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1) Lower mirror to "down" position.
2) Pry out mirror, I used a plastic kitchen spatula - you can use anything you want as long as its soft plastic. Anything hard would break the mirror.
3) Mirror will "pop" out of the brass clips that holds it in place (see picture)
4) There are two connectors that click into the mirror that heat it for cold days. They are not marked - mark one of them so that you'll know what order to put them back in (I used tape to identify them)
5) Pull the connectors out of the mirror. The little bastards are wedged in there good so use a little force - but not too much, you don't want to damage the connectors.
6) Once the mirror is out - start removing the screws. There are 5 Torx #10 screws (marked yellow in pic) to remove - two of which hold the brass glass mounting clips in place. And two Phillips screws (marked red in pic) that screw directly into the mirror housing.
7) Once all the screw are removed - you'll have to push in all 3 clips (marked blue in pic) The top 2 are easy - the bottom one is hard. I used a flat screw driver to "convince" it to pop open.
8) While pushing the 3 tabs in - you'll have to start pulling the mirror housing UP (an extra set of hands, which I didn't have, would help a lot here) - you'll hear a few snaps, these are internal clips that hold it in place.
9) Once you have the mirror out - it will still be attached to the housing by the turn-signal LED.
10) The LED unit is held on by a single torx 10 bolt. Unscrew that and remove the LED unit from the Mirror frame.
Now you should have the Mirror housing off and the LED "dangling"
11) Attach the LED unit to the new Aluminum housing - same way you took it off.
12) Put everything back the way you found it. Reverse Engineering at its finest here!
13) Enjoy getting "HATED" on by people who think you're pretending to drive an S5
Providing a correction since I don't like incomplete instructions. Just did this myself and there are a few things to make it go cleanly and not break anything.
There are actually 6 clips (blue) to release and 2 screws (red) that you have to remove. The ones with arrows will require a slender tool to reach and release. No other screws need to be removed to get the cap off.
The clip no one has mentioned so far is the one that's hidden inside the cap's arm (big blue left arrow). It's actually just a bit of protruding plastic from the cap that is locked down by the metal feature circled in blue in the second picture.
Work carefully and pop clips one by one as they interfere with the cap removal. Once all are released cap will come off with no effort...you don't have to pry it off! Clips shouldn't take much force to release and shims are really helpful to keep clips released.
Once cap is released you can disconnect the turn signal and blind spot lights. The turn signal, which I was replacing, is held in by two screws to the cap.
There are actually 6 clips (blue) to release and 2 screws (red) that you have to remove. The ones with arrows will require a slender tool to reach and release. No other screws need to be removed to get the cap off.
Hey guys, I''m having a lot of trouble with this, hoping someone can give me some insight. My car is a 2013 A5 with heated, auto-dimming mirrors and side assist. Just trying to get some carbon fiber mirror caps on so it doesn't look like every other white A5 lol.
I was able to get the mirror out, pull the plugs for heating and dimming, undid all the screws, and I'm able to get the clips out of the way for the most part. The top two ones and the big bottom right clip were okay although the latter was kinda hard. When I try to lift the housing up, the front bottom left corner (on the right mirror) does come out (with snapping noises) and somewhat up, with force. I cannot yet access the hidden clip on the back of the mirror on the bottom left as the backside isn't really lifting.
Where I'm currently stuck is lifting the front right side (again, on the right side mirror). The back does come up a bit (where the turn signal is), but the front does not budge at all. The big clip is out of the way, I'm not sure if it's caused by the piece of plastic sticking straight up through the hole in the housing on the very corner on that side? Some of the guides refer to this as another clip while others do not.
I'm also not seeing/feeling the "hidden clip" some of the guides refer to around the middle of the mirror. Is there a clip here under the hole? How should I access it and which direction is the clip facing?
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance
03-09-2010, 02:09 PM
DIY Install: S5 Aluminum Housing on A5
