How To: LED Mirrors

[Optimzer]

Woot! Got the first one in today. I like it - I think it looks pretty nice. Will do the other side tomorrow morning and maybe take some pics along the if I can remember to! :D

Will try and get some pics up of the finished product too.

sob sob...my first \'mod\'.. :p

[TheProfessor]

Yes, please post pics, and some more info as well (price, where you got them, fit and finish of the product, etc.)

[Optimzer]

sure thing - it\'s a nice day today so hopefully the pictures will come out well. not sure how to set the exposure though on the camera on a day like this... any suggestions? :sarc

[dredd2099]

put in auto, shoot
post asap
cmon, we wanna see rite away

[Optimzer]

Here is the way I did it - basically, I followed 3sWhite\'s way of doing it with a few changes to the way I routed the wires (or so I believe it\'s different). 3sWhite - feel free to clear stuff up or add to these instructions if you feel necessary. It\'s a really easy DIY. It\'s my first time doing anything and once I figured out what I was doing on the left side, the right side would have taken about 45mins if I weren\'t taking pictures along the way.

Step1 - remove tweeter (just pull out) and unplug the white wire connector
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step01.jpg

Step2 - remove the 3 screws (the head is a hexagon and the size is 5/16\") - these hold the mirror in place and then take the mirror out. When you are taking the mirror out be careful not to break the clips. You have to lift the mirror slightly so the clips \'unhook\'. Put the mirror aside for now.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step03.jpg

Step3 - pop out the side marker. There are instructions in the Mz3 manual how to do this. Basically, push it back and lift the front out first. Don\'t do anything crazy like use a screwdriver!!
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step04.jpg

Step4 - Go and get your mirror and the mirror cap. Temporarily and loosely fix the cap on the mirror (I used tape) so you can remove it later. You need to run the wire somehow so that it goes through the mirror housing and to the inside of your door. This is how I ran mine. There is about 0.5cm wire exposed on top and 1cm exposed on the bottom. Alternatively, you can drill a hole in your mirror to run the wire.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step05.jpg

Step5 - Replace the mirror on your door and screw it back on. Run the LED wire through the main opening. There is foam there so the wire should be ok. I may go back and put electrical tape incase the wire starts to rub.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step07.jpg

Step6 - Run the wire under the door panel until you get to the rubber thing that other wires run through from the body of the car to your door. Pull off the rubber thingy from the door and the frame of your car. Run the LED wire through this rubber thingy. When you are putting the rubber thingy back on again, make sure to get it on properly - it protects the wires from water!! :sarc When putting the rubber thingy back on to the car\'s frame, you may find it useful to unclip the white thing that holds all the wires.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step09.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step10.jpg

Step7 - Fish the LED wire out from the side marker hole and split the THREE wires. Two of the LED wires need to be connected to the positive side marker wire (blue wire). Since all the LED wires are grey, you have to figure out which two wires to join by trial and error.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step12.jpg

Step8 - Attach the wires, put everything back together. Remember that your mirror is still temporarily held on by tape. Try the signals to see it works. If it works, CELEBRATE! and take the LED mirror cap off and remove the double-sided tape protectors to expose the sticky stuff. Then stick the LED mirror caps on. I stretched my mirror caps so that I could position them properly before the tape grabbed onto the existing mirror. Here is the finished product:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step15.jpg

When I put my camera on auto exposure it doesn\'t really pick up any of the signals very well - it\'s too bright outside so I will take some when it gets a bit darker and post them. :D

EDIT - wrong picture corrected

[dredd2099]

lookin good sir
great DIY info along the way as well

[bluntman]

Thread stuck, thanks for the walk-thru!

[Optimzer]

Originally posted by dredd2099


lookin good sir
great DIY info along the way as well

thanks dredd2099 - I will try to get some pics of the lights actually on later today or at night! :D

[Optimzer]

Originally posted by bluntman


Thread stuck, thanks for the walk-thru!

no problemo...there was some walk-thru in an Asian language from another Mz3 forum but I wasn\'t really feeling that and the fact that it involved so much destruction to the car - hence this. :)

[m_a_t_r_i_x]

nice, gud job....
how much are they? where did u purchase them?

[Optimzer]

Originally posted by m_a_t_r_i_x


nice, gud job....
how much are they? where did u purchase them?


Thanks m_a_t_r_i_x - I got them off ebay from seller hk-plus. they were $49USD and came well packaged and such. shipping from HK only took 2 weeks and there weren\'t any duties charged.. I forget how much shipping came out too but I got the light-up door sills so he combined the shipping for them

[3sWhite]

hey Optimzer,

Good job, now if you take out your side moding then we\'ll be twins on the road!
There aren\'t much i want to add since your walkthrough is great, however, couple other things I did was

- when you fish the wires to the side marker, if you don\'t feel like cutting and tabbing to the wires, i found that you can actually just stick in the LED mirror wires into the holes of the side marker connector and then secure it with electrical wires, it might be tricky that you need to trail and error while you do that, but I\'d rather go this way then re-connecting the original side marker wires if i ever decided to take it out

- I\'ve also painted the exposed grey wires black, this isn\'t much of a big deal and i hardly notice it either way

Optimzer, after several months of usage, i\'ve concluded that it is defintiely not bright enough during the day, let me know if you agree or not. I think the manufacture realize that as well and I\'ve saw on their web site that they came out with the OEM version (shorter LED bar but brighter), it costs a bit more but for those of you out there who hasn\'t buy this one yet, i guess I recommend the latest one >.<?

(btw.. this is a wild guess, but do i see a UW student card there in the picture?)

3sWhite

[Optimzer]

haha - I was thinking that except that I have the blue door sills - I believe you have the red ones... and I don\'t plan on removing the molding so there shouldn\'t be any confusion :p

the wire - yes, I would like to paint mine black as well but honestly I haven\'t noticed the grey wire very much. what paint did you use? and was it a matt black or gloss black?

I agree that they\'re not bright enough during the day (full sunshine kind of day..) but I don\'t know how much of a difference the ones that have the leds grouped would make. plus, theres the hassle of painting them not to mention that they\'re like 2x the price. :sarc I\'d like to know how they came out.

the card - nope, that would be a mastercard.. I figure if I\'m going to damage a card in the process might as well break the one that gives me most grief! :D

[skinneejay]

thank you for the great walk through. I just installed mine today. I will post some pictures tomorrow after work. thank you again.:D

[Optimzer]

no worries - now post some damn pics I wanna see how it came out! :)

[midnightfxgt]

Originally posted by Optimzer
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/DragoGotti/Step07.jpg


Is that white wire always seen? looks like a lot to be left showing.

-John

[Optimzer]

Originally posted by midnightfxgt

Is that white wire always seen? looks like a lot to be left showing.

-John

what you\'re referring to gets concealed.

[midnightfxgt]

Even the part in the pic I qouted where its going from the mirror to the sail? In the pic its kinda \"J\" shape... I hope that makes sense LOL! :D

-John

[Optimzer]

LOL....ummmmm....yeah, sure....

so you mean the part that is in the picture hanging down towards the ground?

EDIT:...wait, I think I see it....wait for it....

you mean the part coming out of the mirror that wraps around the triangle part that the mirror attaches to on the outside of the vehicle? Yes, that part is showing, and honestly, I have never noticed it while driving (driver\'s side is same). It\'s really not that much. I think 3sWhite painted his wire black to blend in even more. You can also guide the wire underneath the mirror in which case you might not see it at all but that will be more exposed wire. And heck, if you still think it\'s too much, then go for it and drill a hole in your mirrors to guide the wire completely internally! :p

[midnightfxgt]

Thanks dude! Thats the answer I was thinking, but wanted to make sure. I dont want to drill unless I have a spare set, and I dont want the wire showing :)

I am picky like that.

Now if I can get spare mirror caps......

-John

[Optimzer]

spare mirror caps? you mean the OEM mirror caps? or the ones from japan?

[midnightfxgt]

OEM... To drill into :) I want to make sure I dont mess up :)

-JOHN

[skinneejay]

Here are my mirrors. Again thank you for the helpful write-up. Now for the pictures. Sorry the pictures suck. All I had was my cam phone.

http://www.mazda3forums.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14315/Jun13_007.jpg
http://www.mazda3forums.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14315/Jun13_005.jpg
http://www.mazda3forums.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14315/Jun13_006.jpg

If you want to see more of my car just visit this linky;
CLICKY FOR MORE PICS (http://www.mazda3forums.com/gallery/index.php?cat=14315)

[skinneejay]

sorry for not adding these earlier. Did you guys notice that there was barely any slack to work with when getting at the side markers?
I actually sliced the wires and then reconnected them using butt connectors.
It was much easier that way for me. Next i did a great wrapping job in electrical tape
..lol
On my mirrors i had to drill a hole. I put my hole on the bottom of the mirror so if
I ever needed to take them off i could without people noticing the hole.
Overall i am very pleased with this mod. Other 3 owners often stare at my car
and ask \"was that an add-on option\". :D

[SABIO]

Not to bash anyone.... But i like your version better :) Looks more OEM.
I saw those on E-bay, Where did you pick yours up?
Are the 2 styles different manufacturers? brighter?

[Optimzer]

yeah - I like those too but when I saw them they were 3times the price of mine! :sarc so I\'m pretty happy with mine. I think those are brighter than mine too b/c there are many more leds but I\'ve got some plans up my sleeve so ya better watch out.

I was also checking out all the mercedes c and e classes on the road with the turn signal mirrors and especially on a white mercedes, you can hardly see the leds turning on and off during the day in full sunlight. I think there\'s a limit to how bright they can get.

nice job - they look good.

[skinneejay]

Originally posted by SABIO
Not to bash anyone.... But i like your version better :) Looks more OEM.
I saw those on E-bay, Where did you pick yours up?
Are the 2 styles different manufacturers? brighter?

Thanks! I bought mine off of ebay. I actually bought them off of a guy from taiwan but he placed them on ebay so i could buy them. I have his website if anyone is interested. He has a ton of nice stuff for our 3\'s. Different manufactures. Mine are brigher only becuase I have 16 leds to their 6 leds. That\'s the only reason. At first I bought the 6 led pair but then I saw these and feel in love. so I had to get them..hehe :D

\"\" I\'ve got some plans up my sleeve so ya better watch out.\"\"
What are u going to do? :D I want to know..tell me tell me..

[Optimzer]

Originally posted by skinneejay



Originally posted by SABIO
Not to bash anyone.... But i like your version better :) Looks more OEM.
I saw those on E-bay, Where did you pick yours up?
Are the 2 styles different manufacturers? brighter?

Thanks! I bought mine off of ebay. I actually bought them off of a guy from taiwan but he placed them on ebay so i could buy them. I have his website if anyone is interested. He has a ton of nice stuff for our 3\'s. Different manufactures. Mine are brigher only becuase I have 16 leds to their 6 leds. That\'s the only reason. At first I bought the 6 led pair but then I saw these and feel in love. so I had to get them..hehe :D

\"\" I\'ve got some plans up my sleeve so ya better watch out.\"\"
What are u going to do? :D I want to know..tell me tell me..



yeah i\'d like to have that site!

[TheProfessor]

I\'d be interested in teh site too!

[skinneejay]

Here is the site
clicky here (http://home.kimo.com.tw/mo_shop2/index.htm)
You will need to use babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com/) to decode the chinese. Unless you can read chinese. :D Make sure you select chinese simp to english.

:::UPDATE::::
He just changed his site.. He is now using frames. Babelfish might have a hard time decoding the site. Let me know if you have any problems. I might be able to help you out. I can read chinese a little bit. I usually babelfish to help me out. Makes things easier..lol

[Optimzer]

pretty cool - I see the led mirrors - no translator needed - there\'s enough pictures and hints of english text to get you around! :D

i suppose if you wanted to actually make an order that might pose a challenge...

[skinneejay]

not really. I emailed him when i saw what I wanted. Wrote him in english and he respond back. His english was broken, But I knew what he was saying. :D. Money speaks in any language. :p

[BLKOUT]

Looks SEXY!! would someone be onterested in doing mine if I was to purchase them?