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beastie4126

Convex Heated replacement mirrors

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I generally find the mirrors on the Rado a bit on the dangerous side with the visabily they provide compaired to other cars and was having a nose around for convex or magnified options. I know DDI do or did a set but they are $80 plus shipping tax etc. Has anyone given these a go http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VOLKSWAGEN-CORRADO-88-95-CONVEX-HEATED-MIRROR-GLASS-BP-/390350437776?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5ae2b2fd90 ? contemplating getting one just to find out if they are any good.

 

Any other options out there?

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they look good, would be nice with a bit of a blue tint though... One of mine is a bit tempremental wrt demisting, might give these a go.

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worth a punt for £9

 

They may turn out to be cack so just ordered a drivers side for testing, I'll report back when it eventually gets fitted. Hopefully I don't kill the old one to get this one on.

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I got one of these,the back plate didn't fit my mirror,so i used one of my old ones i had laying around,

went to put it into the mirror case,and the electrical connections on the new glass are about 15mm further away then the original glass ! My leads wouldn't reach without me taking the door panel off,and finding some more slack ! Or lengthening the wires ! I did neither, i just put my glass back in.

On a plus side,the mirror itself is well made,plenty of heating element and double sided tape(to fix b/p) your leads may be longer then mine,so may fit without no hassle !

Well worth the money

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Seems good, I need a couple of new mirrors for mine one of them isnt as reflective as it should be, interested in any updates to this... regards to fitting etc...

 

Pete

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I got one of these,the back plate didn't fit my mirror,so i used one of my old ones i had laying around,

went to put it into the mirror case,and the electrical connections on the new glass are about 15mm further away then the original glass ! My leads wouldn't reach without me taking the door panel off,and finding some more slack ! Or lengthening the wires ! I did neither, i just put my glass back in.

On a plus side,the mirror itself is well made,plenty of heating element and double sided tape(to fix b/p) your leads may be longer then mine,so may fit without no hassle !

Well worth the money

 

I see a "wanted broken drivers mirror" post going up to steal the back late from some time soon. If the plugs are too far away I may just make up a set of shrink wrapped extensions any way as the old plugs seem to be prone to corrosion and failing.

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whats the visibility like? I find the RHS mirror almost dangerous , coming off slip roads..

I always look over my shoulder through the back quarter-window, am I the only one?

 

How's the demisting compared to stock? Only one of mine has continuity on the heating element now and neither of them work properly!

 

Stone

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Look trough the back quarter window? Wow... I just have to bent myself a bit foward and can see properly... been to portugal and back every year for about six years and never had any problem.

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Stone - the demisting is not great tbh. It could just be down to the age of the elements, one of mine is flaky the other demsits ok, but MUCH slower than the rear windscreen. Its usually easier to clean then by hand.

I asked them them if they supply blue tinted ones, but unfortunately not.

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Look trough the back quarter window? Wow... I just have to bent myself a bit foward and can see properly... been to portugal and back every year for about six years and never had any problem.

You still have a blind spot in the mirrors though...long ago I used the M27 on my commute and there would often be people in the outside lane at exactly the same speed as you but hovering in your blind spot. Could be fine where you are but I figure there are always nutters driving around so you might as well give yourself a head start!

 

Stone - the demisting is not great tbh. It could just be down to the age of the elements, one of mine is flaky the other demsits ok, but MUCH slower than the rear windscreen. Its usually easier to clean then by hand.

Could be the same problem as the headlights - I measured 10.1V when they were supposed to be active. Engine off, in fairness, but still pretty low! My battery's fine so it must be the wiring... Also I hate blue mirrors so like-for-like replacements with more modern elements would do me fine!

 

Stone

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Mirror has arrived and looks like a reasonable unit although I kind of doubt the backing plate will fit but I could be mistaken. I will take some pics and attempt to install on sunday if the weather holds out.

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Well it's still sitting in the box on the coffee table at the moment but weather permitting I will get it fitted tomorrow, unless the mrs has something else planned for me.

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I got a pair of the DDI mirrors and they are brilliant. Very wide angle and they cover all blindspots. I'd always driven modern cars so it was a massive shock for me when using the standard mirrors! They're excellent quality with a slight OEM blue tint. I didn't bother with the old heated elements, like fla says its usually quicker to clean by hand!

 

They are a bit pricey, but I've had them on for over a year now and no signs of water seepage into the mirror and the adhesive backing has stuck 100%. Only downside is that they sport the usual USDM mirror warning of "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear".

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ok job has been done and so far I am fairly pleased with the results, I have yet to take car out for a test drive as being a Corrado something else needs doing (rear wheel bearing) :)

 

1st picture shows the original mirror slightly moved out so that it angles towards the trees behind the car, apologies for the smudges but you get the general idea.

 

2nd picture shows the plate that is supplied with the kit. It is made from tough plastic and only required the removal of two of the inner left handside inner circle tabs to fit very securely. The kit advises that you fit this first as it would be nigh on impossible to do so with the mirror stuck to it first without breaking the mirror. The plate also left plenty of room for the heater element connectors which are the correct size and merely needed the female connectors to be tightened to fit perfectly. After that I peeled back the sticky backed foam on the mirror took aim and fixed the mirror to the plate.

 

3rd picture is the mirror fitted, again with added smudges :) but you can see how much more the mirror is showing as the trees now appear further away with the wider angle this mirror is providing.

 

I think I will get another one for the passenger side but this time I will attempt to source a broken original mirror glass so that I can use the backing from that as it does surround the outside of the mirror better, any one have one?

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just ordered a driver's side one after reading this, cheers for the pics.

mine is corroded around the edges and I think the element is shot anyway and I hate those stick on wide angle viewer things, especially when the corrado mirror area is so small.

 

I'd even contemplated getting a larger mirror with the outer wide angle part, cut down to size for the corrado, that sort of modern glass makes motorway driving so much easier and safer. Hope this improves things, it's either this or caravan mirror extenders :lol:

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Fitted the driver's side one, it's not bad, no fitting plate with mine so rather than stick it to the old glass I removed the original VW backing plate, well, smashed and peeled off the old glass which is very well stuck!, and used that for the new glass.

It's a little flat on the top and bottom edges, so not exactly the right shape, but the blindspot reduction is excellent, when a car is passing on the M-way by the time a car is out of the side mirror now I can see it next to me on the road. Definitely worth a tenner.

I also removed the trim tape stuck to the back of the glass and used some even thinner stuff I had, the fit into the VW frame is pretty good, probably better if I used an adhesive rather than 1mm thick trim tape but I was in a rush to use the car for the commute and to try it out.

Only other issue was the position of the heater contact pins and the VW backing plate, I had to cut two small holes in the plastic for them to poke through, but that worked fine, no problem with pin position or length of wires.

 

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50113[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50114[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50115[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50116[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50117[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50118[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50119[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50120[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50121[/ATTACH]

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It's a little flat on the top and bottom edges, so not exactly the right shape, but the blindspot reduction is excellent, when a car is passing on the M-way by the time a car is out of the side mirror now I can see it next to me on the road. Definitely worth a tenner.

 

I noticed that the dimensions are not exact but it doesn't detract from the extra viewing area you now have. Finally got my wheel bearing sorted this weekend and took the car for a test drive to work this morning. Getting onto the motorway and switching betwen lanes it is now so much easier to spot those up and coming vehicles that used to be invisible without the neck swivel before. Now going to get a passenger one ordered up so I can have the best overall vision.

 

Probably the best mod I have done on the Rado :)

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I always look over my shoulder through the back quarter-window, am I the only one?

 

How's the demisting compared to stock? Only one of mine has continuity on the heating element now and neither of them work properly!

 

Stone

 

I gotta look over my shoulder all the time, not to mention trying to park the damn thing - I'm forever adjusting the mirrors! Makes parking quickly a nightmare.

 

Def think it's time to chuck £20 at some new convex mirrors...

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do it, I don't really have to adjust my driver's mirror now when reverse parking with the convex mirror, it's even better than the split convex outer strip on my mk4 in that respect.

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do it, I don't really have to adjust my driver's mirror now when reverse parking with the convex mirror, it's even better than the split convex outer strip on my mk4 in that respect.

 

Looking forward to the day... Where did you get yours?

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Looking forward to the day... Where did you get yours?

 

 

the cheapo heated e-bay ones, heating works really well too.

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