mirror assemblies, '98E320
 

OK, now both of the mirror assemblies are shot, and both suffered the same fate. The "foldable" feature turns out to really be a "breakaway" feature. The rather hefty spring that holds the mirror from medial rotation (mirror assembly folding aft/toward door) is held in the front by a substantial catch but the rear (lateral/away from the car) is held by a flimsy pot metal (I think) hook. This hook, on both assemblies, has broken away and the assemblies are otherwise free to flap inward toward the doors. Both at the hands of "helpful" parking lot attendants who folded the mirrors in to gain an extra two freakin' inches of parking room. Can't fault them, the mirrors are supposed to be foldable?

Any way to find used assemblies? The shell, mirror and motor assemblies are all fine. Don't make me put the rubber bands back on.

Thanks,
g

If it was my car I would put the parking lot attendants at fault. The mirrors are designed to be break-away not foldable.

Foldable mirrors do not spring back to the normal position where break-away mirrors do spring back to the normal position.

For replacements you can check e-bay or a salavage yard.

no help on ebay, suggestions on salvage yards?
 

Thanks for the post, I thought about holding the parking lot guy responsible the second time it happened (first time we did not notice it until we got home) but the way I see it he was not acting maliciously and to put a guy making $8.50 an hour in dutch over something he was trying to do right just doesn't seem fair. I understand your point about "foldable" vs. "breakaway" but I don't think he (attendant) did. Now, if it was one of my kids that did it, they would be mowing lawns for a week of Sundays!

Back to the salvage yards, I haven't been able to find a good one on the net, any suggestions?

Thanks for the help,

g

For an e-bay find you need wait until they are available.

For salvage yards, the best bet is to look in your yellow pages for one near you.
You may need to wait for a doner E class to arrive at the salvage yard, in the meantime will a spring work?