98-00 Euro Stubby Mirror Mod

[SMG]

Well campers, I've been dreaming of this mod for over a year and it's finally come to fruition.

The goal is, get a left-side mirror from a RHD car and bam, you get rid of your asymmetrical mirror setup.

Here's how you go about it:

1) Hit up ebay.co.uk for a complete left-hand mirror asssembly, make sure it's from a RHD car.
2) Disassemble it and get it painted unless you're lucky enough to find one the right colour. (I got a perfectly good batik blue mirror painted,
3) Take your mirror off, it can be tedious but there are 3 screws holding it on, you can see them all with the driver's door all the way open, looking at the bottom of the mirror from the ground. remove the glass, motor and unplug the mirror harness.
4) Use a square screwdriver (a smaller one) to pop the electrical connectors out of the harness plug, make a note of the wire colour order. If you use a square screwdriver that's too large it won't fit into the hole of the plug. If you use one too small you'll warp the connector and you're screwed, use WD40 and your best judgement.
5) Feed the wire out of the euro mirror assembly, you need to pop the little cap off of the hinge inside of it to allow the wires to feed out.
6) Mirror should be off the car. Feed the wires up into the euro mirror and assemble it before bolting it onto the car.
7) Bolt the mirror all up and pop on the glass. You're done.

A bentley really helps a lot with this mod, I don't recommend taking this project on without it.

Good luck!

SMG

[SMG]

I'm really surprised that there's no interest in this mod considering I did it for under $100.



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[bugsy98nb]

Looks nice , any blind spot problems ??

[SMG]

Well you need to lean forward a bit to see out of it as well as the stock one but I never rely on my mirror, I do shoulder checks like it's my full-time job.

SMG

[bugasm99]

looks good. I asked around on here and the vortex a couple times looking for a RHD pass mirror but never got any interest. Too lazy to look across the sea. Congrats.

[SMG]

Yeah, they come up on eBay every so often, I saw several go by in the past year I've been looking at them, but I'd always forget about the auction or one time someone 'bought it now' and I didn't have a chance. :P

Anyway, one thing I love about the mirror is how it looks in the 3/4 shot

[OldSkoolVWLover]

anyone who does this be sure to know that the mirror will not be properly functional when using glass from a RHD car. So if you actually use your mirrors, this will throw you off. Just wanted to throw a warning out to anyone who may think there is no difference between the glass setup.

[Toad]

I thought about this for a few minutes, except i'd want two big mirrors. But then, i coulnt use my mirror bras. So, i'm not gonna do this mod.

[SMG]

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

anyone who does this be sure to know that the mirror will not be properly functional when using glass from a RHD car. So if you actually use your mirrors, this will throw you off. Just wanted to throw a warning out to anyone who may think there is no difference between the glass setup.

For some reason the glass is unmagnified so it's no different at all.

SMG

[Billsbug]

It's so dumb, it's cool!

[GatorBeetle]

Originally Posted by Toad

I thought about this for a few minutes, except i'd want two big mirrors. But then, i coulnt use my mirror bras. So, i'm not gonna do this mod.

Same here...might do it too, someday.

Looks good!!

[bugasm99]

Originally Posted by OldSkoolVWLover

anyone who does this be sure to know that the mirror will not be properly functional when using glass from a RHD car. So if you actually use your mirrors, this will throw you off. Just wanted to throw a warning out to anyone who may think there is no difference between the glass setup.

I think everything I have done to my car has some sort of warning attached to it.

[73standard]

I think I would go with the larger mirrors too. No since in making them smaller.

[Oyveychris]

Larger is the first thing I thought too.

[OldSkoolVWLover]

Originally Posted by bugasm99

I think everything I have done to my car has some sort of warning attached to it.

isn't about a warning the glass for a passenger side of a car is manufactured different than a driver side. Don't believe me, sit in the passenger side of your car and adjust the mirrors (as if you were driving it from that side) you will see what I am talking about. VW actually engineers its mirrors to each side of the car and to the drivers position.

[Photo]

It does look a lot better. I think if it were me I would have moved up to the newer style and made both of them bigger and more useable. I would assume the same reason for lack of interest. Nice Work!

[SMG]

I did this mirror for around $85 by the time it was on the car. It took me maybe an hour (tops) to do the job from beginning to end.

I priced the 01-03-style mirror swap and it was going to be like $400. Plus I remember reading on bugmod back in the day that the swap took 3-4 hours per side, not exactly my idea of a good time.

After driving with this for a few weeks, I love it, no problems. **** your head a bit to see the mirror at the right angle and your viewing area is just like stock.

Form > Function. :P

SMG

[Käfer]

Originally Posted by SMG

I'm really surprised that there's no interest in this mod considering I did it for under $100.

SMG

I think it's pretty cool. Never noticed the stocks were asymetrical.

And don't worry about people not paying your posts any mind. It happens all the time here unless you're part of a clique. Of which, it seems, there are many here.

[HudsonValleyVDub]

Smaller, less usable mirrors makes no sense to me personally.

[SMG]

Originally Posted by HudsonValleyVDub

Smaller, less usable mirrors makes no sense to me personally.

It sucks that more people on here aren't true VW people and are just NB people. If you spent any amount of time in the VW show / meet scene you would understand where I am coming from.

From the posts in here it's obvious that this forum is almost all 'Beetle People' who have no idea about why I'd do this mod.

Form > Function

Lowering makes no sense.
Big wheels make no sense.
Doing a Euro stubby mirror setup makes no sense.

Modding VW's looks-wise isn't about common sense or functionality, it's about them looking good and making sacrifices based on what you've done. Moving my head forward 6 inches to look out my mirror and have a stock-like viewing angle seems like nothing at all considering that I have to enter driveways slowly and at an extreme angle.

Anyway, it's a sweet mod and I had a female NB owner ask me yesterday about my mirrors, she came into the gas station after I did and noticed them from behind. It makes a big difference once you're aware of the asymmetrical mirrors.

SMG