With the help of the teenager at the car wash who tugged on my passenger side mirror, the spring gave way and I had a flapping mirror.

I managed the fix with the help of the previous posts in this thread and took some photos to add to the narrative. The operative part of the fix besides putting a screw in place of the broken spring hook, was removing the cover of the mirror - surprisingly simple once you know what you're doing.

Once you unhook the spring and push back the mirror (or in my case the spring hook was broken) far enough to see inside and to get at the clip. Unhook the clip using a small straight blade screwdriver. Then just wiggle the shell a little and it should slide right off allowing access to the guts without removing the mirror or unscrewing the mirror frame from the door.

1st pic is the screw fix - I threaded the machine screw directly into the hole drilled one size (1/32) smaller than the screw. I tapped it with the screw and it seems to have held nicely in the aluminum frame. You can see where the broken spring hook was next to the screw.

2nd pic is the clip unhooked.
3rd pic is the clip hooked in place

Don't forget to re-hook the clip before sliding the cover back on. Nothing need be forced much for this job.

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
DS
2010 CL550 - Heaven help me but it's beautiful
87 300D a labor of love
11 GLK 350 So far, so good
08 E350 4matic, Love it.
99 E320 too rusted, sold
87 260E Donated to Newgate School
www.Newgateschool.org - check it out.
12 Ford Escape, sold, forgotten
87 300D, sold, what a mistake
06 Passat 2.0T, PITA, sold

Las Vegas NV