Dreaded rear view mirror suicide! HELP!!!!

[spoonerDee]

So anyone who owns an e46 knows that someday the mirror will explode and dead itself in one way or another. Well mine finally did. The tell leaked from its seal and flooded the mirror pane.

I've found several replacements on eBay, but none that are identical to mine. I have the auto dimming mirror with the clown nose and a single SOS button on the right. However, none of the ones I see have that single button. I'll never use the button so I don't care, but I'm worried the plug to the wiring harness won't be the same. Does anyone know if they are universal or so I have to get the exact one?!?!

[PetesZ]

You can get yours repaired.

https://www.radar-mirror.com/Mirror_Repair.html

[ZHPizza]

You can use a non-sos mirror as long as you pull some pins out of the connector. I don't have a link handy for which ones. I have an autodimming/homelink/compass e90 (no leaky) mirror and an autodimming Z4 mirror if you want either.

Don't have a pic of the Z4 but you can Google. It's roundish... somewhere between our mirror and the M3 mirror. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180523/4c8fd59f877468d94a158f43bd77c2f5.jpg

[spoonerDee]

You can use a non-sos mirror as long as you pull some pins out of the connector. I don't have a link handy for which ones. I have an autodimming/homelink/compass e90 (no leaky) mirror and an autodimming Z4 mirror if you want either.

Don't have a pic of the Z4 but you can Google. It's roundish... somewhere between our mirror and the M3 mirror. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180523/4c8fd59f877468d94a158f43bd77c2f5.jpg

Interested, do they both fit? What's your pricing?

[PdZHP]

I just disconnected the s.o.s./bmw assist module in the trunk when I installed my e90.mirror. Easy to undo if necessary.

[Smolck]

I have one for sale (No sos button) I’ll let it go cheap. Pm me if you want it.

[az3579]

You're better off rebuilding yours than buying a replacement autodim from eBay or whatever. Those prices are usually more expensive than what it would cost to have radar-mirror rebuild it. Putting in a used mirror also increases the chances of it happening again very soon.

[ZHPizza]

You're better off rebuilding yours than buying a replacement autodim from eBay or whatever. Those prices are usually more expensive than what it would cost to have radar-mirror rebuild it. Putting in a used mirror also increases the chances of it happening again very soon.

The e90+ autodims were updated with a different dimming material that doesn't crap out like the e46. It's a bluer tint too, instead of the green.

[az3579]

The e90+ autodims were updated with a different dimming material that doesn't crap out like the e46. It's a bluer tint too, instead of the green.

Interesting. Good to know - thanks.
I wonder if radar-mirror uses similar materials. They offer a lifetime warranty service if you pay a few extra bucks.

[Newjack]

You can get yours repaired.

https://www.radar-mirror.com/Mirror_Repair.html

Took the words right out of my mouth.

They can do some really cool stuff with the mirror too, like adding in the compass feature or the arrows for a valentine one unit.

This was the route I was going to go when mine died

[spoonerDee]

Yeah after lots of research, the exact one I have, even though it has very few features, seems to be the most expensive. I also don't want to mess with pulling pins, rewiring this and that, so I think I will go the rebuild route. Thanks all for the help.

[nextelbuddy]

The Glass is easy to change on the standard mirrors the 2 auto dim wires positive and negative literally just snap onto the metal contacts on the mirror glass so its as easy as taking it apart, uncliping the wires from old glass, putting in new glass and snapping on the wires again and assembling the mirror. should take less than an hour.

M3 mirrors require soldering so its more time but still not bad.

i've had to do 3 different mirrors.

that guy Scott from Radar mirror has a good deal on mirror glass but hes not super enthusiastic about modding mirrors for the cool features he used to advertise.

when I asked him about getting an oval auto dimming glass from him that was the new 2 way glass... he quotes $500 for the glass alone saying its super expensive.

when i asked about sending my mirror to him to mod it for the digital compass or homelink (since Ive seen him do it before) he gave me a short winded email on how hard it is and he doesnt want to do it anymore so i just bought a $100 auto dim glass from him. he never even emailed to say when it shipped tracking etc... merely it just arrived one day.

i think hes just tired of doing mirrors and burnt out, doesn't seem very enthused like he used to in his older forum posts on M3forum.

Id rather buy auto dim glass from http://www.mirrorjohn.com/#

he has more parts and is friendlier and more responsive.

[Newjack]

The Glass is easy to change on the standard mirrors the 2 auto dim wires positive and negative literally just snap onto the metal contacts on the mirror glass so its as easy as taking it apart, uncliping the wires from old glass, putting in new glass and snapping on the wires again and assembling the mirror. should take less than an hour.

M3 mirrors require soldering so its more time but still not bad.

i've had to do 3 different mirrors.

that guy Scott from Radar mirror has a good deal on mirror glass but hes not super enthusiastic about modding mirrors for the cool features he used to advertise.

when I asked him about getting an oval auto dimming glass from him that was the new 2 way glass... he quotes $500 for the glass alone saying its super expensive.

when i asked about sending my mirror to him to mod it for the digital compass or homelink (since Ive seen him do it before) he gave me a short winded email on how hard it is and he doesnt want to do it anymore so i just bought a $100 auto dim glass from him. he never even emailed to say when it shipped tracking etc... merely it just arrived one day.

i think hes just tired of doing mirrors and burnt out, doesn't seem very enthused like he used to in his older forum posts on M3forum.

Id rather buy auto dim glass from http://www.mirrorjohn.com/#

he has more parts and is friendlier and more responsive.



Thank you for sharing, this is very insightful

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[trancenation]

If you're a little handy, you don't have to go out and spend $100 for a retrofit mirror when you can buy a non SOS autodimming from any wrecked bmw from the e46 era. You just have to remove some of the pins from the mirror harness before you plug it in and you're set.

used non sos autodimming mirrors from the e46 go from $20-$50 used on ebay,

[J3ss3]

I see this is an old thread. But in case someone comes across it, I just want to say they DIY solution from mirrorjohn (dotcom) worked really well for me! Dealer would have charged over $1k parts and labor for OEM; working used rearviews tend to run $200+ and may also be about to fail. I got the replacement glass for about $130 (US) from mirrorjohn on ebay, it came in less than a week. Install took maybe an hour. Most of the time was spent trying to get the damn plastic cover off of the mirror without breaking tabs or marring it up (I had luck starting at the SOS door and working my way around counter clockwise - only broke one plastic tab). Anyway, it was a pretty easy and cost effective solution. Cheers!

[John in VA]

Thanks for this. Here's his eBay store - https://www.ebay.com/usr/mirror-john?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

[t.er]

Another thing you can do, either as a temporary or permanent fix is to take the mirror out, pry the two halves apart, clean, and put it back together. It was a free fix and somehow having no dimming on the mirror hasn't bothered me in the past 5 years.