yet another minor disaster...

[webster]

so this morning i come out to my car (parked on the street in my neighborhood) and find my drivers side mirror hanging by nothing but the ribbon cable against the door, completely broken off of the baseplate. there are a few scuffs on the door paint as well from the mirror hitting it. since i obviously could not drive the car with the mirror hanging down the door i had to sever the ribbon cable entirely (bummer, but it was already torn probably 85%). the weird thing is the glass and mirror housing are still in tact, basically scratch free...so it doesn't seem like a car struck the mirror, probably some random twat on a bicycle smacking it.

so i called my shop and had them order a new mirror motor since the ribbon is now completely ripped off. the only silver lining i'm trying to find in this is that i will now have my shop put in the M3 mirrors i've been sitting on for over 6 months now.

here's what it looks like now
http://i52.tinypic.com/zipx80.jpg


arghh...i just can't win with this car lately.

as of today i am NEVER street parking in my neighborhood again. going to have a sit down meeting with my neighbors today (they reside on the lower level of a 2-family converted mansion-to-duplex) to discuss starting to actually use the driveway and 2 car garage we have that has heretofore been used solely for storage (which is ridiculous in a 4000 sq ft home with a 70 ft driveway).


man, sometimes people really suck.

[Johnmadd]

Damn. Could have been drunk teens maybe?

[llll1l1ll]

My coworker had someone key his hood two nights ago. All the other cars in the neighborhood were affected. It was likely a random act of vandalism.

[JupiterBMW]

Sorry to hear, absolutely no reason for this kind of stuff.

[fredo]

Sorry to hear the news. Hope you can park on the driveway soon.

[BRGcoopahS]

that sucks man. My MINI was keyed the other day and I know exactly who did it.

[kayger12]

Sorry to hear. People definitely suck.

[nike001]

that sucks man. My MINI was keyed the other day and I know exactly who did it.

kick their ass seabass!

[johnrando]

Aaaarrrgggghhhh, SUX!

[Dave1027]

My zhp sleeps in the garage. The dog keeps it company.

[Dave_B]

Mine too is in the garage. Sucks to hear of your misfortunes however.

[az3579]

My zhp sleeps in the garage. The dog keeps it company.

Just because it's in a garage doesn't mean it's safe!
A friend of mine bought a 2011 S4 a few months ago and he parks his in a garage. A couple of weeks ago, someone broke into his garage, smashed his window, and stole a quarter. No joke.

[Johnmadd]

Just because it's in a garage doesn't mean it's safe!
A friend of mine bought a 2011 S4 a few months ago and he parks his in a garage. A couple of weeks ago, someone broke into his garage, smashed his window, and stole a quarter. No joke.

Quarter of wut? # :ninja

[johnrando]

Seems a little iffy, like almost a vandalism/message/revenge more than a burglary.

[az3579]

Quarter of wut? # :ninja

A dollar... yes a single coin.
He doesn't keep anything in the car.


Seems a little iffy, like almost a vandalism/message/revenge more than a burglary.

Definitely a burglary. He said he spotted the same guy (he got a very brief glimpse of him when he was leaving his car) in his neighbor's house the other day. Problem with that is, his neighbors are away, so he knew something was up.

[Ryans323i]

Dammit!

[danewilson77]

Dammit!

Zactly.

Williamsburg, VA, Droid DNA, Tapatalk

[Dave1027]

Quarter of wut? # :ninja

Hilarious.

[BRGcoopahS]

Quarter of wut? # :ninja

This was my exact reaction.

[echo46]

Damn , that blows.

[webster]

update:

my shop is sending a courier to pick up the M3 mirror parts from my office this AM. they are going to work on them today and hopefully i can take the car in monday for all repairs/mods to be done.

i am glad to say i did negotiate use of the garage and gated portion of the driveway space with the neighors though. my car now sits tucked safely in a garage on a nightly basis :)

[Hermes]

update:

my shop is sending a courier to pick up the M3 mirror parts from my office this AM. they are going to work on them today and hopefully i can take the car in monday for all repairs/mods to be done.

i am glad to say i did negotiate use of the garage and gated portion of the driveway space with the neighors though. my car now sits tucked safely in a garage on a nightly basis :)

great news! I need to get my mirrors installed as well, maybe soon...

[quikryptonite]

Related to this topic. I was hoping to close on a town home with a spacious two car garage and it has fallen through. Does anyone in the Mafia rent a storage space to serve as a garage for one of their cars? I found one for $85 a month that would accomodate the ZHP but I don't know if it is really worth it. The lease is month to month so I wouldn't be locked into anything long term.

Thoughts?

[danewilson77]

Related to this topic. I was hoping to close on a town home with a spacious two car garage and it has fallen through. Does anyone in the Mafia rent a storage space to serve as a garage for one of their cars? I found one for $85 a month that would accomodate the ZHP but I don't know if it is really worth it. The lease is month to month so I wouldn't be locked into anything long term.

Thoughts?

That seems very fair.

Williamsburg, VA, Droid DNA, Tapatalk

[Ryans323i]

update:

my shop is sending a courier to pick up the M3 mirror parts from my office this AM. they are going to work on them today and hopefully i can take the car in monday for all repairs/mods to be done.

i am glad to say i did negotiate use of the garage and gated portion of the driveway space with the neighors though. my car now sits tucked safely in a garage on a nightly basis :)

Excellent news Wes. And she's going to look great with those m3 mirrors.

[onepercent]

That seems very fair.

Williamsburg, VA, Droid DNA, Tapatalk

Agreed. I just signed the papers for a 5'x10' storage unit at $55 per month. No cars allowed- I think that's because my unit requires entry into a building.

[Imola.ZHP]

Sucks...

I'm always VERY cautious about where I park my car. She is rarely, if ever, street parked...

[webster]

bad news update:

after being told friday to drop the car off monday for my shop to put on the M3 mirrors, i got an email this afternoon saying the car would not be ready until tomorrow. about 30 mins later i get another email stating that the job was a no go. apparently they didn't feel comfortable doing this mod after delving halfway into it. they did say i wouldn't be charged labor (rolls eyes). this is a shop i go to religiously and they've always treated me well, so i have no reason to think this wasn't an honest case of feeling like they got in over their heads. so tomorrow i'm going to try a place that Bryce recommended. otherwise it's either have them just put a stupid stock mirror back on or attempt a DIY of the M3irrors. meanwhile i still have no driver side mirror (ghetto) and my inspection sticker just expired taboot.

argh.


edit: oh and the pass side mirror isn't functional now either, so it's definitely going back to the original shop for that...

[johnrando]

Bummer. Good they copped to it and a no charge though (as you said).

[webster]

i think i've decided to come to my senses and have the shop put an OEM 330Ci mirror back on. then i'll just sell the M3 mirrors + Euro glass and try to break even on this headache. i don't have the time or the resources right now to try to DIY it like Sean or Charlie (badaces) and ultimately the coupe mirrors aren't that bad i suppose. just sucks i got my hopes up.

[cakM3]

Wes,

The OEM M3 side mirrors are a direct bolt on to your coupe. All the holes match up and there's only two screws that need to be used...probably the same screws that you use for your stock mirror. The only thing different will be the mirror motor mounts that you will have to transfer from the old mirror, which is not that hard to do. I did this mod for another forum member on his vert last summer and it took me a total of 6 hours work to get both mirrors mounted and working as good as OE...

If you don't have the old mirror then you would have to get new mirror motors for your car. The mirror motors on the M3 side mirrors won't work on your car just so you know. You will have to change them out.

Just saying... the one thing you would have to do is get your M3 mirrors painted to match your car. Doing the mirror motor mounting can be found in Jon's (Au2bahn) build thread in the projects section of this forum. :thumbsup

[Imola.ZHP]

I prefer the rectangle mirrors myself, call me crazy... e46's are still pretty "boxy" though not as boxy as the e30 or e36, but I just think bulbous round mirrors look wrong on them...

[az3579]

I prefer the rectangle mirrors myself, call me crazy... e46's are still pretty "boxy" though not as boxy as the e30 or e36, but I just think bulbous round mirrors look wrong on them...

Fear not, I have no problem calling you crazy. ;)

Or, are you the sane one and everyone else is crazy??? :biggrin


Sent from my iPhone 4S from Tapatalk

[webster]

this is getting comically difficult..

so after telling the shop to just fix the damn mirror with stock parts, they emailed me yesterday that the mirror body is on back order from Germany and will be at least 2 weeks before it comes in. pffft. i told them screw it, cancel everything, i will do the work myself.

so this weekend i am going to attempt to install the M3 mirrors without working motors. i know, it sounds like a halfass job, but i HAVE to get the car back in order to pass inspection since mine expired in Jan. at a later point i will order a new, regular E46 mirror motor and try to retro-fit. but i figure this way i will a) have the mirror look i want, b) be able to pass inspection and drive safely, and c) spend no additional money.

the biggest challenge now is that when i was disassembling the M3 mirrors, i accidentally broke the female clip portion of the driver side mirror motor (where the glass snaps into) so i will need some glue or heavy duty tape to make sure it stays secure. the M3 motors themselves are pretty fixed but do allow for some play for positioning purposes, so i should in theory be able to adjust the mirrors to the correct driving position.

[webster]

well i finally got some good news. i can tell that you guys obviously are tired of my pity party lol. today i installed the M3 mirrors. it was actually a really simple DIY. the hardest part was getting the little suction seal things, that house the wiring in between the mirror and the body, to seal properly.

anyway, i no longer have motors, which on one hand kinda sucks, but on the other, it's really easy to manually adjust them. the passenger side reverse tilt feature is also gone, but i'm thrilled to say that due to the aspherical Euro glass, i really don't need it! the design allows the ground to naturally be in the field of vision at the normal viewing position. the Euro glass also has a tapered section at the end that effectively eliminates blind spots. overall they are awesome!

i was able to secure the inactive wiring inside the door panel to some clip/prong thingy that was already in there. so nothing's rattling around inside even though the wire is not actually connected to anything.

a couple pics of the finished product. SO happy to have done this at no added cost and come out totally functional.

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k433/wtolson/ZHP%20Pics/20130309_161641_zpsfaf9d481.jpg

http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k433/wtolson/ZHP%20Pics/20130309_161657_zps9947c605.jpg

[danewilson77]

Looks perfect.

Sent from the HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA and USA

[Hornung418]

Horray!! About time you came to your senses and DIY'd it.

Looks real great Wes.

[Pip]

Looks awesome!! Congrats.

[johnrando]

Looks good. U eventually going with the motors or just leaving it?