I recently had the lovely experience of someone deciding to kick the driver's side mirror off my car. The mirror cap was smashed completely, and the mirror was hanging off the car. I have tried to reinstall it, but it is giving me a hard time.

The bottom of the mirror has a sprint loaded metal piece with metal tabs on it... It fits in to the mirror base attached to the car, and it looks like a combination of the tabs and the resistence of the spring hold it in on the bottom. The tabs don't fit in the hole since they are larger (to hold it in). I slightly bent the tabs in so that it would clear the hole. My plan was to get it through the hole and then bend them back. I'm attempting to do this, and can get it through the hole, but then I can't bend the tabs back. It just wont stay. I'm having a difficult time because the spring is very hard to move, and I'm trying to push it down plus bend the tabs at the same time. I'm thinking that if I get someone to help push it down that I can bend them back and problem solved... Am I on the right track here? Is there any trick to mounting this thing without bening the tabs to get it through the hole initially?

All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Perhaps removing the mirror base from the door will allow you better access from the back.