The hits just keep on coming... first cold weather Gremlins.. and now this:

Last night on Aden Rd. about 3 miles from the 234 intersection (Woodbridge, VA) a drunk redneck in his F350 swerved around a corner into oncoming traffic, unfortunately my wife and I and another truck were the on-coming traffic...

Luckily there was just enough time to barely swerve out of the way so that he only smashed the Driver's side mirror and he barely missed the truck behind us as it too swerved to avoid it. I was pretty amazed... the speed the truck seemed to be going the mirror folded right up, only took a few scratches to the chrome cover but popped the mirror glass out somewhere onto Aden Rd.

Of course the A-hole did not stop and kept flying down Aden Rd never to be seen again. We consider ourselves very lucky and I'm glad we were driving our MINI. It was pretty frightening to say the least though...

Has anyone had to replace the mirror glass in their side mirrors yet? Or anyone know how complicated that process would be... could it be a DIY project if I just order the parts?

Glenn

 

Sorry to hear about this. I just had someone tell me a story similar to yours but it involved a deer. The deer hit the mirror, breaking out the glass portion. Amazing the deer completely cleared the MINI only breaking the glass portion of the mirror. But glad everyone is Ok!

 

I got an addrenaline surge just reading your story! Seriously though, I'm glad you were in your MINI too, and glad to hear that no one was hurt.

 

Any glass shop can custom cut a new mirror for you really cheap. Last time I had it done it was about $10, including install.

 

those damn rednecks, they drink and drive their trucks and think they are MAN, stoopid idiots. Sorry to hear what you have been through and happy to know that you guys are ok

 

Here is the link for the REAL OEM Part Numbers

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do\


MINI is towards the bottom of the list.

 

Thanks Califzeph and MNEEME! And minims... i have to tell you i don't think my heart has ever beat that fast... as minor as the incident ended up being it really freaked me out thinking it could have been much worse.

 

Glad to hear you and your wife are okay.

I have changed the mirrors. The mirror comes with a plastic fastener glued on the back, and the unit just snaps on to the actuator. If you have heated mirrors, the mirrors would also have two pins that wires connect to. In your case, if you have heated mirrors I suspect the wires would be broken. Here is the parts diagram: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...72&hg=51&fg=10. It looks like the parts are 51167058061 for non-heated or 51167058063 for heated mirror.

 

No kidding! After my accident the other week with the illegal immigrant cutting me off with his huge van around a corner - I don't there there was any way I would have been able to avoid major damage like I did, had I been driving my previous car. I can't even really remember how I managed to swerve out and mostly avoid him, but I DO know it's all thanks to the responsiveness of my MINI!

Glad to know you are okay, and another MINI not only protected his driver, but also escaped with relatively minor damage!

 

What a narrow excape! Likely would have taken a while for me to clean up the drivers seat after something like that.

Might be a good time to try a Multivex Mirror ( http://www.multivexmirror.com/ ). Very good at uncovering blind spots. It would not of helped in this case but might help a bunch in day to day driving. They make one for a MINI.
John

 

I have a Multivex mirror on the right side and it's great (almost indispensible for my convertible). However Glenn (corrupt52) would still need a replacement standard mirror because the Multivex goes on top of it. The OEM aspherical mirror is also good and a direct fit, but must be imported from Europe.

 

To my knowledge this is the first ode to folding mirrors I've seen on NAM. Most excellent!!!!

Glad you and the missus are okay. Perhaps the redneck will get his comeuppance one day...hopefully he won't take out any poor innocent bystanders in the process.

While I've seen no official stats on MINI handling in relation to driving hazards, my guess is that Sir Alec was absolutely right on this one. Yet another reason that MINIs rock!!!

 

I agree, MINIs do rock! And I have to say that the MINI of Sterling service dept. has definitely gotten better. Dave Rockwell is a great SA, I was in Sterling for a work appointment today.... he fit me in, had the mirror replaced in under 20mins and didn't charge me any labor. So I just paid for the part and I was off. He asked me about the other issues I have had worked on this year and told me to make sure I call him directly regarding any other issues. He has been very helpful in working around my schedule to have multiple issues worked on this year (see below).


The count so far for 2006:
1. Radio Antenna knocked off roof ...
2. Fuel relay problem in cold weather
3. Mirror broken by drunk NASCAR fan celebrating a J.J. Daytona 500 win by doing the victory swerve into the on-coming lane

I'm jonesing for some incident free motoring!

 

what was that?
Was it something along the lines of the fuel gauge being all sorts of wacky?

 

I mistyped... just looked at my ticket... It was the fuel relay, not a fuel regulator (i changed it on the post above) here is the official explanation from the work ticket:

Found low voltage to fuel pump, ckd fault, none. Cked Conn X691 component connector, no volt M2 conn at relay. Replaced relay for fuel pump...

Ever since it was replaced, Ruby fires right up... i have no idea what the freezing temperatures had to do with it, but that was the only time it happened. Second time i took her in it was below 30 degrees for three days and thankfully the problem duplicated itself for them.

 

Power folding mirrors, I can't find them on real oem I know that they are available in europe.

I want MIB to wiggle it's ears when I arm the alarm.