M3 Mirrors on Sedan (Future Purchase)

[L0veZHP]

Where did you guys get your M3 Mirrors from? I know ECS has them..
but I also want to have Blind Spot mirrors how I have on my ZHP now.. ECS has two options for them based on production date do you know which I would need if I buy my mirrors from ECS?

(These would be the mirrors)
http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-M3-S54_3.2L/By_Brand/G-H/Genuine_BMW/Exterior/ES2570184/
http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-M3-S54_3.2L/By_Brand/G-H/Genuine_BMW/Exterior/ES84381/

Which Blind Spot set though?
http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-M3-S54_3.2L/By_Brand/G-H/Genuine_European_BMW/ES251356/
or
http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-M3-S54_3.2L/By_Brand/G-H/Genuine_European_BMW/ES251358/

[Pip]

I think you'll have a hard time finding color matched mirrors, but you might be able to find a set from a part out car locally on CL or on the forums. It would probably be marginally cheaper than ECS unless someone is willing to part with them for less. I think I remember paying around $250 for the set, but they were in rough shape and needed work before paint.

[ELCID86]

I got aspherical mirrors off eBay and they have held up well so far. (Seller dubstopimports)


Thumbs, iPhone, TaT.

[cakM3]

since you will be wanting to mount OEM M3 side mirrors onto your sedan like I did then you will need to be aware of a few things....

First, you will have to modify your mirror baseplates, I would recommend you follow the Rogue Engineering procedure on modifying your mirror baseplates to fit sedans: http://www.rogueengineering.com/bmw/E46M3MIR.html (http://www.rogueengineering.com/bmw/E46M3MIR.html)

Second, if you desire full functionality of your mirrors... you will have to transfer the original mirror motors (with ribbon cabling) over to your new OEM M3 mirror housings. It is a lot of work and if you have absolutely no clue on how this is done then go thru my ZHP project thread. It's detailed in there.
http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?5514-Charrie-s-ZHP-project/page34 (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?5514-Charrie-s-ZHP-project/page34)

This is the procedure I used to transfer my original mirror motors onto my OEM M3 mirror housings...
http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?3096-ZHP-ESS-TS2-Project-(PICS)&p=161239#post161239 (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?3096-ZHP-ESS-TS2-Project-(PICS)&p=161239#post161239)


Take a look at the links and decide if this is what you really want to do. I will tell you that this is one of my favorite mods I have done for my ZHP (see sig pic) because the OEM M3 side mirrors match the lines of the car the best and to me gives the best look :thumbsup

To answer your first question I sourced my OEM M3 side mirrors from a friend who parts out wrecked E46 ///Ms. He usually has a set available and I got a great price on them :) You can source yours brand new from ECS Tuning :thumbsup

As for which mirrors to get, I got these: http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-M3-S54_3.2L/By_Brand/G-H/Genuine_European_BMW/ES251356/ (http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E46-M3-S54_3.2L/By_Brand/G-H/Genuine_European_BMW/ES251356/)

[L0veZHP]

TY so MUCH!

[Pip]

Really good point Charlie. Not a plug and play operation.

[BMWCurves]

Nice, Charlie! Out of curiosity, why did you choose the mirrors for cars manufactured after 07/2004? Did the M3 mirrors change shape over its production run?

[cakM3]

Really good point Charlie. Not a plug and play operation.

Thanks Sean and no they're not. I know you did this install on your ZHP before you sold it so you know the amount of work that will go into these to make them fully work as if they were originally installed. That's why most people end up getting the M5 style (M3 Rep) mirrors instead. I have gone that route when I had my first BMW and can say I don't care for the looks of the M3 Rep mirrors, they don't look right to me. I would rather endure the pain of installing OEM M3 side mirrors or just leave the OE flag style mirrors on rather than mount the M3 Reps....



Nice, Charlie! Out of curiosity, why did you choose the mirrors for cars manufactured after 07/2004? Did the M3 mirrors change shape over its production run?

The first mirror link refers to the M3 style motors. The earlier mirrors used a "Ring lock" style attachment for the mirrors. If you look at the bottom of the writeup for the early style mirrors the last sentence says "Will not fit non-M vehicles without changing mirror assembly to M3 style." The ring lock style mechanism won't mount onto the OE ribbon motors, I know because I tried to reuse the OEM M3 mirrors that came with my M3 mirrors. They just don't fit onto the non-M mirror motors.



The second link for the newer style M3 mirrors says the following in the last sentence "the top half of the mirror loose once unclipped the bottom half will easily follow." Meaning that these mirrors use a "Clip-style" attachment which is much easier and universal. This type of mirror will easily mount onto the non-M mirror motors, so that's why I am using them. So far after three years, I haven't had any issues using these mirrors, hence my recommendation :thumbsup

[BMWCurves]

I had no idea. Thanks for the info, Charlie!

[cakM3]

I'm here to inform those who would like to incorporate an OEM M3 side mirror to their sedans :thumbsup Glad to help Will! :)

[az3579]

And if you do buy the assemblies, I wouldn't waste my money with the assemblies that you linked at ECS. Those includes mirror motors which you will not be able to use, so it's a waste of money paying for something you can't use. See if you can get them without motors.

[L0veZHP]

thanks Charlie and Az