04 E55 AMG: Side mirror gasket replacement

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kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

04 E55 AMG: Side mirror gasket replacement

Post by kevm14 »

I don't know if this was like this the whole time I owned the car or perhaps the gaskets were super brittle and maybe my power washing finished the job but I am missing chunks of side mirror gasket on both sides.

I guess the aftermarket filled this gap because at least according to some old threads, people used to have to buy new mirrors from Mercedes (or I guess aftermarket) to replace this gasket which is insane.

$38 shipped for the pair: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-Benz- ... 2749.l2649

Fortunately I also found a perfect video for this exact job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOwSyzhOnRc

This design is strange but it seems like an easy job and, bonus, no need to remove the door panels. That's nice.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: 04 E55 AMG: Side mirror gasket replacement

Post by kevm14 »

Yeah this was easy. Everything is so modular and frankly easy to take apart. It's like they anticipated frequent mirror damage. Not just that though, because the mirror shell actually has TWO lights. One is a turn signal repeater and the other (which I discovered the other day) is a courtesy/puddle lamp at the bottom. So fancy.

On the other hand, you can remove the mirror shell, mirror, and mirror glass from the car without so much as opening the door if you are willing to snip the power and heat control wires. I guess some cars have a security torx for this reason. Mine were regular T20. Meh.

Before shots. These really are just gone. I bet it was hanging in there and I blasted it free with the power washer. It's both brittle and like turning to mush if that makes sense. Probably the same material Adam's E46 has all over it. Other than the cowl cover and now these, I haven't run into anything like this on this car which is good.

I'm flexing the mirror to show the gasket better - you can't normally see the mirror skeleton.
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Simply insert a flathead screwdriver to release the lock tab/spring and slide the mirror shell off. The electrical connector self disconnects. Also I had to move the mirror inward to clear the shell but I just pushed it with my hands and it was fine. Comes right off revealing a Terminator-looking mirror. Or maybe Mad Max. Actually it is designed this way to get easy access for bulb replacements, I'm now realizing.
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Use a vice grip to unhook the spring so it can flop freely. These are "folding" but really it's just a spring keeping it in place. They will give forward or back if something strikes them and that's it. They won't stay folded. There WERE power folding mirrors on some Euro models (tiny streets) and some US people have retrofitted them.
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At this point it's time to open the door and remove the access panel on the door panel (which is what prevents from having to remove the whole thing). Turns out my driver's side one has mostly broken tabs. So I'll be replacing that. It's probably very cheap.
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Then just remove the 3 T20 screws and pull the mirror off the car, fishing the wires out carefully. Old one was really falling apart. Again it was simultaneously gummy and like brittle.
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The new piece actually looks like the old one so I'm not sure this is a good knockoff or if Mercedes and the supplier agreed to start making these. No idea. But at the factory, they threaded the wires through the hole in the gasket before putting the connectors on. So you have to cut a wide hole in the gasket to slip the connectors through. I did that and put some superglue where my scissor cuts were so more or less this should be as good as factory.


Installed back on car. Ah, that's much better.
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Access panel hanging on by a thread...looks fine at least.
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Removed pass side. I did an oopsy and struggled to remove the shell. When it finally let go it popped the mirror glass off and that was sort of dangling by the heater wires. Somehow everything was fine and that's easy to reinstall anyway. Again you could pop new mirror glass on this car in like 5 minutes with only a flat head screwdriver to remove the shell. Actually....my driver's side motor might be going. The memory thing tends to move it back to strange positions half the time requiring adjustment. That should be an easy job, too. I'll hold that thought.
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All done.
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The pass panel had all the clips intact but then I cracked it on reinstallation. At least I think I did. I mean it's definitely cracked but not sure if it was before...so I guess I need both now. Sigh. Actually if you zoom in on the last pic you can see a hairline crack. Again, this is highly non-offensive but assuming they are cheap I'll just replace.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: 04 E55 AMG: Side mirror gasket replacement

Post by kevm14 »

LOL

Yeah it's cheap.

https://www.benzparts.com/oem-parts/mer ... 2702489b51
https://www.benzparts.com/oem-parts/mer ... 0148649b51

$13.62 for the right and left is $14.50. You know, for actual OEM. Oddly there are Chinese knockoffs on eBay that ship directly from China for.....$17.77.

Ah but BenzParts charges $21.49 for shipping. I did find some Mercedes ones on eBay for less when including shipping. Hmm.

$43.72 w/ tax from the same eBay seller (one I have bought from before it turns out). Cool.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: 04 E55 AMG: Side mirror gasket replacement

Post by kevm14 »

Replaced. That was satisfying. They fit tight.

Also ordered a power mirror motor for the driver's side as that was annoying me. It was like $150 w/ tax. Should be easy to install and fix the random repositioning of the mirror.
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