The LED turn signal light in my 2011 Altima 2.5SL driver's side outside mirror has slowly burned out and I am looking to replace it. I picked up the light lens from Courtesy Parts for around $45 and intent to put it in myself. This weekend, I was trying to pry off the mirror glass as there is a screw behind it that I need to remove in order to pop the lens off behind it, but I was not able to remove the glass. I'm worried that I am going to break the mirror glass itself which will take up my cost even more. Is there a proper way to remove the outside mirror glass that I am not aware of? Part images that I can find seem to indicate that it snaps on, but I'm afraid I am going to damage the power movement system somehow if I apply too much force. Any tips?

I consulted the service advisor at my dealership, who consulted his shop foreman, and I was (not surprisingly) told that they usually replace the mirror as a whole because there is a high chance of breaking the cover. Not surprisingly, I'm sure that would cost $600+ with parts and labor, which is laughable to replace a $45 light.

You don’t remove the glass. The back cover comes off and the light is screwed into the mirror housing. YouTube has a few videos.

There's a service manual section about how to disassemble the mirrors, see MIR-23 here:
https://www.nicoclub.com/service-manual ... %2FMIR.pdf

The glass isn't screwed in, but there's usually some nasty double-stick or glue dotted in the center when they come from the factory. Most of them also have a plastic "hook" that makes it difficult or impossible to pry it out from one or two sides. In the case of your mirror, start prying from the bottom as shown in the FSM. When the FSM talks about a "suitable tool" they mean a plastic prybar. Unless there are already broken pawls on the back cover, the covers are pretty much impossible to remove without removing the mirror pane to get at the pawls. Once the cover is off, the rest is easy.