How To change W204 Wing Mirrors

[R2D2]

I decided to update my big pre facelift wing mirrors for the newer LED facelift ones. Just in case you either need to change a wing mirror or fancy doing this mod then this is How To. First of all remember to have the car turned off and the key out of the ignition when working on the car as an unintentional short can cost 00s! Also be very careful of scratching trims etc. Don't drop screws inside the door card.

These are the before photos.

First of all you need to wind the window down in order to get your fingers behind the tweeter grill. Gently pull the grill off from the window side remembering that the grill is connected by a cable to the speaker.

Then remove the sound proofing.

Then remove the cover to the door control unit. Gently pull the cover from the hinge of the door side.

Unplug the two cables that come from the door mirror to the control box.

Undo the three torx screws that hold the mirror to the door. Obviously you need to hold the mirror otherwise when the third screw comes out, the mirror will fall down your door and smash!

Before you can feed the cable out of the hole you will need to unclip a grey cable clip which holds the mirror cable to the speaker cable and then attaches both cables to the door to prevent rattles. You can see the clip in the photo.

Then hold the new mirror to the hole you have created by removing the old one and tuck the top edge under the rubber seal. Take time to get the positioning and placement of seals right. If you don't, water could get in and also your mirrors might generate wind noise.

When you are happy with the positoning of the new mirror reattach with the 3 torx screws, then feed the cables down the door to the control box and plug them in. Checking that everything is secure first, you can then turn on the ignition and check that the mirror folds and indicates correctly.

If it does then turn off and follow the steps in reverse to put it back together again.

A good look eh! one of each.

A working correctly positioned mirror.

Old verses New

Finished job

Hope this helps someone!

 

[samdog]

Great walk thru and pics can imagine it will help a lot

 

[nigel cross]

Great post well done I would imagine that the mod was not cheap.
Should be in the How to section really.

 

[C240Sport97]

excellent mod, really freshens up the car

 

[Chrishazle]

As a fellow 204 owner - what did the replacement mirrors cost? Do you think you'll be able to recoup some of the cost by selling the old ones?

Thanks for the write-up - I'm just waiting for the day some clown clouts one of my mirrors and disappears - happened to me twice with the Astra and a couple of times with other cars, needless to say none of the culprits stopped - the Astra replacement mirror etc was over £150 and that's 10+ years ago! It's so handy being able to fold the mirrors "on the run" - did it yesterday boarding Le Shuttle, it's a bit tight past the toilets on there!

 

[R2D2]

Great walk thru and pics can imagine it will help a lot

Thanks!

Great post well done I would imagine that the mod was not cheap.
Should be in the How to section really.

I don't think one can post directly in the how to section maybe it'll get moved!

excellent mod, really freshens up the car

Thanks! I notice they have much less wind noise.

As a fellow 204 owner - what did the replacement mirrors cost? Do you think you'll be able to recoup some of the cost by selling the old ones?

Thanks for the write-up - I'm just waiting for the day some clown clouts one of my mirrors and disappears - happened to me twice with the Astra and a couple of times with other cars, needless to say none of the culprits stopped - the Astra replacement mirror etc was over £150 and that's 10+ years ago! It's so handy being able to fold the mirrors "on the run" - did it yesterday boarding Le Shuttle, it's a bit tight past the toilets on there!

I have a horrible feeling that they are about £400 each including everything. I got mine used for much less.

 

[R2D2]

Auto dimming is working as well
(Darkened centre of glass and clear strip around the edge)

 

[st13phil]

Good write-up. I knew the modding would start once you'd finished polishing it

My 2008 W204 had the large "Dumbo Ears" mirrors and while I agree that the smaller mirrors on the later cars look better (probably reduce the frontal area significantly too - an extra mpg or two to be had, perhaps ), they had the advantage that the field of view was huge.

 

[C43AMG]

Very smart Greg, they look great.

 

[ashadam]

Good work difference really noticeable and awesome right up.

 

[R2D2]

Good write-up . I knew the modding would start once you'd finished polishing it
[/I].

LOL. So far it's had Comand, linguatronic, black wheel centres and now it's snazzy mirrors!

Very smart , they look great.

Cheers Peter!

Good work difference really noticeable and awesome right up.

Thanks :bannana:

 

[R2D2]

Can a mod put this in the "How to" section?

 

[richard]

LOL. So far it's had Comand, linguatronic, black wheel centres and now it's snazzy mirrors!

Aha, you need factory DAB, Harmon Kardon, Reversing Camera, Media Interface in time for the summer !!!

R

 

[R2D2]

Aha, you need factory DAB, Harmon Kardon, Reversing Camera, Media Interface in time for the summer !!!

R

I haven't given up on rear lights yet.......
DAB I dont think I'd use as I barely listen to radio at all. Harmon Kardon I think would cost 000's so is a non starter for me.
Reversing camera........hmmmm you could let me have a price by email.
Media Interface,; now I dont have an ipod does it do anything else that I might use.
Can you make my Blackberry Curve send phone numbers to Comand en masse?

So much for I think "I'll leave this one alone"!

 

[richard]

You can plug a USB stick into the Media Interface.

As you have NTG4 comand, the only way for mass phonebook is to add comfort phone and a bluetooth adapter plugged into that.

Richard

 

[Chrishazle]

I'm sure I've seen a thread, possibly on t'other side, about swopping 204 rear lights for post-facelift LED types - successfully, but with a big fight. Believe it also involves the SAM and some STAR stuff, all got a bit technical and expensive sounding so I didn't follow the thread fully. I'll see if I can find it.

Edit - you'll find a little pointer on this page : http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=97145&highlight=facelift+lights&page=2. Haven't found the thread I'm thinking of though - yet!

 

[R2D2]

Thanks Chris. The lights I'm considering are the prefacelift LEDs which seem very rare indeed. I've seen a C63 with them. Sport models have the black tinted ones, SE and Elegance have the clear/white ones, facelift have the all LED ones. Hardly anyone has the prefacelift LEDs.....

 

[st13phil]

The lights I'm considering are the prefacelift LEDs which seem very rare indeed.

AFAIK (C63 excepted), they were only fitted if you specified the Intelligent Lighting System, so they'll be like hen's teeth...

 

[R2D2]

AFAIK (C63 excepted), they were only fitted if you specified the Intelligent Lighting System, so they'll be like hen's teeth...

Ahh thankyou. I wondered what the deciding factor was and I agree that's how I never find any going cheap! I'll keep looking though

 

[R2D2]

...hmm over the last couple of days of driving with the new mirrors, Ive noticed that they are much quieter than the old ones There is much less wind noise.