Aspherical Mirrors - Check difference!
 

Hi,

just registered but been a regular reader since I bought my 2006 X5 3.0 about 2 months ago.
This forum is amazing and I thought I might as well contribute.

Being from Europe, the "flat" side mirrors were driving me crazy, so I ordered some from Ebay.

They were a pain to install (it was difficult to remove the original ones, and had to slightly cut the edges of the slots of the new ones for them to go in), but the end result is great.

Here is a picture showing both mirrors for comparison. The aspherical is the installed one.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p19yko08gu...ison.JPG?raw=1

They were rather cheap ($25.85 for both left and right side mirrors), from Hong Kong, but as mentioned it was hell to get them in. Comparing with the original, the slots looked just minimally smaller, so it maybe just a problem of tolerances. The other potential issue is that the original ones have these "bands" in the back that I imagine to be the heating elements. On the ones I bought they are not visible, so not sure if these mirrors will heat. As I'm in Southern Florida, I'm not counting on this being a problem...

Nice picture! I'm like them, too.

I got similar ones on eBay but from E. Europe and those can be heated.

this comparison is incredible. I've seen other posts talking about how great they are and a pic of JUST the aspherical ones, but this comparison is super.
I want a set of heated auto-dimming ones now.

Found a used set of used OE gold mirrors... may look great on my beige X5.

I used seller "eurotrade777" shipping from Latvia. My only experience with this seller, but it went fine for me... Heated Aspherical mirrors were $60 for a pair. Shipping was 2-3 weeks.

OE Gold Mirrors ? That sounds more like the color you get when the auto-dim in the unit goes bad the electro goes bad.....FWIW Clockwork..

Jsoto, yeah I've seen bad mirrors where they turn a brown but I have also seen gold mirrors in the past too.
Blue and Gold options seemed to be sold in Euro optioned vehicles...

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...v-Blue-Mirrors

What was the main issue of getting them in? Did they not fit properly, or did the clips just not line up? Looking to upgrade to this too, ebay seller from HK as well.

The clips looked like they aligned. Just the gap into which the clip slides into seemed to be slightly smaller. I used a small sharp knife to cut the slots just a tiny bit and it eventually went in. I'm talking about fractions of a millimeter.

I have no issue snapping them in place.

+1

No one should have an issue if they use OE parts.