I parked a lil too close to a pillar and as I was backing out I noticed that I was about an inch away from introducing the passenger side mirror to a block of cement. The spots in my structure are on an incline so I pulled up the parking break, let the clutch start to catch, and then almost floored it focusing straight ahead so I wouldn't run into the wall in front of me (causing a bigger issue). About 1/2 inch worth of the tip made contact with the pillar for about 3 secs and I was hearing some awful noises.

Fortunately, we have sturdy side mirror housings. Adjustment motors work properly. No signs of cracking or stress. Hell, there isn't even a scrape on the housing!

However, the mount is not flushed against the car. It's really small and unoticeable but the bottom left section (facing the right side of the car) is about 1/4th in away from the door. I tried to gently pop it back in but it wasn't budging. I looked at the service manual and noticed that the mirror housing is held in by 3 bolts so I'm guessing the awful noise I heard was the bolt thread being forced through the nut. If this is the case I'm gonna try and pop off the interior door panel and tighten the bolt so the housing is flushed again. Now to the whole point of this thread:

Can anyone please give me tips on popping off the interior panel w/o scratching or breaking anything? If needed I'll post pics of what I'm talking about after work.

Thanks.

 

Since I have no tools or camera handy, I'm gonna try and do this by memory. First you need to remove the 3 screws that are screwed through the door pannel. You do this by poping off the little tab inside the inner door handle, then you pop off the plastic piece w/ the silver ring around it towards the middle of the door. Once those two pieces are removed you can then take out the screws. Second, pry the door pannel from the door w/ your fingers. Work your way around the door until you get all the way back to were you started. Third you will need to lift the door pannel up vertically a little bit. Don't forget to detatch the wires that hook up to the locks and your window. I hope this is helpful and if I forgot anything, I'm sure someone on here will fill in the blanks for me. Good luck.