Comments on: It takes guts to be a side mirror

By: Felipe Mobus

Felipe Mobus — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:06:16 +0000

Talk about serendipity! One day after this entry was posted to this blog, I hit my passenger-side mirror on another car. Its case folded as expected, but somehow its internals got messed up, and the mirror remained loose in the case, hanging by the adjusment cable.

When I got home, I tried fixing it, to no avail. There was no simple way of dismantling the case surrounding the mirror in order to mount it in its support. No screws, no latches, no nothing.

I ended up going to a mechanic, *specialized in car mirrors*, to fix it. He had to dismantle the inner panel of the *door*, by unscrewing a hidden screw and releasing several latches and plugs. That allowed him access to the screws holding the mirror case in place. He then tore the mirror apart, along with its case, and moved to a workbench where he would perform the fix. It took him the best part of an hour solving a tricky puzzle of cables, levers and hinges.

Thanks to this complexity, I wasted 60 brazilian bucks and one full hour, when a simpler mechanism, such as the one in the second picture would require just latching it again in place and maybe replacing the mirror.

Unfortunately I did not take pictures of this whole ordeal. Surely they would be worth of a whole entry.

By: Nathan Zeldes

Nathan Zeldes — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:12:03 +0000

What an intriguing idea, Cynthia!

By: Cynthia Young

Cynthia Young — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:22:24 +0000

Yup. You are spot on. There are a number of times when going “low-tech” is the real revolution in design and technology. What awesome innovations could we have if designers sought out inspiration in ancient artifacts?

By: Justin James

Justin James — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:07:54 +0000

Nathan -

Well aware that the model in the bottom picture had no cables; I was referring to the models that you saw in the 70’s and 80’s, which were te worst of both worlds. They had the internal complexity of the electronic models we see today, plus they were hard to adjust, *and* they would need periodic readjustment. Regarding the readjustment on the older models, yes, it was definitely a pain in the neck (I’ve owned a car or two with the old style mirrors). Even without anything touching it, with the vibration from closing the doors, and the wind, and everything else, they needed frequent readjustment. On top of that, depending on the model, you would sometimes need to re-tighten the friction fitting as well.

Overall, while the modern electronic ones are much mroe expensive to make, much more difficult to replace, and definitely not easily (if at all) repaired when they break, for day-today-usage, they are a vast improvement.

J.Ja

By: Nathan Zeldes

Nathan Zeldes — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:19:25 +0000

Actually, Justin, I don’t think the mirror in the older car shown (definitely pre-1980’s) had cables – it was adjusted by opening the window, grabbing the round frame and yanking it around in its friction-based socket.

Come to think of it, those would definitely need readjustment if anything hit the mirror – the fairing around today’s version gives some protection to the reflecting part for the lighter cases of abuse.

By: Justin James

Justin James — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:03:05 +0000

The only functional difference between the two is that an old-style mirror requires periodic readjustment. I will say this, from a repair/technical/usage point of view, the electric mirrors are an improvement over the cable-adjusted mirrors from the 1980’s. Not only did those require periodic readjustment, but it was had to get them pointed the way you wanted, and the mechanism was clumsy and difficult to work with!

J.Ja

By: Mike Darnell

Mike Darnell — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:38:10 +0000

I was wondering what they opted for in the Tata Nano.
Looked at an image and it seems they went for the “no mirror” option…
; )

Mike