Anyone know what it takes to remove the mirror triangle on the front door?

 

Well, figured it out! Was rather easy and will post some pics later.

Did order new ones for both front doors and was really surprised at the lack of design quality of a simple exterior trim piece. I've been developing plastic components in the car industry for a number of years and was surprised how poor the mechanical retention features were designed on these. The plastic dog houses that hold the single J-nut and a molded in hook feature were broken on both. The only thing keeping them from from flying off the door is the two plastic tabs that slide into the window seal. New ones fit nice and snug and hope normal door closing or driving don't cause these to break.

Anyone else check theirs to see if they seem loose on top? That's how I noticed it as they moved in and out at the top of the triangle.

 

Here is a write up with images on removing the mirror triangles. This is purely due to finding them loose and when I went to investigate why it could be completely pulled off the door as the plastic dog house which held the metal J-clip had completely broken off. There is also a hook feature to help with holding the upper part of the triangle tight to the rubber trim that was also broken. Strongly suggest you have new ones on hand before you attempt to remove!

Here is an image of the back of my new trim piece:


And here is what I found when removing -

This one is the drivers side, but passengers wasn't much better. Can you see what's wrong in this image??

So let's get started already...

Start from the inside of the door -


Be sure to roll the window down, those tabs on the bottom of the triangle can break off and end up in the bottom of your door. With the window down it SHOULDN'T happening -


Use a trim tool and disengage the tweeter trim housing from the inner door sheet metal panel -


There will be a "Pop" noise when the clip disengages. Slowly pull the top of the tweeter trim housing inward pivoting it on the bottom until the clip clears the metal -


Tweeter trim housing must pivot on the bottom do to the features that go through the door panel. Slowly work the alignment feature and lower clip from the door panel -

There is enough slack in the harness that you don't have to disconnect the tweeter. It might be preferred if you can get the clip to easily disengage, but I decided to just let it rest over the rearward edge.

Once the tweeter trim housing is out of the way use your trim tool to disengage the upper and mid-door panel clips -


The mid-clip is about halfway down the trim panel (orange clip) -


I do have to give credit for the above steps to MBOwnersClub! There is a video on YouTube showing the removal of the door panel at the following address:
This is an image captured from that video showing where the panel clips are located. I used it to help with disengaging the upper and mid clips (right side is the front of the door)-


Once the clips are disengaged you can pull the door panel inward exposing the rubber grommet sealing the inner panel -


Pull the circled portion out of the door and this will expose the one screw holding the exterior mirror triangle (hard to see in the picture, but its there) -


Believe the size is a T-20 or T-25 and I used a screw driver style. Sorry I don't have the exact size as my set isn't marked. Also, you don't have to fully remove the screw as the outer sheet metal panel has a keyed hole allowing the screw to pass through to the outside once its moved upwards (see the bottom pocket in the below image) -


So leave the screw attached. If you order a new trim piece it should come delivered like this -


Now my images switch to the drives side as once I got the passengers side to slide in it was to late for pictures.
Here is what the drivers side looked like once the trim piece was removed -


Here I'm holding the mirror triangle at angle to show how the screw and hook feature will need to engage with the door outer sheet metal -

The mirror triangle will not install this way, just showing what needs to align.

You will need to start with the tabs on the bottom and work them into the weather seal -


Slowly work the tabs into the seal and guide the screw head through the slot and help the hook feature into the upper pocket -


As the mirror triangle drops into place the hook feature should grab the upper pocket and pull the piece to the rubber seal -


This is the finished install position -


Once in place just tighten the screw on the backside being careful not to over torque. The dog house is very thin and it doesn't take much force to break. Be sure to put the grommet that covers the screw head back in place to keep water out. Pop the two door panel clips back in and slowly work the alignment feature and clips on the bottom of the tweeter trim housing back in the door panel. Push the clip on the back of the tweeter trim housing back into place and you're finished.

Hopefully this helps someone someday as it took a little patience and searching to figure it out. Rate it as an easy to fix provided you have the right tools.

Good luck and happy driving!

 

Interesting and a good write up!!!

I may actually have to replace one of mine as well because the color is fading away from one corner. Gotta bookmark this thread lol

Did you happen to remove/replace the B pillar part in-between the front and rear doors? The flat rectangle shaped part? It has also lost it's clear coat and I used the vinyl wrap, but it formed bubbles lol most likely I will replace that sometime soon when I'm done putting the wood floor and some other stuff in the house.