BigAAA

So,
I am getting very annoyed with being blinded by every car that gets behind me at night, and my autodim mirror, never dims until they are like 3 feet from my bumper. I was wondering if anyone had put a manual dimmer switch on thier mirror? even if it is just a full dim/ no dim switch. If no body has, I was wondering if anyone has pictures of the inside of the autodim mirror so I could try to figure out what I'm about to get into. It doesn't seem that complicated, but you never know.

1145climber

I hear a lot of people complain about this, and yet my mirror works perfectly... i find that it reacts pretty quickly and changes soon after i enter and exit tunnels or whatever... i mean, if anything, its usually too dim.

maybe you have a defective mirror? i dont know...

i was gonna say that you should crack it open and custom mount some sort of switch in line with a resistor that would bypass the sensor, because the sensor is really just a photoresistor (a.k.a. LDR - info here). shouldnt be too hard if you have knowledge of basic circuitry, but then again, not too many people have a knowledge of circuitry at all...

good luck

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Part of the problem is that many of us have tint on the rear window.
The mirror works by measuring the differential between light behind the mirror and in front.
If you want it dark, just put a little piece of electrical tape over the sensor on the windscreen side and it will go to maximum dark right away.

LivinLrge

I have this done on my 8, it works great at night.

BigAAA

so there is a sensor on the front? I need to look at my mirror more carefully then. I was going to go the hard way and mess with the circuitry, but if I can find the forward looking sensor that would solve my problem

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Sorry about the quality of the pic, but this should get you pointed in the right direction:

rotorocks

Oh this is a great one! Simple and effective. Thanks MM.
I'll be doing this ASAP.

BigAAA

Thanks, I'm gonna go try it now... I guess I just never looked at the back of my mirror... I think my new favorite saying is going to be "I know that like I know the back of my rear view mirror..." ok, so maybe it doesn't sound as cool as I thought originally

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

lol.... just go try it. haha.

RotaryBred

another reason for this problem is the rear spoiler. i've noticed it casts a shadow right on the sensor until the car behind u is on ur bumper

mysql101

ms spoiler for me sits at the same level as most car's headlights, so I see the car, but their headlights are blocked. Works well

BigAAA

I think it had to do with a combination of all three things. crappy design, window tint, and spoiler shadow. But the tape worked great. Thanks for the quick and easy solution to a very annoying problem.

flomulgator

would a piece of matched tint covering the front sensor equalize the difference and make it work like normal for those of us with tinted windows? Anyone tried this?

BigAAA

It might work, I have since heard of people just taking scotch tape and coloring it with a sharpie to the right darkness to get the desired dimming effects.

DarkBrew

Just flip the mirror to put the sensor on top. The shadow is not a problem this way.

1145climber

lol ummmm...?

DarkBrew

dbright007 says
Had the same problem with my spoiler blocking the auto dim sensor, but if you rotate the rearview so the sensor is on top (upside down) it works much better. And moves it up a couple inches for better front visibility.

Darkbrew says

This really works! And it even improves the visibility rearwards

From another post
Just drop the mirror down using the front pivot then rotate it clockwise, push it back up and adjust as required.
The only issue is that you tend to push buttons when adjusting the mirror so make sure that nothing is under the garage door.

From another post
The problem is that the rear facing sensor is located in the bottom of the mirror and can easily be blocked by the shadow of the rear wing when someone is on your bumper yet the lights are still shining in your eyes.
By rotating the mirror so that the sensor is on top the shadow issue is solved.