The new side mirrors have a nice hole inside of the housing that leads down into the arm that holds the mirror. Jeep did try to mold a drain hole into the bottom lip where it mounts against the body. They then put a nice foam rubber pad in between this and the body effectively sealing their own drain hole. While surfing one of the various JK forum’s out there I saw a post about drilling a hole in the bottom of the mirror arm to drain the water out.
I took the first mirror apart to see how it looked inside, but drilled the second mirror while it was on the vehicle.
Additional
Parts:
Tools
Needed:
T-40 Torx
Ratchet
Drill
3/32” Drill bit
The mirrors.
The bolts that hold the mirror on are located on the inside of the door. You will find that rolling down the window makes it much easier to hold onto the mirror.
Remove the 2 bolts with the T-40 Torx. These are long bolts so it will take a little time to get them out.
Remove the mirror from the door, it just slides out.
Here is a picture of the nice hole in the bottom of the mirror. This is where the water goes to fill up the arm.
Jeep did include a molded in drain hole at the very base of the mirror where it bolts to the body. You can just make out the notch above my thumb. They also put a piece of foam to protect the paint on the door that effectively seals this drain hole.
Drill a 3/32” hole in the bottom of the arm right where the curve starts. I lined the hole up with where the molded notch was in the base. (I was a little off on the first mirror, but once not enough to matter). I will see if this size hole clogs up with anything and possibly go up a little on the drill bit size.
Reinstall the mirror on the body.
Reinstall the bolts. Note: Do not use an air ratchet to tighten down these bolts, they screw into aluminum and will strip out the aluminum threads.
On the other side I just drilled the hole without removing the mirror. You will be drilling up at a slight angle towards the vehicle, so go slow. You will also have to watch the door brackets with the drill chuck.
