Gave my girl a vday gift

NYSpeed Automotive
1

M3 auto folding mirrors!

However, they don’t autofold yet because the parts guy from Holtz BMW was retarded and kept saying he couldn’t sell me the new mirror switch because it wasn’t an option for my make/model and his system wont allow me to buy a part not for my car. Yeah, okay. :banghead: So I’m buying it from Tisher BMW at a cheaper cost anyway (including shipping) and will replace the switch once it gets here.

This is my first DIY project on a car (other than stupid maintenance things like tires, rotors, pads, blah blah blah). I was really excited, and all in all everything went smoothly. Took me about an hour and a half, and obviously most of that time was spent on the first door going “well how in the fuck do I get THAT off…” Passenger door took about 20 minutes.

Pics from my phone. Before, all clunky and boxy:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3384/3279497654_b758ed4da9.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/3279497804_e805589311.jpg

Door panel removed:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/3278676237_4e9d5f1500.jpg

No mirror… looks funny:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3371/3278676627_7c3184e2cc.jpg

New mirror put in place:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3301/3279498718_90aa3f2124.jpg

Door panel back in place:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3279499366_29c4e7655c.jpg

Halfway there! You can see the difference, and just how much more sexy it makes the car look.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3439/3279499586_20f502384a.jpg

Final outcome:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3306/3278679183_598fc3f30a.jpg

2

Looks much better :tup:

3

deff agreed :tup:

4

At first I thought, “You gave your girl, Dave, a gift?” :slight_smile:

Looks really good. I’m a fan of subtle changes that have a nice impact if you see them.

5

:tup: to a practical retrofit for m3 mirrors.

6

:tup: nice work. total cost of parts?

7

Hehehehe, Dave’s out of town (and we don’t make a big hoopla out of vday anyway). So I figured, why not treat MY favorite girl to a little love today

And it’s nice to do projects like this when I’m by myself, so that I don’t feel intimidated with someone watching over my shoulder, and I can figure stuff out on my own. Love him dearly, but Dave would much rather get in there and do a project for me than just supervise.

Got a screaming deal on the mirrors… $180 shipped from a guy on e46fanatics. They were already painted alpine white, so that cut down cost dramatically.

Had to buy one tool, a T20 star screwdriver… ended up buying a whole set for $10 from Harbor Freight.

The mirror switch I need to replace my old one (so I can actually USE the auto fold functionality) is going to be about $50 shipped.

So all told, around $240. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

8

Very nice! I like those much better Cassie.

9

as subtle as the difference is between the real ones…i really don’t like the replica M3 mirrors.

It’s definently better than the “elephant ears” though.

10

Yeah, I hear ya. When this set came up for sale I had to do some soul searching if I really cared that they were reps and not originals. The fact that they were already painted pretty much made the choice for me. Visually, I (personally) have a hard time telling the difference, so since it’s on my car (and I’ll be the one looking at it most!) I felt okay with the decision :slight_smile: