Camera Mirror X70 2011
 

A treelimb and my passenger side mirror made friends the hard way recently; $1,400 later I have a new mirror, housing, "RDS cable", installed at the BMW body shop. The RDS cable is a one-time-only cable for the camera (per the body shop guy, who could not have been more helpful). And, the camera was fine and didn't need to be replaced.

(For those concerned about this price, a) they didn't have to replace the body colored part, and the body shop manager charged me for 1 out of the 3 hours of labor this replacement took). (Don't destroy the side mirrors).

I need some recommendations about the camera in the side mirror just replaced. At the rear of the vehicle, in 'overhead view', the right camera view doesn't exactly line up the parking space line with the tailgate camera like the unaffected driver side does. This isn't off a lot, maybe 4" (considering there's some interesting parallax in this view), but it's not perfect.

So, is this an advanced-user-serviceable issue, or is this an additional cost of this tree limb? And, where do I start? Or, live with it?

Just a guess but the camera would have to have some adjustability in its mount. The body shop should have an allignment procedure. If not, I wonder if its mounted backwards or something, although that would likely reverse the image.

Ouch! So $1400 for a plastic part, a special cable, and 1 hr in labor.....crazy. Did it damage the power folding (if you have it)?

I'm having the driver's side mirror camera replaced next week (part is on order). It died a couple of days after I took delivery of the 35d the week before Christmas. Kind of a bummer that the truck has to go in so soon.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll have to keep an eye on the alignment when I get it back.

I kinda miss the days of an outside mirror being a piece of glass on a stick! Reach out the window and adjust. Now, think about what that mirror really is. Heated glass for starters. That takes wires and a heater pad. 4 way electric adjustment. More wires and an actuator. Electro-chomatic dimming. Sensors in the interior mirror sending signals to the electronics, then to the mirror 'brain' to properly dim the glass. Power-fold. More brain power here, as the unit will only fold so many times in a row to prevent damage (kids playing with the button?) Video camera. Think about all the electronic stuff (wires and brains) needed to tie in all the cameras for top and side view to make a nice picture on the screen.

BMW divides design into four groups. Exterior, interior, powertrain and electrical.

The mirror isn't mostly an EK component (exterior) it's more of an EE (electrical)component now.

The interior mirror is EE. Homelink, EC dimming, compass, video camera (smartbeam), light sensor, alarm indicator....

Ouch, that is a lot of $$$ for such (what seems to be) a small item.

I too have the cameras under the side mirrors, but when I go into R, only the rear camera activates (and compared to my 2008 4.8i...it is crystal clear). How do I activate or see the image under the mirrors and also on the front side cameras? Thanks.

Push the camera/park assist button on center dash (by DTC)...once rear view camera is on...select the top option on left allows toggle between top view and rear view camera....

Dont have side view's so cant provide any info on that....would guess there's a similiar button on the dash that activates...but that's purely a guess.

Thanks. That's what that button is for :thumbup: I should have just RTFM! :)

RTFM is overrated...day we got the car i was like a crack monkey pushing buttons / playing with idrive....as this is my first go with a bmw/idrive i can say this version of idrive is pretty intuative / straight forward...but still has some hidden stuff that takes a while to find (sat view for nav for example)...or the dtc/dsc disable (still not sure what that does....guessing push (shows traction) is for agressive driving (less elec oversight) and holding for 5 seconds is to disable dsc for???)

I think the 6 "Universal buttons" / shortcuts are pretty cool...how you can place your finger over them w/o pushing and see what's programmed on the screen...i've got mine set for wife's cell, home #, Enter Address for nav,...

Really wanted the HUD, but no joy and cant fit afterward....o well.

Well this is interesting
 

I started this thread with the purpose of determining if the mirror camera was a user-adjustable item. Ultimately I just decided to live with it, as I don't use the overhead view that much anyway.

This week I had BMW install the towing package. Fairly obviously they 'updated' my cars' programming, as I now have a few more choices during phone calls (hold, conference, keypad dialing from the in-call screen), etc. I knew the car would need coding after having read these forums, I didn't know I'd get a software upgrade.

And, magically, the right side camera is displaying correctly. The only change was the programming. I checked the receipt, and was only charged for the towing parts/labor, no mention of even touching the camera. (I asked service about it before this installation and got blank stares, so I don't think they go around checking and adjusting the cameras for fun).

I think the computer, when upgraded, 'fixed' the wonky display angle in the view itself. It sounds distinctly odd, but it's the only explanation I've got. It's perfect now.

Weird.