings were enormous, at least GBP120. All that was required was a little patience and a few tools and a little research and determined effort to complete the job.