Installing a Wide Angle (European) side mirror glass on your Golf or Jetta.

(Or how to replace a broken side mirror glass)

Why do this: So you can switch lanes without turning your head. This is a much

needed upgrade if you drive on the highway a lot...

See that line on the mirror? After that point it becomes a wide angle (convex) mirror allowing you to see in to the next *two* lanes over behind you! This means NO more blind spots at all! If a car is in the smaller area of the mirror, don't switch lanes!

While driving in Germany I fell in love with the side glass on our rental Audi.

Manual (cable) and power mirror glass is the same. Golf and Jetta glass is the same.

Tools: Small thin flat head screwdriver, covered with some tape...

Time: < 10 min

Step - 1 Go buy the mirror you need. They come in two flavors, heated and non heated. This is a non heated mirror I am installing. I later found out that my wife's car

*does* have heated mirrors (who knew!?). So at some point I'll swap this one out for the right one.

You can buy them here: Germanautoparts or GoingFast.org (where I got this one from, at a car show, for $20!)

Ohhhh!! Vento!!!!

Step 2 - Fold in mirror.

Step 3 - Carefully pop this tab, be careful they like to break, mine did... oh well.

Step 4 - Carefully pry back the outer mirror cap from its base. This is where a screwdriver covered in tape comes in handy so you don't scratch anything. Don't pry too hard. Work your way around the mirror cap.

Step 5 - Pry off the mirror cap from the base.

Step 6 - Ohh ahhh... now the hard part. Taking off the mirror without breaking it...

I try not to break things as I take them apart. If for some weird reason the state car

inspector guy flips out at my "crazy mirror" design I can always go back to stock for NJ's Nazi inspection police.

Step 7 -Now for the hardest part. Swapping the mirror glass.

Take a look at this pic. There are 8 mounting tabs, and 4 locating pins that mount to the

mirror.

MOVE the mirror glass "down" as far as it will go, as if you were sitting in the car, and you wanted to "look" at you rear tire while driving.

Slide your skinny ass screwdriver up into one of the holes in the aluminum frame and try

to pop the mounting taps off the TOP of the mirror.

Here you can see the screwdriver tip popping off the mounting tab.

And the top tabs are popped off. At this point use a larger flat head to gently pry off the

mirror.

Note, heated mirror wires! Doh!

Step 8 - Install the new mirror glass by carefully lining the tabs back up, and pressing on the *center* of the glass until all the mounting tabs pop into place. Take your time here.

Install the outer cap (or paint it to color match!!)

Done!