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REVIEW: Au-to Bahn side mirrors

Old Mar 5, 2007 | 07:53 PM
  #1  
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REVIEW: Au-to Bahn side mirrors

I just got these installed, so I thought I'd do a review.

The look of these on the car is amazing Pics will be posted on Wednesday when I get home. I had them painted the same color as the car (winning blue), and they really add to the look of the car.

That's about it as far as positive. As USEFUL side mirrors...well they suck. It's not that they are a little smaller (that's no problem), it's that they don't adjust where they need to be. On the driver side I have it adjusted to the furthest outward position, and it's looking all the way down the side of the car with a little less than 2 inches of viewing for what's to the left of the car. HUGE blind spot. The passenger side won't come in far enough. A car can be passing you on the right and disappear out of the mirror before you start seeing the car. Another HUGE blind spot. You can compensate by adjusting the rear veiw mirror to the right, but still, you shouldn't have to do that.

Below is a pic from their site that shows the LEDs on. Unfortunately, they aren't that bright. Plus they look pretty defused...but they aren't. Look closely at the pic and you'll see 3 horizontal and 3 vertical LEDs...when the blinker is on, they are very apparent. I was hoping the clear lens would be more defused like the side markers. Plus it uses a piece of very cheap chrome mylar tape below the LEDs for reflecting.

Overall, the appearance with the lights off, they look awesome. However the engineering needs to be redone to make the operational use better. It could be done with a small the change in the housing allowing the range of motion to be greater. Also, using FAR brighter and different LEDs is a must. If they'd use the smaller LEDs and put more in there, that would help. Also a little change in the clear lens cover to make it more refracting like the side markers would keep the LEDs from standing out and give the light more coverage.

To be completely honest, I'm kind of disappointed with them, probably due to the fact that my hopes were VERY high. I LOVE the way the look ON the car. But their usefulness is next to zilch. And the blinker aspect of it is less than impressive However I've put too much money in the paint and installation of them on car to not have them on there. I just wanted folks to know exactly what they are getting before they buy them.
Attached Thumbnails REVIEW: Au-to Bahn side mirrors-autobahn-side-mirror.jpg  
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Old Mar 5, 2007 | 08:57 PM
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Sorry to hear that man, they are nice looking Mirrors but to me safety comes first, if they are lacking in viewable area I would look to replacing them back to stock.
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Old Mar 6, 2007 | 11:42 AM
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Uve prolly ended up with side-mirrors meant for righthand drive cars....... Try sitting in the passenger side seat (which in ur case would be right side)...... see if they work better from that side........
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Old Mar 6, 2007 | 02:19 PM
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You could try sticking on those little extra convex mirrors that give added view.
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Old Mar 6, 2007 | 02:49 PM
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wow man that sucks..
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Old Mar 6, 2007 | 04:16 PM
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yeah sounds like theyr meant for RHD cars
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Old Mar 6, 2007 | 05:35 PM
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Well once you get pics up I might be interested in taking them off your hands....functionality wise I hardly ever use my rearview mirrors with the way I drive.... :....anyways I would be willing to negotiate a price to take them off your hands since im WB as well...in TX....
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Old Mar 6, 2007 | 09:20 PM
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maybe this will help:
http://www.apexperformance.net/cartg...id=1437&cid=24
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Old Mar 8, 2007 | 03:40 PM
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Originally Posted by effie
Uve prolly ended up with side-mirrors meant for righthand drive cars....... Try sitting in the passenger side seat (which in ur case would be right side)...... see if they work better from that side........
Originally Posted by scsi
yeah sounds like theyr meant for RHD cars
well ho-ly $h!t...you are absolutly right. I didn't think about that. That is exactly what they are designed for. The car is still at the shop having the doors adjusted at the moment, but will get pics as soon as I get them back. Well that just sucks...anyone know a way to fix that or am I SOL?

dtorre, I apprecaite the offer, but I don't think you want to pay what I have in them...with a little plastic welding, paint, and installation on the car, these have become VERY expensive mirrors.
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Old Apr 23, 2007 | 11:26 PM
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jd pilot, is the auto-bahn side mirror retractable like the stock mirror?

thanks.
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Old Apr 23, 2007 | 11:33 PM
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Originally Posted by CoMBo8
jd pilot, is the auto-bahn side mirror retractable like the stock mirror?

thanks.
No. They are not retractable
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Old Apr 24, 2007 | 12:50 AM
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ok.. thanks.
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Old Apr 24, 2007 | 01:29 AM
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Anyone have a link to a site for these?
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Old Apr 24, 2007 | 02:35 AM
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Originally Posted by shazbot28
Anyone have a link to a site for these?
You can visit japanparts website :
http://www.japanparts.com/db/partsli...ddle=2&small=8

I attached the picture of mirrors installed on my car for your reference
Attached Thumbnails REVIEW: Au-to Bahn side mirrors-autobahn-led-mirror.jpg  
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Old Apr 24, 2007 | 03:22 AM
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i like em!!! too bad my car is LHD
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Old Apr 24, 2007 | 03:23 AM
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i remember hearing the ganadors were also RHD mirrors. People were having new mirror glass cut for them, and said it worked fine after that. i think with some tweaking you should be able to get these to work

-hS
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Old Apr 24, 2007 | 10:09 AM
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Originally Posted by zaku
You can visit japanparts website :
http://www.japanparts.com/db/partsli...ddle=2&small=8

I attached the picture of mirrors installed on my car for your reference
it's very nice indeed. can u take pictures from different angle? maybe shot from inside the car with door closed?
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Old Apr 24, 2007 | 12:12 PM
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^^^ please!
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Old Apr 25, 2007 | 05:33 AM
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車の性能の違いが戦力の決定的差ではない ということを
 
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Originally Posted by CoMBo8
it's very nice indeed. can u take pictures from different angle? maybe shot from inside the car with door closed?
Your request has been processed
My car is also a LHD. I don't thinke the visual field of the these mirrors are poorer than the factory ones. Maybe it's due to they are wide angle mirrors.
Attached Thumbnails REVIEW: Au-to Bahn side mirrors-l1010203.jpg   REVIEW: Au-to Bahn side mirrors-l1010204.jpg  
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Old Apr 25, 2007 | 04:27 PM
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looks good to me
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Old Apr 25, 2007 | 11:51 PM
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Japanparts replies

Originally Posted by BigOLundh
looks good to me
We've got 'em; PM for a quote if you're interested

Best

Graham Ware
Japanparts.com
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Old Apr 26, 2007 | 02:29 PM
  #22  
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Originally Posted by zaku
Your request has been processed
My car is also a LHD. I don't thinke the visual field of the these mirrors are poorer than the factory ones. Maybe it's due to they are wide angle mirrors.
very nice. thanks for being helpful.
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Old Apr 27, 2007 | 06:44 AM
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Whats with the humongous air freshener?
Attached Thumbnails REVIEW: Au-to Bahn side mirrors-wtf.jpg  
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Old Apr 27, 2007 | 06:57 AM
  #24  
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Any pics? Useless w/o em~
 
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It's a mini mech used to blast intruders as a back up for the alarm. Disarmed with voice recognition pass code phrase.
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Old Apr 27, 2007 | 09:05 AM
  #25  
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車の性能の違いが戦力の決定的差ではない ということを
 
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Originally Posted by DrewMan
Whats with the humongous air freshener?
It's a cupholder. you have to open its scalp to put a tiny buttle. The figure is "zaku". coming from a japanese motion pictures series "Gundam", very popular in Japan.
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