Carolla side mirror

My son has a '98 Corolla sedan and recently it was vandalised by some moron
trying to break off the outside mirror. As far as I can see the only problem
is a spring that makes the mirror snap back in to place if its'hit has been
stretched. Toyota will not sell the spring alone and want $300+ for a new
mirror. Does any one know how to remove the mirror glass with out breaking
it so I can replace the spring?
Thanks in advance,
Bill Archer.

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 13:18:13 +1000, Bill Archer wrote:

> My son has a '98 Corolla sedan and recently it was vandalised by some moron
> trying to break off the outside mirror. As far as I can see the only problem
> is a spring that makes the mirror snap back in to place if its'hit has been
> stretched. Toyota will not sell the spring alone and want $300+ for a new
> mirror. Does any one know how to remove the mirror glass with out breaking
> it so I can replace the spring?
> Thanks in advance,
> Bill Archer.


My experience is with Toyotas from the 80's, but the glass used to just
snap out of the housing. It has three 'balls' that snap into recepticles
in the housing.

At least, that's the way they USED to do it! Maybe someon else can verify
this.

But BE CAREFUL!!!! They are REALLY tight, and I have broken a couple
mirros doing this! On one car, I replaced the spring, and then, snapping
the glass back in, it broke. But, it broke towards the outer 1/3 and bent
back, so I could set that mirror up so I had no blind spot. A bit of
serendipity there.