Remove door mirror without taking door trim off?

[HPsauce]

This is an interesting conundrum and I think there "ought" to be an answer.

I have a replacement nearside folding door mirror mechanism (acquired in exchange for a number of Her Majesty's flexible beer tokens from our hosts) as mine is a bit "random" on folding.

The instructions start with the rather tedious process of removing the door card, which quite frankly I'd rather avoid.
There are actually no details of removing the mirror itself and I can find no photos of that area online, but I "presume" (dangerous I know) that it involves taking off the triangular plastic cover on the inside of the door (above the main trim) and undoing the retaining bolt/screw that holds the mirror to the frame.
It then appears to lift off the captive electrical connector and of course the secondary electrical cable needs disconnecting, with the complication of the connectors being deep inside the door - but I can probably deal with that .

I can't see how the triangular cover comes off, is it possible to do that without removing the main door trim, or perhaps just "adjusting" it slightly at the edge? Is it for example just a push (clip) fit or are there some screws too?

If I can remove that and then get the mirror off its mounting, I'm fairly comfortable with (carefully and individually) cutting and splicing the wires in the cables (7 in mine I think) and getting the new unit in.

I'm hoping someone who has "been there before me" can offer some advice. Fingers crossed.

[47p2]

Would be easier removing the door card

[HPsauce]

Care to elaborate a bit as to why?
And do you know how the triangular cover is held in place.

[Adrian E]

I've attached the exploded diagrams and instructions from ElsaWin for the door trim and mirror - hope it helps

Adrian

[HPsauce]

Thanks for that Adrian, very helpful.
It suggests that the triangular trim is indeed just clipped on, so I'll investigate further.

It also says that with memory mirrors (like mine) you need to remove the door trim, but isn't quite clear what that means.
As stated earlier I'm prepared to cut & splice cables if necessary so a bit of cautious step-by-step investigation will take place - tomorrow if it's not raining!

The cable on the mirror is over 50cm long so I imagine it "delves" well down behind the door card, but hopefully will have some slack!

[Adrian E]

I would imagine the description of how to remove the door card is a lot more long winded than the actual process - compared to splicing wiring in a confined space. It can't take that long to get off or there'd be hours of labour involved every time a spanner needs twirling near a locking mechanism or similar

Once it's off it's plug and play and should take no time at all

[HPsauce]

You may well be right; I've had all the door cards (and much else besides) off my Focus several times, but they're a lot simpler and lighter. Not to mention VERY easy to obtain replacements if you mess them up.
Platinum leather/alcantara PF S8 door trims are a bit rarer.......

Just want to keep my options open....

[Adrian E]

I'd imagine a couple of quid spent at euro car parts on a trim removal tool and a potential trip to the dealer for a few clips should be the worst case scenario unless you're as ham fisted as me, which I doubt

[HPsauce]

My ham-fistedness is the issue.
(I have trim tools and spare clips already, A8parts supplied some with the mirror mechanism)

Anyway, I've made progress today in the absence of rain. Two steps forwards and 3 back....

Got the triangular trim off, it does indeed clip on.
But the retaining bolt for the mirror is a T45 which I don't have - solved later.
I could see the secondary cable was tight (no slack) and cable-tied down the front of the door behind the door card/trim, so decided to start on removing it.

Decorative "wood" (actually painted metal) strip came off OK. Big screws behind (only 2 of 3 are there!) equally easy. Door handle section and 2 screws behind it OK plus minor screws on top rail. Started to ease away at the front of the door and soon gained access to the cable and connector with the door trim only part-released.
Had a bit of an "issue" with the top popping over the locking button and not going back again but sorted that eventually with lots of brute force and ignorance.
So far so good.

There was a lot of duct tape and some missing screws and clips, so someone has DEFINITELY been here before. But not recently as far as I know.

Mate popped round with a T45 and we got the mirror unit off OK.
Dismantled it fine and tried to fit aluminium cover on the "new" mechanism - wouldn't go!
Close examination showed the cover wouldn't go over the little T-shaped lug next to the pivot. It had an L-shaped slot!
And the lug on the old (failing) mirror had been "trimmed" from a T to an L.
So it looks like the previous owner had replaced the covers and possibly not with OEM ones, though they look fine. Possibly he'd had them nicked and had an "economy" fix? I've seen comments online about having to trim these lugs for some covers but can't recall which/where. Thoughts anyone?

Couldn't get at the "new" lug to trim it so I plugged the mirror in and folded it making access easier and managed to trim it down. Fitted the cover (3 fiddly T10 screws ) and mounted it on the car - folded by now of course.
Didn't put the mirror glass back on yet - last step once it's all OK; in fact I have a new one ready to fit as the old one had stopped demisting.

First test - it only unfolded about 25%.
Made sure it was all nice and clean, no debris, WD40 etc etc and tried again - several times.
It folds fine, but only unfolds at most 1/3rd unless you appply "gentle encouragement" with a finger. And after unfolding there is significant "slack" allowing the mirror to wiggle about, so obviously the mechanism is worn/loose.

Not what I expected or wanted especially given some hours of careful work.

I now have a half-detached door trim, and a mirror that is worse than it was so not a particularly happy bunny.

I'll be emailing A8parts in the morning as they supplied the mechanism to me.

[HPsauce]

Well no reply yet to my morning email to A8parts, but it's been raining here most of the day anyway so I've had no urgency to do anything related to the car.

Finally there was a break in the rain about 5pm so I went outside and refitted the original mirror unit and put everything back together.
Almost back to square one (Just need to sort out some of the trim clips along the bottom.)