[W140] Removing trim from side mirror housing?
 

Hi,

The patient in question is a '93 500SEL. The RH side view mirror was involved in a little altercation with a construction barrel on the highway. It sheared off a portion of the gear that controls the mirror's folding ability and the force broke the mirror. Ironically the rest of the mirror survived quite well. I have a perfectly functional donor mirror assembly with the wrong color trim/housing that I have to install on the car. I am looking at both but cannot get the trim off to install on the new mirror. Searching around indicates that it should be quite easy. I have tried prying, but am timid as it looks like a lot of plastic in there and I assume there has to be an easy release. The portion in question is number 56 of the following link:

http://uucurl.com/x.php?p=2455

From looking at the picture and reading various links or replacement I assume that the trim simply separates from around the mirror and installation is reverse of removal? I saw a couple mentions to removing a spring to help with the trim but that didn't seem to help. Do I just need to pull a little harder? Slide something in to release the catches? Anyone have any insight to share? I appreciate any help or tips.

I can only speak to my 92 when I painted the back and middle ring, the back cover has a series of little tabs that snap into the middle ring, which snaps into the front cover. I worked my fingers all around and once one unlatches the rest seem to come along