Fixed my Driver's side mirror...

[R22tech]

If you are like me- you frequently fold in the side mirrors when you park in the garage. Well, my driver's side mirror rotation failed. That is, it would swing from side to side with no resistance. After loosening the allen bolt on the mirror base and removing the mirror a couple of inches of the car door(that's all the wiring would allow), I found that the spring loaded bolt inside the mirrror was not secured anymore. Since there wasn't much room to work due to the wiring inside the mirror and door-I decided to remove the door panel to see if I could unplug the wiring and pull the whole assembly off the car. No dice! The wiring goes through the door by the hinges and into the front trunk area. I thought about cutting the wiring and then re-splicing when I was done, but I figured out a better way. 1st- you don't need to remove the door panel-it's a waste of time. Just remove the door speaker- reach in, and free up some wiring so you can at least get the mirror about 6-8" of slack off the car. The bolt was stripped at the end of the threads but o.k. in the lower 75% of the bolt. So I removed the top cone spring washer(about 3/16 thick) and used my needle-nose pliers to screw the bolt back in. It worked perfectly and can be done quickly if you have this problem. And the wiring was never cut-which is a big plus. I'm happy that this didn't become a huge project and didn't cost a dime, but it makes me wonder why Porsche would make it so difficult to remove the mrirror assembly.

Connections can corrode? Added cost? I agree with connectorizing – would be easier on mirrors and antenna. I rotate my mirrors and when working on the car this past weekend found the drivers to be loose, too. Over really heavy road bumps I find my mirror vibrates, so I was thinking about taking the mirror off and seeing what makes it work. Thanks to your input it will be a little easier.