C230 Sport Coup

My Drivers side door self dimming mirror stays in dark mode all the time, and it's quite irritating, can't see
squat, I'd like to fix it.
The dang things are very expensive to boot, with a
replacement costing a mere 325 from Autohaus AZ vs. about $500 directly from MB.

But before I spend that kind of money on a stinking mirror, how can I determine that it's the glass itself that's bad?

There's some cheaper used, but then how will I know if THEY are any good?

And yes, I could switch to a plain glass mirror for about 100 bucks, but
it's those little things like self dimming, heated outside mirror (singular)
on a benz that make it special and I like to keep it that way.

I'm willing to spend the 325, IF I can somehow determine the glass is the actual problem
and not something else! Of course a spare one would make it too easy, but don't have one.

Anyone do this already?

C230 Sport Coup

FYI I found a place that repairs interior mirrors but alas the not the exterior.
$99
http://www.radar-mirror.com/Mirror_Repair.html
I was able to speak to the guy and he felt pretty confident my mirror is the problem.

ildd

I had the same problem with my mirror. I'm including a picture of my old mirror and the replacement, a euro-spec convex mirror (no auto dimming) I got off eBay for $45 shipped. I highly reccomend this. Blind dpot monitors have nothing on this, I was truly shocked how great it is. Has saved me from multiple accidents.
Well... crap. Can't upload from phone it seems. I'll include a pic in a few hours.

RWDlifer

I have the opposite problem...my driver side mirror will not dim, but still heats up though...the passenger side mirror doesn't heat up..both are low priority

KSKarl

My drivers side door mirror had same problem, dimming fluid was dark and also not full - there was a clear section at the top above the dark liquid. Got a replacement from another member of the forum.

VVF

Coup, search for (used) w203 aspheric autodim heated mirror glass on ebay. They are in $150 range, shipped from Latvia etc.

Glyn M Ruck

These mirrors operate like an LCD & when they are poked they are poked.

C230 Sport Coup

Latvia? Seriously?

VVF

Uh-huh, I got both driver and passenger side euro mirror glass from there. So far so good.

tommy

Isn't that the country Doctor Doom runs?

I've seen a bunch of parts listings from there, I wonder what's up with that.

VVF

I was always thinking that they go to junkyards and buy parts from there then sell them on ebay for a profit. German ebay also has a lot of parts obviously Shipping is not cheap most of the time.

C230 Sport Coup

Lowest price on ebay I can find it $275 for a used one...hardly worth the risk.
On the other side of the coin, there's a nice interior self dimming mirror with all the electronics that goes with it for like 35-40 bucks. Thats the kind of price I'd like to see Too bad it's the inside one not the outside.
Go figure...
As much as I'd like to fix it, 325 is too much.
Or 275. No way to know if one from a junkyard functions correctly.

tommy

Have you tried Potomac?

VVF

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-MERCEDES-C-CLASS-W203-2000-2007-LH-GLASS-MIRROR-AUTO-DIM-/121318358465?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c3f233dc1&vxp=mtr - k3wl Euro aspheric.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2001-2005-Mercedes-Benz-W203-C32-C230-C240-AMG-C240-MIRROR-GLASS-AUTO-DIM-HEATED-/181563603955?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a4608bbf3&vxp=mtr - US spec.