Hi

Does anybody have experience with this mirror? Since only my interior mirror can be dimmed, I want to get something that can eliminate the glare at night. I found myself sitting all crooked at night so I could dodge the lights coming from the rear review mirror.

Thanks for any comments!




http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edpd/...A3splitmirrors

 

That kit seems to give you aspherical mirrors on both sides. Outside N. America, Audi ships the A3s with asphericals on the drivers side, and wider range mirror on the passenger side, but it does not have the 'cut-line' that you will find on the driver's side mirror.

I have an aspherical mirror on the driver's side. Not only does it give you greater peripheral vision for cars hiding at you 8 o'clock, it also does not give me any glare problems. I'm not sure if the anti-dazzle feature still really works because I tinted my car, but I've never noticed any glare from even the worst HID lights behind me. (At least extra glare coming from the mirrors!) The euro-spec mirrors also show a wider range of vision (can't remember, they are more convex or more concave...I would guess convex?)...but I really notice the difference in North American mirrors when I go back, they certainly don't show as much as the Euro-spec mirrors. I would wonder if the cutline on the passenger side would be distracting.....even you watch cars in the driver's side mirror...depending where they show up..in the far-edge portion, or the main section of the mirror...they will appear to be moving at different speeds. It just takes an small adaptation on the driver's part to understand what you can and cannot see in the mirrors, so I suppose should be the same for the passenger side. But I figure there is a reason Audi doesn't ship them on the right, and I doubt cost is the real issue because they do make the aspherical mirrors for right-drive cars and still include the regular mirror for the left side.

So, the mirrors you are looking at are both aspherical...but I can't really see the advantage of that on the passenger's side. As for glare, not really sure because my A3 has only had these mirrors, but I don't have a glare problem with them.

 

I like them - significantly reduces the blind spots.

 

If you're really trying to reduce the glare, only thing I could suggest is tinting your car windows. Although they're blue tinted...doesn't mean they don't reflect less headlight glare from those behind you.

 

I have aspherical mirrors on both sides and really like them. The 'cut lines' and the image change from the convex to flat sections are not distracting at all. I had expected some adaptation time would be necessary, but that wasn't necessary.

omnimofo,

I suspect that those blue-tinted mirrors are not aspherical (but I certainly could be wrong). The OEM aspherics have a visible vertical line (the 'cut-line') about an inch from the outer end.

 

TPE is right. What you need is an aspherical mirror on the driver side (the one with a split line), and a convex mirror on the passenger side. Yes, you already have a convex mirror on your passenger side, but the rest-of-world ("RoW") spec mirror is MORE convex, i.e., covers a wider angle, and does not come with the stupid warning for litigious Americans "Objects in mirror..." Let me know

If you have a huge problem with glare, you can tint the mirrors yourself.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

I ping ECUtuning on that pair of mirrors and this is what Will Heid responded "The blue tint does help to diffuse light at night. Both driver and passenger side mirrors offer the blind spot feature. They are also both heated." and there's also "Yes, that is correct (that both mirrors have aspherical portions to it). There is a visable cut off on the mirrors."

So I guess the both (L & R) mirrors are identical? I replied asking if the set comes with 2 identical mirrors. Will report when I get a response.

Just to complete the story, I got all excited when I found out from dfrost that you can setup heated mirrors yourself with VAG-COM so I started looking for a new pair of mirrors. Now, according the the service rep at OEMPlus, the "anti-dazzle" + heated mirrors, which cost $710 EXTRA than just heated ones, are actually auto-dimming mirrors. Is it also possible to wire up those auto-dimming mirrors as easy as changing codes with VAG-COM?

 

Hi omni and A3yuppie

I think if you want to improve safety and reduce glare, there is a far cheaper way than auto-dimming mirrors. Go with the aspherical drivers side and the ROR standard convex mirror. You can see MORE from the convex than even with the aspherical mirror on the drivers side. I was just back in LA for 3 days, and I had a rental car....i REALLY noticed the increased blindspot on the driver's side due to the North American mirror...and I was driving a car I have previously owned (a Toyota), so I was used to the blindspot on that car.

As for the glare, if you tint your windows even within the legal parameters, you will reduce glare at night, make your car cooler in the day, reduce UV exposure to your skin, and make your car look even better (in my opinion!) all in one go. Plus, you can tint your car and change your mirrors to the OEM spec for the rest of the world for less than ECU tuning mirrors that auto dim.
Just my two cents, but A3 yuppie really pointed out the difference clearly, the convex on the passenger side really is better than two asphericals...I just checked it out by sitting in my passenger side and comparing with driver's side.

 

Hey

I just spoke with OEMplus, (josh and rich, two great lads). What they define "RoW" standard seems to be the flat mirror with a aspherical portion, and basically the mirror set they're selling here is a VW german driver side aspherical mirror plus a UK driver side aspherical mirror.

Where would you get a ROW convex mirror for the passenger side? I don't think I'll go for the auto-dimming route. You are right, for that money I can get these mirrors + tints all around and then some.



ps. TPE are you going to be in taipei this winter? Maybe I'll go visit you then =P

 

This discussion has me intrigued. Think I'll put the original passenger side convex mirror in for awhile and judge for myself how the view compares with the aspheric I installed. Conveniently, the original passenger mirror already has the heating grid, so I'll still have that function.