Door mirror jousting in Cornwall with my S211

[24 VRT]

Nipped down to Cornwall for a short break and was at the receiving end of what seems to be the local's pastime of haring down the narrow roads making no attempt to keep in to the nearside when passing oncoming traffic. This is the result:-

Thankfully the mirror housing is ok aside from minor scuffs, it still folds in and out ok and the adjusting motor still operates. Not so bad I thought - until I called MB Truro who relieved me of £330 for a replacement auto dimming mirror glass. They offered to fit it too, and then noted that the circular mount that the mirror clips onto is broken (the triangular part in pic is all that remains). So they wanted another £150 plus VAT for the new motor! They can't get that 'till Monday but as we are heading home tomorrow, I've left it to sort on our return. Really looking forward to the drive home without a rear view/overtaking mirror!
As to the repair, I'm loathe to spend more significant sums of money when it looks like I could get a scrap motor and remove the plastic mount part to attach to my motor. Given the regular threads from members with failed mirror motors, I'm hoping someone may not have thrown away their broken one and would be willing to sell it to me to cannibalise? I've put up a thread in the wanted classifieds section too.
I have already trawled ebay etc. for a cheap motor - trying to get one with what looks to be the right mount is not easy (or particularly cheap), and most seem to be from sellers in Germany or the USA. Using 7Zap I've identified the part as A1718201042 - same motor for both RH and LH mirrors. I think it also fits some C class cars too.
Any other thoughts / suggestions on finding a repair solution without buying new would be welcome.
P.S. Given great MB build quality, I'm pleased to say that the other combatant in the joust saw his entire door mirror depart from his door leaving just a mounting bracket, and the remains of the mirror itself lying in a pile of smashed glass and fragmented plastic in the road - helped by being run over by a following lorry! Merc -1 VW Sharan - Nil!

 

[AMGeed]

Unless you are really hung up on having the drivers mirror automatically dip, I'd go for a heated only ebay jobbie for around £10. The is plenty of choice.
£330 for a piece of mirror glass is crazy.

 

[24 VRT]

Unless you are really hung up on having the drivers mirror automatically dip, I'd go for a heated only ebay jobbie for around £10. The is plenty of choice.
£330 for a piece of mirror glass is crazy.

Too late I'm afraid - already bought it. I do get hung up on keeping things as original as poss.

 

[ianw19]

I encountered a similar attitude to driving in Devon during the summer. And very little friendliness towards letting people out or acknowledgements.
Fortunately I kept my wing mirrors out of the battles. I feel your pain though

Sent from my LG-H870 using Tapatalk

 

[adie500sec]

I live in Cornwall ,(only 20 years so not Cornish) lots of narrow lanes......( and use the Indy immediately behind Mb Truro, who is only Monday-Friday...sorry). People are usually very good, polite here....one of my friends got stuck reversing to let someone through on a narrow lane....they waved, drove by and he had to ring me for a tow
I remember escaping the A303 in Wiltshire, traffic jam, with 4 other cars (were they following me and my sat nav) and we all pulled in as some maniac came the other way.....and he took out all our wing mirrors.....except mine was just the glass ( merc).

I hope it doesn’t put you off Cornwall.

 

[24 VRT]

I live in Cornwall ,(only 20 years so not Cornish) lots of narrow lanes......( and use the Indy immediately behind Mb Truro, who is only Monday-Friday...sorry). People are usually very good, polite here....one of my friends got stuck reversing to let someone through on a narrow lane....they waved, drove by and he had to ring me for a tow
I remember escaping the A303 in Wiltshire, traffic jam, with 4 other cars (were they following me and my sat nav) and we all pulled in as some maniac came the other way.....and he took out all our wing mirrors.....except mine was just the glass ( merc).

I hope it doesn’t put you off Cornwall.

Had been enjoying Cornwall otherwise - been a few decades since last there, and it was good to re-visit some of the places seen in the past, especially off-season. Whilst its probably a minority of drivers that 'joust' and create a bad impression, I would think long and hard before taking the Merc down there again - the old banger would have to be pressed into service.

 

[rf065]

You obviously have a knack for wild life photography, so all is not lost!

 

[Major774]

Holy crap.. you bought that mirror.

You could have sourced a used wing mirror for just the OEM glass (top £150) and you will have spare wing mirror to play around with. I know how to spot the OEM glass that are in good nick (with dimming feature).

Examples:
Mercedes W211 Driver Side Wing Mirror | eBay

2008 MERCEDES E CLASS WING MIRROR OFFSIDE O/S DRIVERS RIGHT W211 *SLIGHT DAMAGE | eBay

2008 MERCEDES E CLASS WING MIRROR OFFSIDE O/S DRIVERS RIGHT W211 NAVY METALLIC | eBay

Is it too late to return to MB?

Do you have memory seats in your car?

 

[24 VRT]

Holy crap.. you bought that mirror.

You could have sourced a used wing mirror for just the OEM glass (top £150) and you will have spare wing mirror to play around with. I know how to spot the OEM glass that are in good nick (with dimming feature).

Examples:
Mercedes W211 Driver Side Wing Mirror | eBay

2008 MERCEDES E CLASS WING MIRROR OFFSIDE O/S DRIVERS RIGHT W211 *SLIGHT DAMAGE | eBay

2008 MERCEDES E CLASS WING MIRROR OFFSIDE O/S DRIVERS RIGHT W211 NAVY METALLIC | eBay

Is it too late to return to MB?

Do you have memory seats in your car?

Afraid its too late to return - was on hol with long journey home and no desire to do it without mirror - hence why ordered for next day delivery at MB down there. Didn't have time to trawl ebay for suitable spare. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Mine has/had power fold, auto dimming heated and memory mirrors, and I'd find it difficult to identify the correct full mirror assembly to match - thought the only way of knowing if an auto dim mirror was by the extra connector plug on its back. Plus there is the risk of breaking mirror when trying to remove it from the mount on the motor... Also I don't know what the wiring loom connections inside the door should be in order to identify a same-spec scrapper. I'm keen to know how you would identify which of those ebay items would be right though?
Thanks.

 

[Major774]

On the glass... visually via the pictures. You will note a small black border on the OEM glass. Easily spotted, also you need to make sure there is no air bubbles or leaking, which means the dimming liquid has leaked out.

For all the other features, via the additional white connector, which needs to have at least 6 wires going to it. You can get some mirrors with the white connector that only has 2 wires, that means no memory feature.

I know all this because I have retrofitted facelift wing mirrors to my pre-facelift car. I have all the bells and whistles like you do.

 

[noogieman]

The auto dimming liquid is it also corrosive like brake fluid on paint?
How often do ADM leak?

Interior rear view mirror does it also contain liquid?
Does this also leak?
Nice if it leaks down into the electronic box of auto gearbox stick

 

[Major774]

For the interior mirror very rarely. I assume it is liquid as well.

For the exterior, I am sure the majority are quite reliable.

My father still has his W210 from new. It took the driver’s side mirror about 15 years before it started to break down and leak. I recommend to clean up any visible liquid... who knows what that stuff is.

 

[AntMB]

The auto dimming liquid is it also corrosive like brake fluid on paint?
How often do ADM leak?

I should think only the once

 

[24 VRT]

My S210 was 20 years old this year and the auto dimming door mirror was in perfect working order - no signs of deterioration / leakage. Given the cost of the replacement I've bought for the S211, I'd hope that would last just as long.

 

[kid-jensen]

Used to love driving hard along country lanes in my youth, but cars are just too wide now and drivers too incompetent.

I have a choice of taking the country road route to work (yes , we do have them here) or travelling by A-roads and Motorway, which is a few more miles. I tend to take the easy way out and use the motorway most of the time, driving on country lanes where everyone approaching you wants to be on my side of the road is just too stressful...

 

[Petrol Pete]

My current contract sees me doing 66 miles a day at around 05:10h/14:00/and 22:30h depending on shift .I could knock over 20 miles a day off this if I took the first M way junction and not the second one that I do take that leads to a dual carriageway and then an A road for the last few miles to my place of work.

But crossing through town and all stop start is not great in a 5.4 V8 , neither is meeting all the to$$ers and countless roundabouts, the to$$ers I meet on the motorway are at least travelling in the same direction as me, and if needs be can be 'dispatched' in no time.

Depending on the time of day the 10 mile longer drive is quicker and I don't care about extra mileage on the car - after 145K it's not worth worrying about - and I regularly see 25mpg on the long run (Wow , really ! I hear some say ) probably 17mpg the other route, plus it is more relaxing on the long route.

My mother in law has given up driving so we now have a 'family' 1.2 Toyota Yaris which I could use for work if I wanted to...I have done on the odd occasion just to give it a run, but I still prefer the V8 for the daily drive.

P.S the heated mirror on my passenger side hasn't worked since I bought the car nearly 3 years ago. I have checked and the element is fine , so it must be a broken wire (common)...I really should pull my finger out and fix that !