01-30-2020, 12:06 PM | #1 |
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Cool find at Costco, BMW blind spot mirrors
I have a crazy story for my fellow BMW enthusiasts. How do you know you are getting old? Many of your stories start with the other day I was going to Costco...
I live in the Encinitas area of North San Diego and as you can tell, I frequent Costco Carlsbad. Anyone who knows Costco Carlsbad knows it is a wasteland of huge SUVs crammed into spots that are small for a Mini Cooper. But I can't get enough, especially the yogurt (please bring back the chocolate and vanilla swirl). When I was parking I was glad to see a nice and clean BMW parking next to an open spot. I knew I'd be safe as long as they were there, right?. A younger guy was getting out and I said to him nice car (we both were mineral gray). He laughed and said thanks, and that was when I noticed his mirrors. He had these blind spot mirrors that fit like a glove and looked factory-like. I have blind spot mirrors on my RAM and I love them. I've rented Ford cars with the built-in ones and loved having those too. I've looked for something that did not look terrible but have never found anything stick on. I asked this guy about them (Andy) and he said he owns a few businesses. He just started a new one and he actually makes them for that exact reason. He said he started messing with them this past summer and eventually went all-in with a full on company to do it. We were talking for a bit and he was telling me he has had a set on his car for a few months testing and tweaking. He sent a few to friends and family in other states too. I was the first person to ever ask though. He gave me a set and said give them a try and if you like them, please send me some feedback. I have had them for a few weeks and I love them. I am the first testimonial on his site. He was a nice kid! I had an X2 loaner about a month ago that these would have been awesome on. Boy was that thing hard to see out of. Here is the website for anyone interested: https://********************* Now for the chocolate and vanilla swirl yogurt? Edit / update: I received a promotional email from this company with a coupon code valid for the month of March. 15% off for anyone interested. Newuser15 Edit again, finally got some pics!!
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01-30-2020, 12:12 PM | #2 |
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I've got a set of these. With a bit of trimming using a sander (they're plastic) I got a perfect fit similar to those in the link above, for a lot less $$. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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sygazelle11366.50 |
01-30-2020, 12:18 PM | #3 | |
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With the utopia car ones, you could see the blind spot but they were much more curved. They did help parallel parking but not much else. Plus those are Chinese and these are not if that makes a difference to you.
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01-30-2020, 01:25 PM | #4 |
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Pro tip for your yogurt... if your store has the frozen cold brew mocha, they'll put the same chocolate syrup on your vanilla yogurt at no charge.
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01-30-2020, 01:51 PM | #5 | |
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I wonder what that new cheese burger tastes like?!
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01-30-2020, 03:01 PM | #6 |
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Have you looked into the Euro spec mirrors?
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...167285005~geb/ Pretty pricey but they are OEM. You can find them on eBay for less. Or go with aftermarket ones that go for CHEAP (<$40), but if your car has auto dimming side mirrors, the Chinese-made ones have heating but no auto-dim. Had them on my car until someone smacked my driver's side mirror with his passenger side mirror while driving. Getting it replaced with genuine Euro oem courtesy of his insurance. The aftermarket ones look good and work well. Only caveat, if you have auto-dim and put in non-dimming mirrors, the car will throw a shadow code.
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01-30-2020, 03:04 PM | #7 |
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My store doesn't get any of the new stuff... no cheeseburger. We had the bbq sandwich for a while, but it went away too. They have poutine in Canada!
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01-30-2020, 03:34 PM | #8 | |
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In 2018 when I got the RAM I found myself feeling it was much easier to drive and park it vs the GTI because of them. I got some of those little amazon ones linked above. There are several shapes but they are all like little bubbles. It became quickly apparent that I was not going to get a view like the nice glass ones on the RAM. For example at night, the utopia car ones were just useless. Lights all over the place and you could not tell what was going on. My RAM has dimming mirrors as does my BMW. The blind spot mirrors on the RAM do not dim though. It is hard to explain without you seeing but there is a huge difference between these and the stick ones I have tried over the years. They are curved but not bubbles. They work just like my truck ones, which are OEM. I actually like that these extended view ones are not dimming. I find myself using them a lot in lower light situations. On a side note, the dimming mirrors on my truck dim, MUCH more than the BMW. Both vehicles dim on both sides. I got these for free as a matter of chance, but I think these are really sweet for the price. Stick them on in seconds, no messing with the factory mirror and not too costly all considered. I'll try and get some pictures to upload. Will need to get a picture sharing thing I think?
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01-30-2020, 03:37 PM | #9 |
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I think we are test market since Costco started here as price club. I used to shop at the original location when I lived down south back in the day off Morena BLVD. It was a Howard Hues aircraft hanger that the Price family turned into the first Price Club, which became Price Costco, then Costco if I remember correctly.
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01-30-2020, 03:38 PM | #10 |
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To be fair his diagram of what your stock side view mirrors can see is a bit misleading. When properly adjusted so you're not looking at the side of your car, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle of the two diagrams.
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01-30-2020, 03:48 PM | #11 |
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I keep my mirrors adjusted wide so my blind spots are nearly gone. However, for parking it's nice to have the mirrors adjusted in a little bit so you can see a bit of the side of your car. Seems like these mirrors would give you the best of both worlds. What would be nice is a memory button just for your mirrors so they'd automatically adjust to a specific spot when going into reverse or press a button.
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01-30-2020, 04:51 PM | #12 | |
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01-30-2020, 06:42 PM | #14 | |
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BMW cheaped out in newer cars, so the passenger side doesn't have auto dim. There isn't even a wire for it. I guess you could buy an actual Euro mirror for the driver's side and save a few bucks by getting the aftermarket mirror for the passenger side. |
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01-30-2020, 06:48 PM | #15 |
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I also bought the Euro heated and dimmable mirrors from ebay. Was $150 shipped ($75 for each mirror). The glass was pristine. Totally worth it.
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01-30-2020, 06:51 PM | #16 |
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01-30-2020, 06:51 PM | #17 | |
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I definitely adjust my mirrors differently with these. I push them out further than I normally would and also lower. The extended view covers the rest of the area from the door handle down to the road and then out. Between the two, it honestly might not be that far off from the diagram. I probably see more of the road in the back with the truck ones (whole tire and down to the street), but these make a huge difference for how much smaller. My truck blind spot mirrors are probably as big as the whole BMW mirror. I should have taken some pictures before I put them on. I got excited and threw them right on when I got home. Those suckers are really on there now. The shape is very unique as they curve, bend and twist. The far corners have the most extreme curvature. On the drivers side when a car is passing by me, I can still see some of it in these little mirrors when the car is 1/2 or more past me. Unlike the little bubble ones, a car within a few car lengths is actually distinguishable as to what it is. With the bubble ones it was a red something back there. With this it's a red Mazda 3. Was at the airport the other day and getting to and from the curb with all of the traffic was much nicer. Just a quick glance and I could see everything around me. I'll work on getting a flicker thing going this weekend and take some pictures.
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01-30-2020, 07:00 PM | #18 | |
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A really nice thing with these is that they look factory-ish like a Ford fusion or similar with the ones integrated. But there is separation and you know right where to look. These still take a little getting used to for sure, but they are pretty good sized and you get a big viewable area. I can't imagine you could see as much with the vertical aspherical ones?
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01-30-2020, 07:25 PM | #19 | |
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Here's the video where I did the swap:
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01-30-2020, 08:09 PM | #20 |
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FaRKle!
Thank you so much for that informative video demonstration! I'm curious how do I figure out / determine if my 2016 435ix has either dimming / heated mirrors or both on either side of my car? Thanks! |
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01-30-2020, 08:11 PM | #21 | ||
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01-30-2020, 09:12 PM | #22 | |
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Funny thing is...I think there is only 1-2 companies who make the dimming mirrors for all the car brands. Is the dimness adjustable with coding or something? My truck gets much darker, but my lower sitting car gets all the glare. Would love to swap the 2 |
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