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Thursday January 24, 2002

BMW Replica M3 Mirrors

Abstract - As you may already know, the stock sedan mirrors look like elephant ears. That is enough reason to change.

Now, I know what you are thinking? Replica? Why? Well, because at the time no one knew how to retrofit the OEM version. Are replicas bad quality? Not always, I have seen a bunch of high quality fiberglass kits on the market. The trick is picking a "good" replica, preferably one that is molded directly from an OEM piece.

Another reason why I decided to go replica was because I wasn't feeling the mirrors offered by Hagus, AC Schnitzer, Hamann, etc. Furthermore, there were all very expensive. For the Hagus and Hamann mirrors, I felt the glass area was too small. Personally, I don't think it flows very well. I know they offer split mirror glass to widen the angle, but again I think it would look weird.

Purchase - Bought through an auction on eBay from member "Utomo2".

Parts - Replica M3 Mirrors

            Replica M3 Mirror Glass

            Various screws and butterfly anchors

Installation - The total time the installation took was about 10 hours including travel to Home Depot etc.

Remove Stock Mirrors

In order to remove the stock mirrors the whole entire door panel must be removed. You can do this by following the DIY on E46Fanatics.com. Once the panels are removed, you will notice that the door is insulated with foam material.

This also needs to be temporarily removed to gain access to the wiring. When the motor wiring is freed from the panel, you can finally remove the actual housing behind the front tweeters.

After you have removed both mirrors, you can take apart the mirror housing to get the motors. Use a screw driver to remove the mirror glass by prying it out. Remove the two cables that are connected mirror glass. They are used for heating.

From here you can loosen the screws that hold the motor down from the housing and try to wiggle it out.

On my specific mirrors, I could not get the plastic connector free from the joint. It was simply too big for the hole.

Here is a close up shot of the plastic connector at the end of the cable.

I decided to write down the pin configuration and remove each pin so it could clear the small opening.

Now I was able to easily remove the stock motor. It looks like like this.

Prepare Replica Mirrors

Since these are replicas, they will never be as good as the original. The major differences are that they made of fiberglass and do not flip up or down. First, I had to repair some chips with some titanium silver touchup paint.

Here is a picture of the replica base, it has the bolt pattern for sedans.

The same housing but from the front.

The joint is held together with three wood screws. The holes in the housing were drilled to gain access to the screws.

Removing these screws completely frees the base from the mirror housing.

The next step is to test fit the stock motor in the replica housing.

I looped the wires through an existing wood screw hole.

I used the same technique at the ends of the wire, so it would be easier install.

Since this was one of the earliest replications of the M3 mirrors, I think it was uncompleted. The stock motor did not fit at all.

I used a hand saw to cut excess fiberglass from the housing.

After some more carving, the stock motor fit perfectly.

Now I had to find some way to secure the motor into the housing. I started by removing these spacers from the motor.

Because the fiberglass is so thin behind the motor area, you can not use wood screws.

I inserted some machine screws I bought from Home Depot. I made sure they were long enough to extend to the housing.

These are butterfly anchors that provide more support by distributing the force over more surface area.

The first two screws and anchors went in easily.

The third screw took a long time because it was so hard to reach. I ended fishing the anchor with this tool.

Finally the mounted motor in the housing looks like this.

Looped the wires through the base.

Now I had to modify the housing so it pivots. Here is a bolt and washer that I bought from Home Depot.

I drilled more holes in the base so the bolt would fit.

Same base, a shot from the other side.

Then I drilled holes in the housing to accommodate for a washer and bolt on the other end.

The holes were made large enough that I could stick my tools in and tighten the joint.

The reconstructed mirror housing looks like this.

It fully pivots backwards...

...and fowards.

Putting everything together so far, the unit looks like this.

Tested the replica mirror glass fitment.

This is the finished product of the preparation stage. I also used three thicker wood screws for the base bolts.

I temporarily used velcro to secure the replica mirror glass until my OEM ones came.

Install Replica Mirrors

Back to the car. Here is the where the stock mirror was installed.

Reuse the black foam material that came with the stock mirrors.

Reconnect the wiring to the harness and test for functionality.

Shot from the rear. Housing looks a little tilted, but will be readjusted.

Close up picture. Notice how the base lines up pretty well with the window.

The front fitment is pretty good also.

A shot from the bottom. You can see a little of the black foam, but its invisible from any other angle.

Place the replica mirror glass into the housing.

Final Adjustments

I used some tools to readjust the angle of the mirrors.

After 6 hours I was able to complete the right side of the car.

A shot from the side.

A shot from the rear.

A shot from the front.

Notice how goofy the driver side mirror looks.

I completed the other side in 4 hours, down from 6.

Here is one with the lights on.

Extra shot of Xenon fogs light patterns. If you look closely you can see all four patterns.

OEM M3 Mirrors Glass Upgrade

As you can tell, the replica mirror glass just didn't cut it. It didn't have the proper mounts, tint, and concavity. Here are the real OEM mirror glass. For more pictures of just the glass please visit the BMW M3 Mirror Glass page.

It comes with the filaments for heating.

It installed perfectly with clamping module on the back. It is much clearer than the replica.

Driver side installed on to the car. Got to love that bluish tint.

Passenger side replaced.

Impressions - Well everything turned out pretty good. I would be pretty pissed if the mirrors turned out bad because I spent over 10 hours on this. Would I do it again if I read this page before attempting this? Yes, but I would the OEM M3 housings since they can be modified to fit. I must say I did learn a lot of small details here and there about mirrors and my car.

Conclusions - Since people have done the OEM M3 mirror conversion on the sedan, definitely go that direction now. The replicas are simply not worth it. You'll have enough fun modifying the OEM ones already.

Manufacturer's Link -