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      09-21-2015, 05:04 PM   #1
Cam330i
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Retrofitting/Installing Auto-Dim mirror in less than 5 minutes, literally

Hello to all my brothers and sisters!

Hope everyone is doing good!

So, for those who may or may not be aware, I posted on the forums about some basic questions about retrofitting the Auto-Dim mirror to my X1.

I think i might have discovered that perhaps ALL X1's come pre-wired for the mirror, and perhaps others might be able to retrofit it as well. Will explain later in the thread.

As a side note, this is the first time I have driven a car that has this feature. My 2012 Mini Cooper didn't have this, and so when driving at night, i was always blinded, lol

Preparation

So, i have spent countless amount of hours reading BMW forums about how to retrofit the item. I followed carefully along, step by step, to see how it works.

So when the time came, i bought a mirror off of ebay and I also bought the retrofit kit from getbmwparts.com

Installation Part 1: Fail

At first, I was stubborn, and I came to believe that ALL BMW mirrors FIT all BMW's. Soooo, I wanted a mirror that had the compass, homelink, auto-dim, as well as, the larger BMW clown nose. I wasn't to obsessed over the short clown nose, so my hard headed ass bought that mirror out of a 2013 6 series coupe.

So, after buying the kit and the mirror, it looks like I was ready to go. I had a friend who has worked on BMW for a number of years and knows how the electrics work.

So we had the mirror and the kit and we began to take apart some of the headliner to get the wires. Upon further inspection, it seems that my car, which only has a sunroof and no other options, was already pre-wired for the auto dim mirror...

Which made the retrofit kit, more or less useless.

There is very little research about the X1 and the mirror, so I had no idea.

So your probably like "well great, he bought the mirror, his car was already wired for the mirror, so he should just pop the new mirror in and be done"

WRONG!

Since i bought the new BMW mirror, which was from the 6 series coupe, the new BMW's, or my theory, the BMW's that have the "F" code, such as the BMW 5 series is labeled as the "F10" ; i found out that the newer BMW's have a different harness and so I found out that the mirror didn't fit in its harness.

A long story happened between that mirror and the kit, and if you want to know what happened, PM me and I can tell you, but otherwise I do not wish to share.

Installation Part 2: Success!

Fast forward to last Friday, I did careful research and I found out that the X1 is based on the last gen 3 series. Some of you already know that and might call me an idiot, lol. So I searched up on Ebay, BMW mirrors that were specifically for the E90, or the last gen 3 series.

So the one I found was out of an BMW 128i, 2012. The harness looks the same, it had the clear flat nose, and had everything I wanted.

It was 200$, a little on the pricey side, but I wanted that specific mirror with the clear flat nose. (I wanted the Clear flat nose to copy other X1's with the Premium/Ultimate package)

So once it came, my friend came back, un-screwed my original mirror and disconnected it. He then took the new mirror, plugged it in and screwed it on and that was it. (When installing this mirror, he didn't have to mess with anything from the headliner or electronics. The mirror is connected to the harness of your windshield and has a small connecter that is exposed once you disconnect it)

I then turned my car on and the compass came on and the mirror was good to go. Took literally less than 5 minutes to do.

Calibration and Testing:

So the compass had to be calibrated. My friend had a small thin tool, somewhat similar to a paper clip, and inserted it into the small hole under the mirror, and pressed and hold it in place until the compass showed up as "C". Then I drove around in circles, about 5 times, until the compass showed which direction I was in. My friend then poked that same internal button again for the zone of southern California, which is #4.
The compass was good to go.

2. To test the auto-dimming function.
Turn on your cars headlights and take your hand and cover the sensor on the back of the mirror (Upper right back of the mirror). You will notice that the mirror will dim and turn blue. (The dimming only works with the headlights on. Basically what happens is that, the mirror thinks it is night time, and thus is in "dim" mode. When you cover the sensor on the back of the mirror, the front sensor of the mirror thinks that the light from outside is blinding you, and thus it dims and turns it blue)

If you do that and it turns blue, your're good to go. It makes a huge difference and night by the way.

3. The garage function is straight forward, tested it out on my gate and worked like a charm.

4. The blinking clown nose, which is the alarm active, works as well.
Being that the 128i didn't have an alarm, the LED light was never used. Now that my X1 has the alarm, it finally got activated and blinks really bright!

5. It is interesting to look between the rear view mirror and the side mirrors, when driving at night. My side mirrors do not have auto-dim and so I see the difference when driving at night between the two, and it is quite noticeable.

That's it! Mirror works great and installation took less than 5 minutes and it was a wrap!

Tips:

1. BE SURE TO LOOK AND BUY MIRRORS THAT WERE MADE FOR THE LAST GEN 3 SERIES, LIKE THE "E90, E92" DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT BUY THE MIRROR FROM THE NEW 3,5,6 SERIES OR ANY THING THAT HAS THE "F" IN IT. THE MIRROR WON'T WORK AND YOU WILL HAVE WASTED TIME AND PERHAPS MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. When buying the mirror off of ebay, be sure to try and buy it from a seller who offers returns. Some offer 14 days return, some offer 30 days. Most ebay sellers want high ratings and such, so they'll work with you.

3. Negotiate with the seller. I managed to have him/her ship 2 day shipping, since he/she was un-willing to drop the price of the mirror. Maybe you could bring the price down or negotiate a return. I say return as a caution, just in case you bought the wrong mirror or something went left.

4. There is no need to mess with the electrics with your car. Just unscrew your mirror, unplug the old on, plug in the new one, and re-install the mirror. Be careful and DO NOT crack your windshield.

5. Excluding Premium and or Ultimate package X1's, this has only been tested on an X1 with a sunroof. In addition, this is tested on an X1 sold in the U.S.A.

Theory:

I am not sure why my car was wired for the auto-dim mirror considering I only have a sunroof. Could it be that the Sunroof has special wiring?

Could it be that the sunroof can be tied in with the Premium/Ultimate package which has auto-dim?

Perhaps the people who were building my X1, used the wrong wiring for my car, and gave me the wires that works for the auto-dim mirror?

I am curious on this one. I am willing to bet that perhaps ALL X1's might be wired to have the auto-dim mirror? Maybe that might be highly exaggerated, but like I said, the only option I have is a sunroof, and the auto-dim mirror was plug in and play, didn't even need the retrofit kit.

Let me know how everything goes and please give me opinions!
I will post pictures soon and post links to other retrofits!

Cheers!
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      09-24-2015, 12:28 PM   #2
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pics would be nice
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