Painting mirrors, question

[Purdue89E30]

I'm going to repaint my mirrors with trim paint, my question is how is the glass attached? Is there any way to remove it for painting or should I just mask it off? Thanks

[Dave]

There is a small hole on the bottome of the mirror - through it, you can get to a little notched "wheel" that you turn to release the mirror glass.

Installation is the reverse of removal.

[vt.bimmer]

Just mask it with tape. Much easier.

[Dave]

Nah, its a snap to get that back on.

How do I know? When I got my current car from Scott, he put the mirro back on for me - while I watched. He did not get it back on all the way.

While driving home, at 75mph, I noticed the glass starting to wobble. Sensing impending danger, I rolled down the window intime to catch the mirror as it popped free.

Next exit, I stopped, filled up the car, and fixed it right.

I used a skinny flathead to get the snapring locked down.

[Jordan]

Only way to paint them right is taking out the glass.

Myself being so anal, I actually removed the whole motor and wiring assembly too.

Why mask what you can easily remove and paint UNDER?

[vt.bimmer]

Nah, its a snap to get that back on.

How do I know? When I got my current car from Scott, he put the mirro back on for me - while I watched. He did not get it back on all the way.

While driving home, at 75mph, I noticed the glass starting to wobble. Sensing impending danger, I rolled down the window intime to catch the mirror as it popped free.

Next exit, I stopped, filled up the car, and fixed it right.

I used a skinny flathead to get the snapring locked down.

lol, I had a similar incident with a worse outcome. They were dtm mirrors on my e34. The base plates kinda sucked and when the window was rolled up it put enough pressure in the mirror to tweak it a bit. Im on the highway with my buddy in the passenger seat. I see the passenger side mirror vibrating a bit too much so I ask him to roll down the window and grab it. His fingers barely made it to the glass and it came flying off and smashed right in front of the car behind me! Doh!