Phil_SS Unified Fleet Thread

[Phil_SS]

Driving home from work, about two weeks ago in the Prius, stupid deer ran in front of me. I was able to brake and veer to try to avoid but the jerk took off the drivers side mirror and hip-checked the rear door leaving a dent. Thank god it wasn't the Mazda or Ana's VDub.

I didn't have any cutters to cut the wires and remove the mirror, so I had to drive home with my hand half out the window to hold onto the dangling mirror so that it didn't just smack the car as I drove.

The dent I will get fixed once the weather is a little nicer.

For the mirror. I checked the local used foreign parts place and they had a mirror but it was for a blue color car. Which may sound like a problem, but for this car, the mirrors have a removable cover that is painted the color of the car. Pretty smart design, the mirror is the same for all cars and just the cover is a different color. Thus I could buy the used mirror and just get a new cover in the correct color. The cost of the used mirror was $120.

I decided to check the Toyota parts online website for the same part and see how much it would cost just for shits and giggles. And at first it was a pretty big difference, I think it was $280 with the new cover. But they had a deal that if I ordered online that I would get 40% off and free shipping. Thus I would get a brand new mirror and cover for like $168.

So I went with the brand new mirror. The car isn't mine and I would be guaranteed a part that would work. Plus I still would have had to spend another $40 bucks to get the replacement cover. So the cost would have been pretty much a wash. Plus I got the part delivered to my door.

Was a pretty easy replacement process. Watched a youtube video to get the basics. And all I had to do was remove the door cover, remove a couple small panels behind the door panel. Unscrew the three bolts holding on the mirror and unplug its cable from the connector. Then just do the opposite to put on the new mirror. Took about 1/2 hour total.

The Mazda experience is going well although we don't drive it much. Has like 2500 miles since we bought it. Ana still loves her old car and enjoys driving it so that is what she uses. Her main concern with her Jetta is would it be ok on a long trip. So she did drive the Mazda out to Eastern PA for a trip with her friends. And she has used it a bit more often since we have had some snow. So, until our daughter is driving on a steady basis it will probably spend most of its time in the garage.

[dodint]

I've had a couple of really close deer calls this year. Aside from hitting one on my motorcycle about 10 years ago I've never hit a deer. *crosses fingers*

When I go into the woods where they are supposed to be there are nowhere to be found.

[21Kid]

For the mirror. I checked the local used foreign parts place and they had a mirror but it was for a blue color car. Which may sound like a problem, but for this car, the mirrors have a removable cover that is painted the color of the car. Pretty smart design, the mirror is the same for all cars and just the cover is a different color. Thus I could buy the used mirror and just get a new cover in the correct color. The cost of the used mirror was $120.

I decided to check the Toyota parts online website for the same part and see how much it would cost just for shits and giggles. And at first it was a pretty big difference, I think it was $280 with the new cover. But they had a deal that if I ordered online that I would get 40% off and free shipping. Thus I would get a brand new mirror and cover for like $168.

So I went with the brand new mirror. The car isn't mine and I would be guaranteed a part that would work. Plus I still would have had to spend another $40 bucks to get the replacement cover. So the cost would have been pretty much a wash. Plus I got the part delivered to my door.

Was a pretty easy replacement process. Watched a youtube video to get the basics. And all I had to do was remove the door cover, remove a couple small panels behind the door panel. Unscrew the three bolts holding on the mirror and unplug its cable from the connector. Then just do the opposite to put on the new mirror. Took about 1/2 hour total.

I had to replace the passenger mirror on the Mustang, and it had the same design with the color-matching cover. I got a used one on ebay and put my original cover on it. Only the actual mirror part was busted.