Auto Dimming mirror problem & question

[Bimmernut2]

guys, I'm a newbie here, so excuse me if I post something much discussed. I searched & found a couple posts about the Auto Dim mirror issues & yes, my new (to me) has this issue. I was looking at 2 options:
1. sending it out to Auto Dimming Mirror Repair for repair of the existing one 'or'
2. buying a used on off ebay.

Has anyone used the repair company & can tell me their experience.

The one I have is for the convertible, with homelink, SOS & clown nose. Some of the ones I saw on ebay are from newer "X5's" & do NOT have the SOS.
Will this still 'plug & play' in the E46?
Was the SOS for the people that had the service link under warranty & is of no use to the 2nd owners where the car is out of warranty?

Thanks

[danewilson77]

Is the fluid leaking out of it?

[Newjack]

Ask Charlie for one.









Kidding Charlie. Give these guys a shot http://www.radar-mirror.com/

It's $100 to have you current auto dim mirror fixed and they do a really great job. Don't buy one off ebay. Turn around is pretty fast if I recall.

[cakM3]

Keep in mind with the BMW Assist mirrors if you intend to use a non-BMW Assist mirror you will need to push pins 4,5,6, and 7 or you will smoke the new mirror. I found out the hard way with my ///M3 when I put in the Oval ///M rear view mirror. When I pushed pins 4,5,6, and 7 and reinserted the mirror everything still worked although the mirror smelled like smoke....

Any non-BMW assist auto dim mirror should work, at least for sedans and coupes....I'm guessing for verts as well. :thumbsup

As Rob mentioned Radar Mirror will repair your faulty mirror and provide a lifetime warranty for that mirror as long as you own the car that the mirror is mounted on. Not bad for $100!

[Newjack]

Is the fluid leaking out of it?

Yeah If it is leaking fluid get it out of your car ASAP. That fluid is high caustic stuff and will permanently tarnish any surface in your car it touches.

[cakM3]

actually....if you see discoloration on the mirror (bubbling) like in the pic below then you should take the mirror off before it starts to leak. If that solution touches anything, and I mean anything, in your car - trim, console, dash, seats... it will ruin the surface. Just a heads up.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/macdctr/mirror014_zpsbb8620a8.jpg

If you look at the above center portion of the mirror you can see a faint bubbling in the mirror. This is an indication that the auto-dim has begun to fail and will soon leak out of the mirror....I had this happen to my OE SOS mirror in my ///M and got an replacement from the dealer as part of warranty. By the time I got the replacement, I had already replaced the defected mirror with an Oval auto dim mirror and stayed with that. The replacement SOS mirror ended up in Rob's hands.....:)

[Bimmernut2]

To Dane....I do not see any leakage at this time. I've only had the car 1 week, so assume if it did leak, it was with the original owner, but I don't see any damage below. Currently, about half of the mirror is clear (top) & the other half is amber color & I don't really see any changes in the dimming, so that part must be kaput.
I already checked the repair site after reading the posts about there problems & saw where "Charlie" already donated one. Not my luck.
Thanks for the help on this.

BTW, I see from all the signature posts that most of the E46's have the angle eyes, however, my '05 doesn't. Was this an option or what?

[Newjack]

Angel eyes for the E46 were an aftermarket item.

[cakM3]

Angel eyes are much harder to install on coupes/verts but it can be done :thumbsup

Yeah, I had a friend in need and wasn't going to be using my spare SOS auto dim mirror....ever, so I gave it to him :)

[Hermes]

10 min @ 250 will do it

[PsychoCemia]

I did this about 18 months ago with the folks at Radar-mirror. Here's a thread over at BFC that I started: Link (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1672421)

They did great work, and I've had no problems with the mirror since. About a week for full turnaround.

Edit: Here's the info directly from m5board (http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/m5-e39-group-buy-forum-sponsor-discussion-offerings/189074-e39-m5-auto-dimming-mirror-repair.html)