How Hard is it to Replace a Cracked Side Mirror on a Car?

A few weeks ago, my friend had the misfortune to break the passenger side mirror on her 1997 Toyota 4Runner. She accidentally backed into a pole in New York City... Oops!

Naturally, she showed me the car and asked, "How do we fix this?" I'd never actually had this problem before, so I did a little research. It turned out that it was a simple fix. Once I had the part in hand, it took me a couple minutes to change the mirror glass in a parking lot, and the only tool I needed was a flathead screwdriver.

Find Replacement Mirror Glass

Your first goal is to find some replacement mirror glass. While I often look on eBay for cheap replacement parts, this isn't one of those times. It turns out that Autozone had the part cheaper.

I first checked on the Autozone website, and the part was listed as a special order. I went to the parts counter at our local Autozone, ordered the replacement mirror glass for $20, and it was in store for pickup two business days later.

Remove the Old Mirror Glass

This is the part that I was a little worried about. However, it turns out that the glass is held on to the power-mirror assembly by nothing more than some cushioned double sided tape. You should be able to carefully pry the mirror off with some leverage, using something like a flat head screwdriver.

In my case, the mirror was pretty well cracked, and part of it had already fallen off the mirror assembly. I gently stuck a screwdriver under the edge of the mirror, and with a little wiggle the mirror started to break into smaller pieces and fall right off. Be careful, since this does mean shards of glass are falling/flying off the car. You don't want to hurt yourself!

If the glass is cracked, but it isn't broken enough for you to get off the mirror assembly, you could try tapping it with a hammer. Break the glass a little more and it'll be easy to peel it off.

Attach the New Mirror Glass

The replacement glass that I ordered was simply a piece of mirror glass and two strips of double-sided cushion tape. The tape was longer than the mirror assembly, so I cut it into four smaller pieces. I attached the tape around the perimeter of the mirror assembly, removed the double sided backing, and carefully placed the mirror glass into place.

I applied some pressure across the glass to make sure that it was stuck to the tape. And, magically, it was fixed. I was a little surprised, to be honest, just how easy it was.

So, the next time you or a loved one breaks the glass on their driver or passenger side mirror... don't go running to the mechanic! It's extremely simple to fix, and all you need to do is go to the local Autozone or parts store and order the glass.