Help please: 2009 GT passenger side mirror swivel is busted

[steadfastash]

I need your help. I have a beautiful 2009 Vibe GT in Steel Blue Metallic. I discovered after a trip to visit family that my passenger side mirror assembly had somehow been pushed backwards against the car, with the mirror side facing out. The vibe has that swivel feature that allows the mirrors to be kind of folded against the door for drive-through car washes or something. Well, mine was pushed back the wrong way. Since then, the mirror flops back and forth super easily and won't even keep its position while driving. I unscrewed the three bolts on the underside of the bit that attaches the assembly to the car but the problem seems to be inside the assembly. My local shop says I can get a replacement assembly from a GM dealer for around $100 and pay extra for them to paint it and my shop guy will only charge me for the base labor.

Is it worth the money to just have the shop swap it out for me? If I get the assembly somewhere else (gm parts online or a junkyard listed on car-parts.com), would the dealership still paint it or somewhere else? If I get the part and get it painted, how easy would it be to replace it myself?

Are there any other, better options?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Ash

[Rayven01]

Personally I would try taking the thing apart myself and seeing how far I could get before spending any money. Most states do not require the passenger side mirror (the one on my last car was broken for a good 5 years so you would be safe to take it off and mess with it for awhile. Worst case scenario you can do nothing with it and you need to then choose one of the options you stated. You may be able to either fix it or figure out how to remove the colored section so you could just buy a working unpainted one and swap your painted piece on.

[tpollauf]

Check out these two GM parts sources where you can get the complete mirror ALREADY PAINTED for under $100.00
Your color code is 33U. This is for the steel blue metallic exterior color


This is a crude snapshot from the GMpartsDirect.com website



and hwere is a crude snapshot from the GMpartscenter.net website


Look into the shipping charges as that will determine which is the better buy. Hope this helps

[Rayven01]

Damn, that's crazy cheap for pre-painted. Never would have guessed that, didn't even think to look! The unpainted mirror for my old Intrigue was $40 more than that which is why it stayed broken, hehe.