I was in Germany couple years ago and we rented an S500 Mercedes and immediately noticed the aspheric ally bent European mirrors. After driving all over Europe for 3 weeks I got accustomed to them quite a bit. For those of you that do not know what these are here's a small explanation. The edge of the outside mirror is a bit bent so you can see the blind spot. Anyway, after noticing them on Mark Wong's E38 I sent him an Email and asked him how hard was it to replace them. Well I found out it's not difficult at all, as a matter of fact it can be done in 10 minutes on both sides. So I figured I should contribute these photos of the installation.

For those of you that know about my frustration with the Hamann mirrors, it's over. The mirrors never showed up after 4 months of waiting so I gave up on them. Besides they look too much like the Grand Prix's mirrors

I have no idea how to insert all images at once.
Here is the 2nd image

Here is what the mirror looks like after it's taken off.

To pop the mirror of just simply pop it out with your finger, Mark suggested pop sickle stick. I did it with my finger. Here is what the base looks like.

Another shot of the inside base mirror.

Another angle.

Base from the front of the car with the plastic cover removed.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I took the plastic covers off and am having them repainted.

John

Couldn't wait for the Hamann mirrors huh?:)
4 months is WAY too long.

Those mirrors are Cool!

How did you take off your mirror housing?
Also how much are the mirrors?

Well, the Hamann's would take another 2 months. That's outrageous. Besides like I said they look too much like the Grand Prix mirrors also $790.00 shipped. That's a lot of money for 2 mirrors and you lose all the features.

Mirror housing are being held in by 4 small screws. After you take the mirror off they are viewable. Take the screws off then the part that is painted just snaps off.

Mirrors were $48.00 at my local BMW stealer. Mark suggested to get them from Crevier but after I called them they were $45.00 plus shipping and did not feel like waiting 5 days for delivery.

John

Looks great, and great photos!

I gotta admit, the reason I got them was originally because they don't have the USA DOT "objects in mirror" text, so we could modify them. :)

Now that I have them, I can't imagine not having them anymore. They took a couple days to get used to, but now I feel there is virtually no blind spot!


http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/2/web/206000-206999/206524_259_full.jpg

I like your "USA DOT" lettering. I think I will leave mine blank.

John

Great post. I too had these mirrors on an A4 rental I had in germany and loved them. I think I'll get some today. I find the blind spots to be quite large on my 7 and this should help. Excellent, fantastic, well done, kudos, terrific, swell, etc. Thanks!

You like it then, eh?

Thank you for posting something helpful.

John,
I looked thru my ETK last night and didn't come up with the same part number for the mirror that your box shows above. My ETK shows that my car has heated mirrors (that's news to me) and the part numbers are:

51 16 8 266 493
51 16 8 266 494

Perhaps my car doesn't have heated mirrors and these are the wrong part numbers. How can I tell if I have heated mirrors? What year is your 740... maybe that accounts for the part number difference.

Originally posted by Arbys_Night
John,
I looked thru my ETK last night and didn't come up with the same part number for the mirror that your box shows above. My ETK shows that my car has heated mirrors (that's news to me) and the part numbers are:

51 16 8 266 493
51 16 8 266 494

Perhaps my car doesn't have heated mirrors and these are the wrong part numbers. How can I tell if I have heated mirrors? What year is your 740... maybe that accounts for the part number difference.

All 740's have heated mirrors according to my stealer. What I think you are looking at is an old ETK. The onlyway to tell if you have heated mirrors is to pull the mirror out. It's very easy, just follow the directions listed above. Once you pull the mirror out you will have 2 wires that are hooked up to the mirros glass. I have a 1997 740IL.

P.S. Remember these are aspherical mirrors so part numbers are different than the stock mirrors.:boink

John

You posted 165 112, what is the part number for the other side? 113 or 111?

Should be the same part number... you just flip it upside down.

I used 165-112 for the passenger side.

My ETK does show 51 16 8 165 112 as the mirror you are talking about above. It also shows the two numbers I posted previously, with one being left/right. All three numbers reference the same graphic of the mirror. The only description difference in the ETK is in the Supplement column: Gentex. I don't know what the Supplement column is for, nor do I know what Gentex is. Any ideas?

Originally posted by johngoga
Well, the Hamann's would take another 2 months. That's outrageous. Besides like I said they look too much like the Grand Prix mirrors also $790.00 shipped. That's a lot of money for 2 mirrors and you lose all the features.

That's "Grand Prix mirrors" twice in one thread... is that the sharp tang of sour grapes that I smell?

Seriously, just because the damn things are so popular you have to wait is no reason to insult the product that you apparently liked long enough to wait four months for...

Not to mention the only "feature" you lose is memory. What did we ever do before we lost the ability to re-adjust our own mirrors? :D

Originally posted by johngoga
Mirrors were $48.00 at my local BMW stealer.

We won't even talk about painting all dealers with that insulting term. What if the dealers started talking about all customers as "whiners"? Not appropriate to you? Maybe "stealer" isn't appropriate to call the shop that gave you awesome mirrors at a very affordable $48.

Food for thought.

- Rob

Originally posted by Rob Levinson
That's "Grand Prix mirrors" twice in one thread... is that the sharp tang of sour grapes that I smell?

Seriously, just because the damn things are so popular you have to wait is no reason to insult the product that you apparently liked long enough to wait four months for...

Not to mention the only "feature" you lose is memory. What did we ever do before we lost the ability to re-adjust our own mirrors? :D



We won't even talk about painting all dealers with that insulting term. What if the dealers started talking about all customers as "whiners"? Not appropriate to you? Maybe "stealer" isn't appropriate to call the shop that gave you awesome mirrors at a very affordable $48.

Food for thought.

- Rob


Rob I always had the highest respect for you but this is where I draw the line. It is my opinion, and it is what it is. I never asked you to accept it or even asked you to debate it.

And for the stealer, they can call me a whiner I don't mind especially since I am one.


John
P.S. By the way about the cross drilled rotors you are completely wrong, cross drilled are great rotors I have used them on an E34 for over 50,000 miles and never showed any sign of cracking. Since you don't sell cross drilled rotors I would expect you to find all kinds of faults in them. If you would sell them I don't think you would find any faults in cross drilled rotors.

These mirrors are available the dealership? If so what was the waiting period to receive them?

Originally posted by johngoga
Rob I always had the highest respect for you but this is where I draw the line. It is my opinion, and it is what it is. I never asked you to accept it or even asked you to debate it.

And for the stealer, they can call me a whiner I don't mind especially since I am one.


John
P.S. By the way about the cross drilled rotors you are completely wrong, cross drilled are great rotors I have used them on an E34 for over 50,000 miles and never showed any sign of cracking. Since you don't sell cross drilled rotors I would expect you to find all kinds of faults in them. If you would sell them I don't think you would find any faults in cross drilled rotors.


:laugh

Originally posted by toropoki
These mirrors are available the dealership? If so what was the waiting period to receive them?

Some of them have them in stock if not it's no more than 2-3 day waiting period.

John

Originally posted by Rob Levinson
:laugh

As I thought, couldn't comment on that could you.:lol: :lol: :lol:

John

Like I said too close of resemblance, and could not bare the thought of having any close GM parts on my E38. Take a look at these pictures. By the way these Hamann mirrors are not very popular at all, I E-mailed Hamann and they said that they don’t sell very many of them that’s why you have to wait a long time before you get them.

John

I don't know how you found these mirrors so cheap. I called 5 dealers who's prices ranged from $63.63 - $79.60 each. Crevier, the so-called discount stealer, was asking $74.68 each. How did you get a different price from them?

Originally posted by johngoga
As I thought, couldn't comment on that could you.:lol: :lol: :lol:

John

Comment on what?

I wasn't sure what line you were drawing. Was it an aspheric line?

You started talking about your opinions. You have opinions! Great! I was expressing my own opinion that your "new" commentary on the mirrors, a part that you really seemed to like, were willing to spend close to $800 on, felt they were worth waiting a few months for, and then suddenly started denigrating them when you could not get the new toys for a few more months. My opinion is that the scenario is a textbook example of "sour grapes" and I found it to be very funny.

www.dictionary.com:
sour grapes
pl.n.
Denial of the desirability of something after one has found out that it cannot be reached or acquired: The losers' scorn for the award is pure sour grapes

Come on, that's funny as hell!

That's my opinion, and I'm going to pick up a pen, a crayon, and maybe some chalk to draw my own lines with all over my walls right now.

Were you planning on installing brake rotors on your new mirrors? I did not see the point in that comment.

I thought ":laugh " summed it up the first time, but I guess I had to write it out.

- Rob
'98 750 GTP SE and loving my "GM" mirrors :biglaughb

Originally posted by Rob Levinson
Comment on what?

I wasn't sure what line you were drawing. Was it an aspheric line?

You started talking about your opinions. You have opinions! Great! I was expressing my own opinion that your "new" commentary on the mirrors, a part that you really seemed to like, were willing to spend close to $800 on, felt they were waiting a few months for, and then suddenly started denigrating them when you could not get the new toys for a few more months. My opinion is that the scenario is a textbook example of "sour grapes" and I found it to be very funny.

Come on, that's funny as hell!

That's my opinion, and I'm going to pick up a pen, a crayon, and maybe some chalk to draw my own lines with all over my walls right now.

Were you planning on installing brake rotors on your new mirrors? I did not see the point in that comment.

I thought ":laugh " summed it up the first time, but I guess I had to write it out.

- Rob
'98 750 GTP SE and loving my "GM" mirrors :biglaughb

Yes sir, you are so wise.:boink

By the way, I could get the Hamann mirrors if i wanted too but changed my mind. I looked around some more and noticed that they resemble too much like a lot of other cars besides the grand prix that's what changed my mind. I DO NOT WANT SOMETHING THAT EVERYONE HAS. Other people on here have mentioned they resemble also Civics and Preludes.
Originally posted by Immaculate
personally (not trying to plug my own for-sale item) i like these a lot better since the Hamann mirrors resemble the E36 M3 mirrors too much, which is already a look that has been copied time and again and can be seen on your favourite tuner Civics and Preludes all over the place. hop on eBay and take a look for yourself. IMHO the M5 style mirrors accomodate the 7er body a lot better.



http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=177040&highlight=Hamann+mirrors

John

Originally posted by Arbys_Night
I don't know how you found these mirrors so cheap. I called 5 dealers who's prices ranged from $63.63 - $79.60 each. Crevier, the so-called discount stealer, was asking $74.68 each. How did you get a different price from them?

Tell him Mark Wong told you to call him for a good price.

John

Bought them at my the cheapest dealer for $63.63 each... didn't drop any names so I paid full retail. Total bill came to just around $53,000... but that includes a spontenous purchase we made at the Lexus dealership next door... details in another thread.

This is somewhat off-topic, but was interesting to me. I'm sure everyone else has already heard of it . . . I'm always the last to know. Side view mirrors can be set in a fashion so that, between your 3 mirrors, you practically have 180% vision rearward. Set the driver side mirror by first sitting in your normal driving position. Then, lean your body to the left until your head touches the driver's side window. Set the mirror as you would normally. Set the passenger side mirror by first sitting in a normal driving position. Lean your body to the right the same distance as you had to reach the driver's side window previously. Set the mirror position as you would normally. Now, when driving, you should be able to see any vehicles approaching from behind and passing, on either side, move from your rearview mirror seamlessly into the appropriate side mirror, eliminating blindspots. Now, I have so much confidence in my rearward view that I drive like a complete maniac and incur the wrath of all who foolishly chose to take the wheel that day. I AM ALL SEEING!! Seriously, it works. I'm sure everyone already knew this. Just thought I'd pass it along.

I thought this is what PDC was for, j/k. :biglaughb

Thanks John.

Arbys_Night,

I know it's from a 'competing' board, but Chris Crinion gives very good prices to RF readers. I paid $42 for the E38 and $58 for the E39 aspherically bent mirrors.

If you don't want to ask for a price quote on the Crevier Parts Counter board, call him and tell him I sent you his way. And yes, you will want to speak with Chris. If he isn't there, call back when he is available.

Link to his price quote on these mirrors (http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/partscounter/forum.php?postid=3326519)