my2sense
05-21-2012, 04:47 AM
Since it's a long weekend in the land of the North, I finally got off my arse and completed another of my project: LED turn arrows in the side mirrors on my 2007 Hatch.
I kind of did things out of order and added the arrows into the mirrors first before even removing the mirror housing from the car! I wasn't sure if I was able to remove the plastic backing and didn't want to take everything out and have to put everything back if I wasn't able to separate the mirror from its plastic backing (step 2).
I apologize for not having all the photos and steps. I wasn't thinking of doing a guide when I started. This is from memory only so use this post as a guide only and not a how-to step-by-step manual...
0) Buy LED arrows from ebay. I bought my amber ones from these guys but you could try the red ones for less than half the price I got them for.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Amber-14-SMD-LED-Arrow-Panels-for-Car-Side-Mirror-Turn-Signal-Lights-/140736277053?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20c4892a3d&vxp=mtr
1) I took out the mirror by pushing on the tilting mirror upwards, pushing on the top of the mirror and pulling on the bottom of the mirror.
46880
Here's what it side mirror housing looks like without the mirror. The red boxes show where the plastic backing snaps onto the mirror housing.
46844
2) To separate the mirror from the plastic housing, I followed this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM2u7lWscKg&feature=related.
Just like in the video, you only need to heat the plastic edge. I think I went around the edges for about 30 seconds with the heat gun. Be careful you don't do it too long at one spot otherwise the heat will melt the plastic.
46845
46846
Success! The back of the driver side mirror had sticky double sided tape on the spot where I wanted the arrow so I had to clean and remove the sticky tape and also part of the brown tape in the middle of the mirror (red box):
46847
Be careful when you do this. If you scratch the back mirror surface, it will show up in the front. I have a few scratch marks on the front but you can't tell unless you are looking for them.
3) I had to dremel out a small spot on the plastic in order for the led to fit:
46848
4) Here's what the arrow looks like fitted to the back of the housing:
46849
5) I then reheated the outside edges of the plastic backing and reinserted the mirror back into the plastic housing. (Sorry no photos)
6) Remove the side door panel by following the these steps:
http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2305
46856
7) I then removed the side mirror housing by removing the 3 bolts holding the mirrors to the side of the car and then removed the 3 screws at the bottom of the mirror housing.
8) Separated the mirror cover from the housing by pressing in the tabs within the housing and snaked the LED wires to through the back. Popped the cover back on the housing after.
46850
9) I then taped and snaked the wires through the part where the power mirror wires goes through the mirror housing:
46855
Once I got this far, I wasn't sure how to do the wiring. I read the few YW threads on how others wired up their LED covers but thought it required too much work. Being a believer of less is more, I decided to connect the arrows to the side markers instead, which was only a foot or so away.
10) I popped out the side marker by sliding the marker towards the front and then lifting the back part outwards. I then poked a mechanic's wire through the fender's weatherstripping and surprising enough I was able to thread it through to the side marker's opening.
46857
46858
11) Pushed the wire into the fender's weatherstripping to hide the wire on the fender side and zip-tied the wire to the outside of rubber boot where the standard speaker/power wires normally goes from the door to the cabin.
46851
11) Tapped into the 12v wire of the side marker (green wire) and connected to the + of the LED arrow. I grounded the LED arrow's - wire to a bolt on the door.
12) Put everything back and here's what the arrows look like:
Driver:
46852
Passenger:
46853
46854
Notes:
It took about 3 hours to complete. Difficulty was easy/moderate. My biggest concern was separating the mirror out of the plastic backing
On my car arrow is brighter on the passenger side mirror than the driver's
Our mirrors are not as translucent as some other cars. Therefore the arrows are not as bright/visible as I like. I tested the arrows on a spare Ford Explorer side mirror that I had and the arrows were clearly visible even in sunlight.
I bought the amber arrows since it fitted our car's yellow turn signals but I wonder if red would be brighter
It looks cool at night but they're pretty much invisible during the day
Just in case you haven't gotten the point yet, the arrows are not that bright, lol. It looks brighter in the photos than they appear in real life.
[Update May 26: See post #9 for what they look like with the Burco mirrors]
Hope that helps anyone who was thinking of adding LED arrows to their cars. Once again some steps may be missing but it's pretty obvious when you do it.
Oh yeah, a big thanks to all the other DIY's on YW. It would probably take me 3 times as long to figure out how to do anything without those posts.
I kind of did things out of order and added the arrows into the mirrors first before even removing the mirror housing from the car! I wasn't sure if I was able to remove the plastic backing and didn't want to take everything out and have to put everything back if I wasn't able to separate the mirror from its plastic backing (step 2).
I apologize for not having all the photos and steps. I wasn't thinking of doing a guide when I started. This is from memory only so use this post as a guide only and not a how-to step-by-step manual...
0) Buy LED arrows from ebay. I bought my amber ones from these guys but you could try the red ones for less than half the price I got them for.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Amber-14-SMD-LED-Arrow-Panels-for-Car-Side-Mirror-Turn-Signal-Lights-/140736277053?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20c4892a3d&vxp=mtr
1) I took out the mirror by pushing on the tilting mirror upwards, pushing on the top of the mirror and pulling on the bottom of the mirror.
46880
Here's what it side mirror housing looks like without the mirror. The red boxes show where the plastic backing snaps onto the mirror housing.
46844
2) To separate the mirror from the plastic housing, I followed this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM2u7lWscKg&feature=related.
Just like in the video, you only need to heat the plastic edge. I think I went around the edges for about 30 seconds with the heat gun. Be careful you don't do it too long at one spot otherwise the heat will melt the plastic.
46845
46846
Success! The back of the driver side mirror had sticky double sided tape on the spot where I wanted the arrow so I had to clean and remove the sticky tape and also part of the brown tape in the middle of the mirror (red box):
46847
Be careful when you do this. If you scratch the back mirror surface, it will show up in the front. I have a few scratch marks on the front but you can't tell unless you are looking for them.
3) I had to dremel out a small spot on the plastic in order for the led to fit:
46848
4) Here's what the arrow looks like fitted to the back of the housing:
46849
5) I then reheated the outside edges of the plastic backing and reinserted the mirror back into the plastic housing. (Sorry no photos)
6) Remove the side door panel by following the these steps:
http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2305
46856
7) I then removed the side mirror housing by removing the 3 bolts holding the mirrors to the side of the car and then removed the 3 screws at the bottom of the mirror housing.
8) Separated the mirror cover from the housing by pressing in the tabs within the housing and snaked the LED wires to through the back. Popped the cover back on the housing after.
46850
9) I then taped and snaked the wires through the part where the power mirror wires goes through the mirror housing:
46855
Once I got this far, I wasn't sure how to do the wiring. I read the few YW threads on how others wired up their LED covers but thought it required too much work. Being a believer of less is more, I decided to connect the arrows to the side markers instead, which was only a foot or so away.
10) I popped out the side marker by sliding the marker towards the front and then lifting the back part outwards. I then poked a mechanic's wire through the fender's weatherstripping and surprising enough I was able to thread it through to the side marker's opening.
46857
46858
11) Pushed the wire into the fender's weatherstripping to hide the wire on the fender side and zip-tied the wire to the outside of rubber boot where the standard speaker/power wires normally goes from the door to the cabin.
46851
11) Tapped into the 12v wire of the side marker (green wire) and connected to the + of the LED arrow. I grounded the LED arrow's - wire to a bolt on the door.
12) Put everything back and here's what the arrows look like:
Driver:
46852
Passenger:
46853
46854
Notes:
It took about 3 hours to complete. Difficulty was easy/moderate. My biggest concern was separating the mirror out of the plastic backing
On my car arrow is brighter on the passenger side mirror than the driver's
Our mirrors are not as translucent as some other cars. Therefore the arrows are not as bright/visible as I like. I tested the arrows on a spare Ford Explorer side mirror that I had and the arrows were clearly visible even in sunlight.
I bought the amber arrows since it fitted our car's yellow turn signals but I wonder if red would be brighter
It looks cool at night but they're pretty much invisible during the day
Just in case you haven't gotten the point yet, the arrows are not that bright, lol. It looks brighter in the photos than they appear in real life.
[Update May 26: See post #9 for what they look like with the Burco mirrors]
Hope that helps anyone who was thinking of adding LED arrows to their cars. Once again some steps may be missing but it's pretty obvious when you do it.
Oh yeah, a big thanks to all the other DIY's on YW. It would probably take me 3 times as long to figure out how to do anything without those posts.