mindonmatter

My driver side mirror is very warped. It stretches the view horizontally. Cars appear probably about twice their width. It's extremely annoying. My passenger side mirror is perfect. I'm sure the dealer will fix this when I have a chance to take it in. I'm just wondering if this is a known problem or if I'm the only one?

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

I can assure you it hasn't been mentioned on this forum previously.

Pictures?

mindonmatter

I'll attempt to get a pic that shows the problem. If I can't, just imagine one of those fun-house mirrors that makes you look fat.

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

I don't need a funhouse mirror for that, every mirror I look in does it automatically somehow.

But seriously, I get what you mean. I've just never seen it on a car before. It's obviously a defective piece of mirror glass that's not totally flat and even. How did you miss something like that before purchase? When you got in to test drive and adjusted the mirrors, you didn't notice it?

mindonmatter

My car was bought sight unseen, it was brought from another dealer. When we picked it up, it was dark out and I really didn't even notice until the next day.

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

Makes sense.

Herkypilot

I don't have that problem - take it back to the dealer and get it replaced as a manufacturing defect.

sm

The G

That could probably be a Coupe mirror, or a 370Z mirror. IDK

Daboodah

You are definitely not alone. I have the same problem. I took mine back in the next day, and the dealer folks claimed it looked fine, but they supposedly swapped it out with another mirror from car on the lot. The problem was not resolved at all, so I began to believe it's just a badly designed mirror. The mirror is definitely warped, as I compared it to another G37 on the lot the other day and did not notice the issue on the other car. I almost feel as if the dealer thought I was being too picky and had the service guy take the car in the garage without really doing anything, but that may just be my paranoia setting in. If you push on the mirror, it's really flimsy and easy to bend, so I wonder if it may be the mirror body that the mirror mounts on that is causing it to flex slightly. It's quite annoying, and the carnival mirror description you gave is perfect. I'm thinking about taking it back in, but sort of feel like I'm being nitpicky (but it annoys me every time I use it).

mindonmatter

Daboodah,
I don't think you're being nit picky at all; some would consider it a safety issue. It's pretty simple to replicate. Have them sit in the car and look through the side mirror, then compare that view to the view from the inside rear view mirror. If it's anything like mine, you'll see a huge difference. I still haven't bothered to take it in to the dealer yet; I don't want to take it for just this one thing. I have a couple of rattles, and another thing or two I'm going to take it in for, and hopefully have them knock it out all at once.

zmzmzm

I did exactly the same thing,,, mine is slightly warped. When I checked the others on the lot they were the same.

-Mark

Daboodah

That is a good point about it being a potential safety issue. I did everything I could to try and replicate it for them, including having them compare it to the passenger-side mirror (the difference is SO obvious to me) and having them move their heads side-to-side and up and down while focusing on a vertical fence post in the mirror, but they insisted they saw nothing abnormal. It was frustrating, to say the least, as it is obvious to me that when a vertical post becomes "S" shaped as you move your head side-to-side, it's an indication that there is a non-trivial imperfection. When I look in the mirror while driving, it's almost like I experience double-vision, as my brain obviously picks up that something isn't right.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I don't have any other complaints right now, so I'd be taking it in a second time just for this issue that they claim they don't see. I've been contemplating explaining this when they call me for the 1000-mile check-in or when I take it in for the first scheduled service. I think just knowing that it can be better is what makes it so annoying to me, but they made me feel like I was being very nitpicky. If everyone was making this claim, I guess I could live with it just being a pathetic design flaw, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Please post an update to let me know if they fix yours to your satisfaction once you finally take it in. Thanks!

Odonata

I wonder if what you have is a Euro aspherical mirror as opposed to the "normal" US mirror? Someone in the factory may have goofed and put the wrong mirrors on for US based vehicles. I've been actually considering a Euro speced mirror for the next car.

Daboodah

Interesting...I googled "aspherical mirror" and ran across this article: Binocular Disparity in Aspherical Mirrors

Seems to me I may be experiencing binocular disparity...I wonder if maybe others are just more accustomed to this than I am. If it is an aspherical mirror, I'd much rather have the "normal" mirror.

Odonata

I agree, not sure if I would want the aspherical mirror, although it can be useful (nearly eliminating blindspots), I personally haven't seen how bad the warping is. I understand with European specced Audis, the outer third of the mirror is the part that is "warped" in order to provide the driver a clear view of what would normally be the blind spot.

Regardless, hope you get this resolved.