I installed my mirrors last night. I am thrilled with how the project turned out.
2/17/19 - One big update: you do not need to remove the door cards at all. According to this
thread, just pop off the speaker assembly directly. Thanks qnet!
I purchased my panel tools from
harbor freight. The plastic edges on the tools were not perfectly smooth. To prevent any tiny scratches, I used a micro fiber cloth as a guard between the the paint, the tool, and the trim.
To remove the door card / trim I followed instructions on these two videos
The first one tells you how to remove the panels and access the mirror’s mounting hardware. The second one covers the panel remove as well but also tells you how to remove the tweeter speaker assembly that covers the mounting bolts for the mirror.
You will need a Torx 20 bit to remove the 5 screws on each panel. I found the panels to be more difficult to get off the first time during my dry run of the process than on second time. I think this is why the process looks so easy in the shorter video I posted above because the guy had probably removed the panels a few times before.
Once you remove the mirrors with a Torx 30 bit you might be in for a shock when you install the new ones. I didn’t know that new mirrors from BMW use self threading / tapping screws to thread the mounting holes for the mirror. A quick check on
RealOEM verified the
mounting screws are self threading so you might want to buy six new ones if you are going to do the job yourself.
With the mirror not mounted to the car I “married” each screw to its own hole with a few turns to get the threads started, marked each screw to its hole with a pen and then installed the mirror on the car by returning each screw to its original hole. When mounting the mirror against the car make sure to get the rubber window gasket properly aligned near the door hinge. To secure the mirror I then I worked each of the three screws down a little bit of a time, cycling through all 3, until the mirror was flush against the car.
I couldn’t find any torque specs for the screws but a friend of mine wiggled the mirror while I checked to make sure that none of the screws or their washers moved anymore.
Installation of the door card / panel is essentially opposite of the removal process. I secured the rubber window gasket back into place put the tweeter housing back over the mirror mounting position. The tweeter plastic cover, the piece that has the grill and logo is tricky to get back on securely. Check the two tabs at the bottom of the piece and make sure they are engaged.
Once the panel was back on the door I made sure to secure the clips along the window edge by squeezing the panel and door frame every 6 inches or so until I heard a pop. This might be easy to miss because the panel trim fits tightly against the top of the door but the seams look a little off. It is useful to compare the alignment to the other door so you know what you are aiming for.
Getting the carbon fiber door handle trim back on was a pain too.
