heater mirrors overheating
 

Hello! I have a 1997 Audi A4 5 speed. my side mirrors (both) have a heater problem where it is slowly destroying the mirror part and burning it so it is becoming very very dark. for the sumer/fall i just unplugged them. now that it is winter i would like to plug them back in. but i don't want to replace them at the end of the winter because of the burn marks. what can I do/replace so it no longer overheats them and burns then?

Are they the original mirrors? Because by now they're probably due for replacement anyway. I bought my replacements from a British ebay seller since OEMs are stupid expensive, they were something like $20 per side compared to over $100 for OEM.

do i have to replace the entire assembly? because i already replaced the glass on both sides from junk yards

You can buy replacement glass, no need for the whole assembly. If you go to ECS and look up their blue tinted blind spot mirrors, those are pretty much exactly the ones I have but I got them for a fraction of the price.

my friend is actually parting out his entire Audi(blew his transmission) so I'm buying a ton of parts from him. Rims(with wheels)/front headlight units/taillight units/ and both mirrors(with assembly). Do I have to remove the door panel to remove theses mirrors or just the little cover? I know in some cars you can remove the cover and your there. but other cars you remove the cover but the plug is much further down and you have to remove the entire door panel. Would like to know before I drive 1.5 hours to his place without the correct tools, I'm leaving gathering these parts Tuesday afternoon. Thanks!