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Since you have a single din you could get one of those rearview mirrors that turn into a screen when it senses power from the camera. I put one in my work truck since I have factory headunit. Its pretty decent. Better then No camera at all in a sprinter with no windows!
Since you have a single din you could get one of those rearview mirrors that turn into a screen when it senses power from the camera. I put one in my work truck since I have factory headunit. Its pretty decent. Better then No camera at all in a sprinter with no windows!
I don't suppose you remember which one you got? I looked at a few of those and mostly wrote off the idea as being highly prone to failure and more expensive than the other camera routes.
Going back to my earlier mention of the old 5-panel racing mirrors, I did have the thought yesterday that it would be awfully cool to incorporate a back-up camera into one of the panels! Talk about best of both worlds.
I'm still working on A-pillar and sun visor mounting ideas, but we'll call this Release Candidate 1, inspired by street turned track cars.
View from the driver's seat. Convex 6" **** 48600.
The tree you're seeing in the mirror is alongside the car, about 10' over to the side. The rear bumper is about even with the tree trunk, so the visible branches are equivalent to a car in your blind spot, but roughly one lane over. Being convex, you're going to see some of the interior otherwise the viewing angle is too sharp with it turned outward that much. I'll know more about real world range of visibility when I take it out for a spin later.
Ideally, it would be moved down closer to the tweeter at the base of the A-pillar, using some sort of double bracket to reposition the mount. I figured higher up the A-pillar would work best, but I never came up with an angle I liked. The advantage of higher up is it might give a tall enough vantage point to see the curb for parking, which is difficult to accomplish with an interior mirror. But, the stock mirror is useless for that -- you can either see some of the car next to you or some of the curb, but not all of either or both -- so it's not much of a loss in that department.
I may also try mounting it where the tweeter would go, since I removed that in favor of an aim-able 2-way speaker in the door. That would give it the most stock-like position.
I'm not entirely sure of the legality of removing the stock mirror, as I believe there are laws requiring external side mirrors. However, not all cars come with a pass. mirror standard, such as my dad's old '89 Civic. Then again, laws like that are usually specific to factory specs for that particular vehicle. At any rate, being in the cabin eliminates the need to match up a heated external mirror, since A/C addresses fogging. If I decide I like it, I'll do up a blanking plate and remove Shrek's right ear. Almost exactly 2 lbs of weight loss and mildly improved aerodynamics, even if it likely looks a bit weird from the outside. Hopefully, disconnecting the pass. mirror doesn't screw up the driver's mirror, like with the goofy shared ground of the window/lock controls.
^^ Initial driving impressions are very positive. There are absolutely no blind spots on that side now You can still see a car to the right in the rearview when it enters the side mirror's view, and the side mirror catches the tail end of a car that's slightly ahead. I wondered if night time visibility would be reduced, but I think it's actually improved by not having the mirror catch as much glare outside the car.
The mount vibrates a little bit due to being thin metal, so I'll work on an improvement for that while fiddling with placement options. It's looking like a definite keeper! **** also makes a 5" round that could be worth a try, but the 6" is the cheaper option with Amazon selling it for a ridiculous $5.50 with free shipping.
Release Candidate 2. Moved forward and in just a bit, with a more solid bracket that you can just make out in the reflection in the windshield. The weather took a turn for the worse today, making car projects less enjoyable, but it does help illustrate just how difficult the stock mirrors are to see out of when it rains. (The mirror is actually clean!) They really do border on being worthless.
I suppose I could run it in that spot as a supplement to the stock mirror instead of as a replacement... If sticking with that position, the 5" round probably makes more sense than the 6", as it would eliminate most of the window trim being picked up.
Rainx on the window and mirror, turn your mirror heater on and it's clear
I was hoping no one would say Rain-X... It's got to be the most mis-recommended product ever, just after WD-40. Rain-X is nice on the highway but worthless around town, where you're rarely going fast enough for it to work and end up rubbing it all off with the wipers as a result. Basically, it's only useful in regularly rainy areas if you only drive on the highway.
And yes, I did try it on the mirrors, side windows, and rear window. Barely made a difference.
The heaters do a pretty good job clearing up fogged up mirrors, but they're only so-so with rain. They tend to leave a ring around the edges, making an already too small mirror even smaller. (Edit: I think they also leave the mirrors cloudy by burning off the moisture and leaving behind the residue. I can't imagine cleaning my mirrors after every drive just to maintain visibility.)
that giant mirror looks artarded
I'm not familiar with "artarded," but I assume that's not a good thing. In case there was any uncertainty, I don't give two ****s what it looks like, as long as it's a functional improvement. I don't run a passenger seat, so all that matters is the view from the driver's seat. If you can't see how dramatically improved that is from the above picture, then I don't know what to tell you.
I clay-bar all of my glass and treat the front windows with aquapel every 6 months.
Aquapel is kind of expensive, but the beading and sheeting properties it gives water on the glass is second to none.
Rain-X isn't really worth the time honestly. It might do alrightish for a day or two, but it's usually off the glass before you ever get home on the first trip.
I clay-bar all of my glass and treat the front windows with aquapel every 6 months.
I've had a clay bar on my shopping list for more than a year now, since I've seen it recommended for so many things... I'm not familiar with Aquapel, but it sounds worth a try.
Originally Posted by SCFactory
1998 Toyota 4runner rear view mirrors! Hahaha
I've seen a few truck/SUV mirrors that look in pictures like they might have a similar enough bolt pattern, but it'll take a lot of exploring at the junkyard to get anywhere with that.
I removed the pass. mirror yesterday to give the A-pillar mirror a full shakedown. It's sort of interesting being able to see through where the mirror would normally be. You don't think of the mirrors themselves as being a blind spot!
I've had a clay bar on my shopping list for more than a year now, since I've seen it recommended for so many things... I'm not familiar with Aquapel, but it sounds worth a try.
I've seen a few truck/SUV mirrors that look in pictures like they might have a similar enough bolt pattern, but it'll take a lot of exploring at the junkyard to get anywhere with that.
I removed the pass. mirror yesterday to give the A-pillar mirror a full shakedown. It's sort of interesting being able to see through where the mirror would normally be. You don't think of the mirrors themselves as being a blind spot!
That was intended as a joke, but the 4runner has huge mirrors I love it
I was bored/curious today and disassembled a spare passenger mirror to see if its innards would provide any inspiration.
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear possible to remove the wiring without either cutting it or de-pinning one end. It seems like there's some potential there to use the base (the middle piece that the wire passes through) and adapt a larger mirror to it. The little 2-wire piece sticking up alongside the motor assembly is the heater wires. I can envision finding a larger mirror with the same heater and motor connector, pop that onto the stock assembly, and build it in around the larger mirror's housing.
I wandered the junkyard a few times and haven't yet found anything that'll fit our mirror mounting holes. But, I decided to try something a little different... Release Candidate 3:
Luxury rat rod?
Washed out a bit by the sun hitting it directly. Needs the bracket re-positioned slightly, outward and up.
Aesthetics aren't exactly a home run, but I'm still just testing out ideas. Aero probably takes a hit, too. But, there's definite potential there for mounting a universal mirror to the SC base. Most of the bullet style mirrors are pretty small, but something like that.
I was able to get the heater wires through the various passageways, making it possible to just de-pin the rest of the wires and have a fixed position mirror with a heater. The power mirror aspect is pointless with a big, convex mirror that shows everything. Next, I searched for universal heated mirrors and struck out, but I did find these ideas:
That opens up a world of possibilities, now that I can run a harness that carries only the heater wires! Any mirror housing that can be opened up could be converted into a heated mirror, so then it's just a matter of determining what looks good on the SC mount and has the desired viewing range. Run the wires down the bracket to the stock base and follow the channel through to the cabin. Maybe even build a little foil to go on the front side of the mirror.
Edit: Almost forgot! This direction also creates the possibility of building in a mirror turn signal.
BTW, if you're reading along and trying this at home, it's quite easy to de-pin the main connector and pull the wires through at the mirror end. I way over-complicated it... When you look at the white connector, there's a little plastic insert the slides over the outer 2 terminals at each end. I was really wrestling with those stubborn plastic tabs to de-pin wires until figuring out it's an easily removable piece.
They're designed to go on the B-pillar of vehicles with regular backseat passengers, e.g. SUVs and taxis, so people don't get run over opening the door. That link is for the left one, which I think would be the best fit for an interior right A-pillar mount, flipping it over to account for the slope with the angled mirror. Make a mounting plate for it and attach that to the Oh S***! handle spots, angled outward slightly. That should provide a decent blind spot view, allowing the stock mirror to fill in the rest.
I noticed something interesting today. The '96+ auto-dimming passenger side mirror shows an image ~25% bigger than the earlier versions. (There's a bit less real estate, though, as the frame is thicker.) The newer ones are ever so slightly flatter. Too bad the wiring isn't compatible to throw one on and test the difference it makes.
I don't have a '96+ driver's side mirror to compare, but I'm guessing there's no change there since they aren't concave.
It's possible the addition of auto-dimming warranted a change to the mirror curvature -- unlikely, since I believe the rearview mirror handles the headlight detection for all three mirrors -- but I'm guessing I'm not alone in my dislike of the '92-95 stock mirrors and Lexus had to make some safety improvements.
02-19-16, 02:15 PM
In case there was any uncertainty, I don't give two ****s what it looks like, as long as it's a functional improvement. I don't run a passenger seat, so all that matters is the view from the driver's seat. If you can't see how dramatically improved that is from the above picture, then I don't know what to tell you.
