Looking for an Opel Vectra expert

jonski

Hi ,

Came out of a mates the other night and someone had kicked the mirrors of the car , was able to put them back in place but one was missing the glass . Went to the local Opel dealer here in town and got the glass , came home and tried to fit it but it looks like it is slightly too big . I phoned the dealer back and asked him but he said no , that it is the right one and said that there is only one '99 model opel vectra . I thought I have seen a different model '99 . the easiest way I have of telling the two apart is that the newer one has a rectangular button for the boot whereas mine is circular .

I have to say I feel like a right dick not being able to fit a mirror , but there you have it .

So my question is , is there two different '99 opel vectra saloons and would they have different wing mirrors ?

John

unkel

Yes there was a facelift during 1999. Not sure if the wing mirrors were changed but in the light of your story, it is likely they were

bazz26

jonski wrote:

Hi ,

Came out of a mates the other night and someone had kicked the mirrors of the car , was able to put them back in place but one was missing the glass . Went to the local Opel dealer here in town and got the glass , came home and tried to fit it but it looks like it is slightly too big . I phoned the dealer back and asked him but he said no , that it is the right one and said that there is only one '99 model opel vectra . I thought I have seen a different model '99 . the easiest way I have of telling the two apart is that the newer one has a rectangular button for the boot whereas mine is circular .

I have to say I feel like a right dick not being able to fit a mirror , but there you have it .

So my question is , is there two different '99 opel vectra saloons and would they have different wing mirrors ?

John

Yes as Unkel said the facelifted Vectra appeared in March 1999 (I had the misfortune of buying one but that is another story). The main difference is the front light cluster is all one unit including the indicators and head lights, different front and rear bumpers that are fully colour coded, colour coded side skirts and moldings, dark tinted rear lights, bigger wheels and slightly different wing mirrors. There were changes to the interior also including new trim, centre console and air con as standard.

I would guess that you have the 1995 - 1998 model that was sold up to March 1999 when the facelifted model appeared.

The dealer should know this and have given you the correct one. I would suggest asking for the 1998 type part, this should be the correct one. Otherwise demand your money back and get one from a scrap yard.

jonski

bazz26 wrote:

Otherwise demand your money back and get one from a scrap yard.

It cost me €40 ! , I was going to try a scrap yard but reckoned mirrors would be the first things to be broken .

bazz26

Yeah €40 is not too bad from a main dealer. But I would still bring it back and get the older type from them. Get them to show you the older type mirror and you can compare the difference.

The Ford Mondeo is similar, the 01 - 04 Mondeo has slightly smaller mirrors than the 2004 facelifted one. It is hard to tell the difference unless you really have two cars up close.

jonski

Would it be easy enough to fit this kind of mirror , it is manually operated , not electric . The only thing that stopped me from going back today was I figured that as usual it was my own stupidity for not being able to fit it . I can get the ball on the back of the glass to fit into the socket but I don't seem to be able to get the two adjusters to sit into their respective sockets on the back of the glass .

jonski

Someone , that hadn't spent €40 , was more willing to use brute force and this now seems to fit ok , I think .