Retrofitted/upgraded auto dimming passenger side mirror

[goate]

The other day I coded my side mirrors to dim a bit more than standard since I've tinted the windows and added sunscreens all around in the rear. The next nightly drive I noticed the passenger side not dimming. First I thought I made a mistake whilst coding but it turns out I didn't.

For some reason, from 04/2016 BMW, some other brands as well, discontinued the auto dimming feature on the passenger side. I tried to find the reasoning behind it but I couldn't. Since I specifically retrofitted the auto dimming mirrors on my F11 I couldn't live with just one dimming mirror.

I checked the parts needed and it would cost me around 800 euro for a base and the dimming glass. Since that route would leave me with parts I could not easily resell I decided to watch ebay for a mirror that fit my description. Yesterday I found one which is from 01/2016, has the lane change warning and was in an overall good condition. For 350 euro.

My original plan was to only replace the base (the 'triangle') and the glass and re-use the parts of my original mirror. Once I got started taking them both apart I realized that the actual ECU is precisely behind the rind that holds and moves the glass. I decided to replace the unit instead. I had to cut and solder two wires on each mirror that power the folding motor but other than that it was a walk in the park.

I'll try to sell the left over mirror, hope to get close to what I paid for the other one making this an almost free upgrade.

Took me two hours including removing, installing and testing the new mirror on my car and all is fine. I'm really happy with this relatively small mod. Next up: sunvisor without airbag warning and m performance brakes.

Lessons learned:

1) I did not have to buy a shadowline mirror as I only used the control unit
2) All the wiring for surround view (car didn't come with this option) is in place. Since I was replacing one mirror I considered doing this retrofit as well. Now that I know the wiring is in place even more so. Oh well, it's probably for the best

View post on imgur.com

I tried to attach the images, got a timeout error. Will try again later, imgur for now.

[alphaod]

I honestly don't understand why they removed the autodimming passenger-side mirror on later model cars.

[Duke I]

Originally Posted by alphaod

I honestly don't understand why they removed the autodimming passenger-side mirror on later model cars.

$

[Adamantio]

Originally Posted by goate

The other day I coded my side mirrors to dim a bit more than standard since I've tinted the windows and added sunscreens all around in the rear. The next nightly drive I noticed the passenger side not dimming. First I thought I made a mistake whilst coding but it turns out I didn't.

For some reason, from 04/2016 BMW, some other brands as well, discontinued the auto dimming feature on the passenger side. I tried to find the reasoning behind it but I couldn't. Since I specifically retrofitted the auto dimming mirrors on my F11 I couldn't live with just one dimming mirror.

I checked the parts needed and it would cost me around 800 euro for a base and the dimming glass. Since that route would leave me with parts I could not easily resell I decided to watch ebay for a mirror that fit my description. Yesterday I found one which is from 01/2016, has the lane change warning and was in an overall good condition. For 350 euro.

My original plan was to only replace the base (the 'triangle') and the glass and re-use the parts of my original mirror. Once I got started taking them both apart I realized that the actual ECU is precisely behind the rind that holds and moves the glass. I decided to replace the unit instead. I had to cut and solder two wires on each mirror that power the folding motor but other than that it was a walk in the park.

I'll try to sell the left over mirror, hope to get close to what I paid for the other one making this an almost free upgrade.

Took me two hours including removing, installing and testing the new mirror on my car and all is fine. I'm really happy with this relatively small mod. Next up: sunvisor without airbag warning and m performance brakes.

Lessons learned:

1) I did not have to buy a shadowline mirror as I only used the control unit
2) All the wiring for surround view (car didn't come with this option) is in place. Since I was replacing one mirror I considered doing this retrofit as well. Now that I know the wiring is in place even more so. Oh well, it's probably for the best

View post on imgur.com

I tried to attach the images, got a timeout error. Will try again later, imgur for now.

Hi, How did you solder the wires? I saw that the plaque is sealed