United Bimmer Community - BMW Forum - E36 M3 Mirror Install DIY (~30-45 minutes)

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E36 M3 Mirror Install DIY (~30-45 minutes)

Note: I first wrote this tutorial when I was a member of bmw-forums, before this site was ever created. I'll change the captions on the images over one day if I get bored, but for now, just ignore them. It's still a good DIY. :) haha

All right, so for those of you who don't know, I recently got my ass kicked by a mailbox, screwing up my passenger side mirror. I said "oops", then realized this would be a great opportunity to upgrade to m3 mirrors. (I'd hate to see what happens if I ever total my car, haha)

Here is a DIY on changing them out. It takes between 30 minutes and an hour, depending on how mechanically inclined you are. :) My car is a 1997 328i, though I'm pretty sure this procedure is the same on all e36's.

Tools needed: Flat head screwdriver, phillips head screwdriver, heavy duty sandpaper or a dremel (maybe), scissors, 10mm socket wrench, some means of connecting wires (saudering iron, butt connectors, etc), and skills for using your fingers (which I'm sure most of us have plenty of, haha)

This DIY will be very heavy on photos, as I believe in a "picture is worth a thousand words", I hate DIYs without them, as it seems far easier.

Here are what my (and probably yours) stock mirrors looked like:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...iy/oldside.jpg

and this is what they'll look like by the end:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...donesingle.jpg

:cheers Now, let's begin.

1) First start by popping off the inside panel of your car. Use a flat head screwdriver to get in there, but be careful not to break off the tabs. It might take a bit of force, but they do just pop off. If you do break it, they're $8.80 from the dealership (not that I'd know or anything, lol)

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...opoffpanel.jpg

When the panel comes off, you'll notice a bunch of foam and sound proofing material inside. It's probably pretty flakey and won't help much. I discarded mine, but some of you might want to be careful and save it to put back in.

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...poffpanel2.jpg

2) Inside you'll find three 10mm bolts holding the mirror on. This is conveniently the same size bolt as the socket in your bmw toolkit in your trunk. In this example I used my own kit though.

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...openinside.jpg

Unscrew the bolts, but be careful to hold the mirror on, because when they come loose it will just fall off, pulling hard on the power cord.

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...boltinside.jpg

At this point it just kinda falls off...

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...decomesoff.jpg

Notice the piece of waterproofing rubber stuck to the mirror. Take that off and don't lose it, you'll use that same piece on your new mirrors.

3) Now pull the wires up from the door and out a little bit so you have some room to work with them.

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...sidewasher.jpg

Unplug the connector and push the big washer out from the hole:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...nsidewires.jpg

I have no clue how BMW got that washer over the connector onto the mirror, and I couldn't figure out how to get it off without cutting the wire.... so I did. :) Snip off the end of the wire going to the mirror and save it (makes it easier to connect the new mirrors) and just throw away the washer if you want. haha, it's not necessary, the outside waterproofing rubber keeps the water out.

4) Now, examine the pieces that came with your new mirrors. You should have a mounting plate and the mirror itself.

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...tingplate1.jpg

Take note to how the mirror will fit onto the mounting plate.

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...tingplate2.jpg

Remember that piece of weatherproofing rubber that fell off the old mirror? That goes between your new mounting plate and the car. Here's the order for mounting on the car: The mirror, new mounting plate, weatherstripping rubber, and door.

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...owitmounts.jpg

5) Now, this step might not apply to everyone. When I got my new mounting plate, the three pegs that you connect it to the door with were too long, so when I held it against the door, it looked like this:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...ntplatebig.jpg

See? Not flush at all, but sticking out. How to fix this? Either dremel down the peg length or use my technique of sandpaper. The pegs aren't threaded yet so its not a problem at all to size them down.

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...ndthatshit.jpg

6) Now it's time to mount the faceplate to the mirror. Simply stick it on, and screw in the 3 small screws into the holes. It should line up perfectly for you.

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...rortoplate.jpg

And when it's mounted: Notice the sanded down pegs and where the screw holes are:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...rortoplate.jpg

7) Now you need to make the waterproofing rubber fit onto your new mount plate. I couldn't get the wire and connector through the small hole for it, so I used scissors to open it up a tad:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...biggerhole.jpg

Now stick the wire through and you're set.

8) Now put those three pieces together and place it on the door so the screw holes in the door line up with the pegs (looking from the inside)

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...rroringcar.jpg

9) Screw the mirror on from the inside using the screws that should come with the mirror, not the bolts... they're too big:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi.../screwiton.jpg

10) Now, pay close attention to this part, lol. The connector that came with my mirrors had 4 pins in a square arangement... the oem connector has 4 pins in a row arangement. What I recommend doing is taking the piece you cut off of the old mirror, plugging it into the connector in the car, and stripping the ends of the four wires. Then plug them into the square connector ports, and turn on the car and test the power functionality. The colors were slightly different on my car, so I can't give you an exact color chart, but look at the picture and see if that helps. Place them into the square connector and test the power. If you have them in the wrong place, it just won't work... it won't hurt anything. Get them positioned correctly here though:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...iringguide.jpg

11) After they're positioned, connect them somehow. I saudered mine, but you could splice the wires and use butt connectors, or whatever method you have for securing these wires in their places. Here's my saudering, which worked perfectly:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mirrorsdiy/sauder.jpg

12) After you're done, tuck the wires down into the door:

http://harry.penguinstudios.com/m3mi...kwiresdown.jpg

pop the face plate back on and you're done!

Enjoy your new M3 style mirrors! :)

nice, the all "jacking off to mirrors" added that little extra touch to the all diy... lol

you know harry this DIY would be better if the Images actually worked just a thought

Harry, what kind of mirrors are those? I've never seen tiny blue ones with ? marks in the middle... :doh

For some reason, not seing any pics, but mine have a vertical mark in the middle that seperates the mirror's wide angle view from regular view...

Erm, I think I lost these pics in the server crash.

I'll look around on my HDD later to see if I have them backed up... :(

hey man why can\'t i see the pics i need this diy... someone help me pleasssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Quote:

Originally Posted by GerlachUSMC

hey man why can\'t i see the pics i need this diy... someone help me pleasssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Try this one... it still works...

http://www.unitedbimmer.com/forums/t...s-removal.html