why is there a difference in rear view mirror size on the 500E?

[Bryan Wells]

forgive me if this topic has been discussed already but I couldnt find anything in the forum search. My father was recently checking out our 500E and asked why the passenger side rear view mirror was "stubby looking"? and the driver side is more like a normal W124 mirror? I didnt have a good answer for him so I though I would ask you guys.

Bryan

 

[J-Sauce]

Both mirrors are as big as necessary and ONLY as big as necessary to provide a safe field of view on either side. Any bigger and they would simply produce more drag and more weight.

 

[Klink]

forgive me if this topic has been discussed already but I couldnt find anything in the forum search. My father was recently checking out our 500E and asked why the passenger side rear view mirror was "stubby looking"? and the driver side is more like a normal W124 mirror? I didnt have a good answer for him so I though I would ask you guys.

Bryan

Both mirrors are as big as necessary and ONLY as big as necessary to provide a safe field of view on either side. Any bigger and they would simply produce more drag and more weight.

We were told exactly what Justin said during the 201 introduction. When we asked why it was eliminated on models subsequent to the 124, we were told: The computers had worked out shape modeling that made the aerodynamic drag about the same regardless of size. Customer's tend to hate asymmetry (I can vouch for that). A little more room was available to add larger dedicated blind spot focus sections on the passenger side if the length was increased (not legal here in the "land of the free" hence not seen on USA cars). There were huge costs associated with having so many mirror housing designs in production. Don't forget about right hand steering versions, as everything "doubles" the number of versions to manage in the parts requirement, both in production and in replacement parts inventories...

 

[gsxr]

I wonder how much speed Jano would have picked up at the Mojave Mile with the mirrors temporarily removed...

 

[500AMM]

forgive me if this topic has been discussed already but I couldnt find anything in the forum search. My father was recently checking out our 500E and asked why the passenger side rear view mirror was "stubby looking"? and the driver side is more like a normal W124 mirror? I didnt have a good answer for him so I though I would ask you guys.

Bryan

Bryan,

In case you want to get equal size you can buy 124-mirrors from any country with left hand driving.
...and remember to get the rubber boots for the mirror you change in size.


-a-

 

[Hollybrook]

I wonder how much speed Jano would have picked up at the Mojave Mile with the mirrors temporarily removed...

I raced in an almost stock class, but we were able to remove the mirrors. Don't know how much of a difference it made, but we mounted trucker convex mirrors on the roll cage just inside the front windows. Not only did they reduce drag, but they worked better then the stock Datsun mirrors.

 

[bing]

A little more room was available to add larger dedicated blind spot focus sections on the passenger side if the length was increased (not legal here in the "land of the free" hence not seen on USA cars).

So called Aspherical mirrors and has been an EU directive for a while now that all EU cars must be fitted with this type on both sides. Frankly I don't understand why such mirrors are illegal or not DOT compliant in the land of the free when y'all so safety-conscious , yet it's ok to fit aftermarket convex little mirrors on top of your existing one ? :? Years ago I actually fitted a Euro aspherical mirror(which i bought from a local MB dealer here in the Uk) on my father's W210 in California. He found it really useful and much more safer.

Like so :

 

[Stevester 500E]

Will the full-size right side mirror bought from another country be plug and play in a US 500e?

Bryan,

In case you want to get equal size you can buy 124-mirrors from any country with left hand driving.
...and remember to get the rubber boots for the mirror you change in size.


-a-

 

[Glen]

Will the full-size right side mirror bought from another country be plug and play in a US 500e?

Not exactly. It will physically bolt on but the electrical connection is different, but easily modified. The main issue is the angle is wrong for a LHD driver. There is not enough articulation in the glass movement to compensate, so you can't really see down the side of the car.

 

[kwontumspeed]

I thought I read somewhere that the passenger side mirror was stubby and tall to assist with parallel parking by increasing the field of view down the curb. Not sure where that was though...

 

[Stevester 500E]

That's what I was afraid of.
I wanted to convert my w124 coupe stub mirror to a full size, and I kind figured the rotation would be off. I am not the greatest at frankensteining things, but I was considering morphing the two mechanisms to make it work. But it is too much work I think.

Not exactly. It will physically bolt on but the electrical connection is different, but easily modified. The main issue is the angle is wrong for a LHD driver. There is not enough articulation in the glass movement to compensate, so you can't really see down the side of the car.

 

[Klink]

So called Aspherical mirrors and has been an EU directive for a while now that all EU cars must be fitted with this type on both sides. Frankly I don't understand why such mirrors are illegal or not DOT compliant in the land of the free when y'all so safety-conscious , yet it's ok to fit aftermarket convex little mirrors on top of your existing one ? :? Years ago I actually fitted a Euro aspherical mirror(which i bought from a local MB dealer here in the Uk) on my father's W210 in California. He found it really useful and much more safer.

I have retrofitted a number of the ECE lenses over the years, Bing. They are so much better than our proscribed garbage. The mirror laws in question are ancient, and as nearly as I can tell, were simply intended to set a quality standard by placing a legal limit on image distortion. Alas, like so many of our transportation related laws, it was never updated.

And perhaps that is to be wished for, as whenever our bureaucrats update standards such as this, it tends to be a lowest common denominator mandate designed to protect the most vacuous among us. Our economic system may be conceptualized around a "survival of the fittest" model, but everything else here seems to be designed so as to protect those that would fish their toast out of an operating appliance with a metal utensil while standing in a tub of water during a thunderstorm. Absolutely infuriating.

And what's even more disheartening, is that the rest of the world seems to suck up our worst ideas with a straw. The fifty fold pamphlets in a hundred languages that now litter every damn box of brake pads with an ECE origin is simply stunning. People wonder why there is so little economic progress nowadays? The answer is there in that little box of brake pads as no end of fear mongers, awfulizers, compliance engineers, certifiers, and translators, all approved by at least 20 ministers of who the hell knows what, all sponge a living from this cauldron of waste and debt the rest of us now slowly drown in. Just unbelievable the jobs that people will invent to endlessly avoid having to leave a desk...

 

[500AMM]

So called Aspherical mirrors and has been an EU directive for a while now that all EU cars must be fitted with this type on both sides. Frankly I don't understand why such mirrors are illegal or not DOT compliant in the land of the free when y'all so safety-conscious , yet it's ok to fit aftermarket convex little mirrors on top of your existing one ? :? Years ago I actually fitted a Euro aspherical mirror(which i bought from a local MB dealer here in the Uk) on my father's W210 in California. He found it really useful and much more safer.

Did you maintain the heating when the mirror was mounted on top of the existing?

In case you want to get equal size you can buy 124-mirrors from any country with left hand driving.
...and remember to get the rubber boots for the mirror you change in size.

Will the full-size right side mirror bought from another country be plug and play in a US 500e?

Not exactly. It will physically bolt on but the electrical connection is different, but easily modified. The main issue is the angle is wrong for a LHD driver. There is not enough articulation in the glass movement to compensate, so you can't really see down the side of the car.

That's what I was afraid of.
I wanted to convert my w124 coupe stub mirror to a full size, and I kind figured the rotation would be off. I am not the greatest at frankensteining things, but I was considering morphing the two mechanisms to make it work. But it is too much work I think.

I am going to fit mirrors from a Ford Mondeo III anyway, so I haven't studied the angle on the mirror that much, but it sounds to likely be as described. What about swapping the internals from the exisiting over to the LHD mirror? Or does the mirror housing itself have a different angle?

-a-

 

[bing]

Did you maintain the heating when the mirror was mounted on top of the existing?a-

It was for a W210 facelift and yes they were heated . I retrofitted just by unclipping the old one . I also remember the parts guy asking me If wanted auto dimming ones and think I bought one with for driver side only .

 

[500AMM]

.
I was just curious to see a W124 with equal size mirrors, but it wasn't that far away - and even a 036.
OWNER - automi got his Limited with this and here is an image before he switched back to stock size.

http://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5840


-a-

 

[J-Sauce]

My preference would be for 2 stubby mirrors I've got a RHD stubby mirror which I picked up from Captruff. It will be going on my wagon since it has electric operation and my 500E does not.

 

[2phast]

My preference would be for 2 stubby mirrors I've got a RHD stubby mirror which I picked up from Captruff. It will be going on my wagon since it has electric operation and my 500E does not.

I did this on my 190e. The problem with the stubby mirror (on the drivers door) is that the size coupled with the convex glass limits your viewing angles (creates a blind spot) and distorts the distance of vehicles. I had to install a blind spot mirror to help with the problem. While I liked the symmetry of the two mirrors, the visibility issues would prevent me from doing this mod again.