Nice work, and very helpful info.
Nice work, and very helpful info.
My actual M3 also has a lazy driver side mirror. And for that matter, so does my dad's E60 with OE folding mirrors. I think they all do it for some reason.
That's an excellent project! Thank you for sharing it.
M3 mirrors look so cool on sedan. One day I'll retrofit them to my car.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
ok cool, thanks for letting me know that, i guess its pretty normal then and i dont need to worry about tearing the driver side back apart to regrease anything.Quote:
Originally Posted by terraphantm
now i'm more worried about the motors burning out or the gears stripping.
so this past week unbelievable both driverside FOLDING motor AND the mirror motor died coincidentally. the folding motor was just old and the connections inside became loose so when i took the motor apart to resolder them, I then saw the inside of the motor with a spring fell apart and was no longer usable.
and the mirror motor just stopped working completely lol.
so now after 1 trip tot he pull a part salvage yard and found 2 sedan ribbon cable driver side mirrors for $50 total. i snagged those (1 for extra)
then another trip to a local salvage yard that just happened to have a pair of M5 power folding mirrors for $130 for the pair. i got those too and have everything all repaired back up.
I bet i could now pull these mirrors off my car and sell them for a premium lol.
the good news now is that both mirrors fold at the same speed, no more lazy driver folding mirror.
what was ODD was how alike and different the M3 motors were and the m5 motors were.
the original motors i got off ebay were labeled as M3 folding motors but there wasnt a way to identify them.
the OLD motor that burned out has a very large GOLD spring inside and once I got it apart, the only way to get it back together was with a Vice. in the end that motor was trashed anyways so i had to throw it out.
the M5 folding motor LOOKED the same outside but inside there was no large spring and was very easy to put back together.
so strange.
the M5 motor works perfectly in my mirror housings though and fold just fine
That's a great find. Pics?
Sorry i didnt take any pics of the m5 folding motor. outside visually it looks identical to the m3 folding motor except the plastic part on top is BLACK compared to the M3 one which is clear.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnrando
other than that, the M5 mirrors them selves share nothing else with the m3 mirrors. the housings and baseplates though visually similar, they are different in size and slight shape. the mirror motors, glass and wiring is different too.
OK. Interesting. How did you know they would work?
i read online somewhere that they would and I just took a potential costly chance. there are no part numbers to compare and the part itself is not available from BMW. you have to buy the whole mirror assembly just for that motor.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnrando
i got lucky and glad it worked out.
That's awesome. Glad that worked out.