Convex side view mirror glass

[metahacker]

I just made a very helpful discovery that I believe could benefit all Bay owners quite a bit. An inexpensive source of joy and safety.

You can buy ready to install *CONVEX* mirror glass, pre-cut in Bay window shape/size with adhesive strips on the back.

I've sourced repro mirrors from a couple places - WW, EMPI, and straight from some guys in Germany. I can say that the change from the standard mirror glass to the CONVEX mirror glass, is pretty phenomenal.

Here's the kicker, however... You need to search Ebay Germany to find the glass, and you need to search in German.

What you're looking for is "spiegelglas konvex" for Bus or Bulli.
Try this:
http://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?&_trksid=p204557...vex+bus+67

Enjoy

[airschooled]

This sounds great if everything is plug and play- have you actually installed the products in stock frames, or only aftermarket assemblies? I'm definitely interested, as my passenger mirror glass has a small chip and has fallen out once already. Convex would just be the icing on the cake.

Thanks for posting this!
Robbie
_________________
One-on-one tech help for your vintage Volkswagen:
www.airschooled.com

Road trip reports and tech blog:
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[1967250s]

Here ya go.
woops wrong post.
_________________
'72 Elm Green Deluxe

[Wildthings]

Another idea would be to pick up a suitable large convex mirror at a wrecking yard, remove the glass and then have the glass cut down to fit the Bay mirror housing. A quality silicone will hold the mirrorred glass in place, but leave a small area on the bottom with no silicone so that any water that gets in can drain readily.

[Tcash]

Convex mirror install

[metahacker]

http://stores.ebay.de/autospiegelglastechnik?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

15.99 EUR for the pair

I'll try to post more info once I have mine setup, if/when I get my car back on the road I got new mirrors (from Germany as well), delrin washers (from USA), convex glass, etc. Need to install everything and report back.

But so far I can tell you - no hassles, no make-shift, and no weird stick-on round bug eyes (not that I don't love those).

[Tom Powell]

If a bus mirror is cut from another convex lens, would it be optically correct? A convex mirror is a spherical or parabolic reflector with a principle axis and a center of curvature. If a convex mirror is cut, but not centered on the principal axis, there will be distortion and some objects will be closer than they appear, other objects may not. This may or may not be a problem, but could be the straw that a police officer, lawyer or prosecutor would grasp. Is there a DOT requirement to have the caveat "objects in mirror are closer than they appear" printed on the mirror?

Stock mirrors may or may not be optically correct, but they have DOT approval. Perhaps this mirror would be correct for a bus rather than a convex mirror cut to fit.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1660884

Aloha
tp

[Tcash]

[metahacker]

The shipping was just under $10

Sorry, I was wrong - the mirrors were EUR 15.99/ea not 15.99/pr.
US $34.85 + US $9.81 shipping to San Diego (from Germany) = $44.66

I will try to post pics up. I have a set of "typical" repro's and a set of very OEM-like repro's I got from Germany... I'll compare both.

[Tom Powell]

15.99 euros x 2 = $34.80 You paid $34.69 including shipping. ???

Aloha
tp

[metahacker]

fixed the pricing details thx

can post pix - traveling until next week - but after, should be ok

[Tom Powell]

[scrivyscriv]

Edit
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[jtauxe]

VW actually did make convex passenger-side mirrors for buses. I managed to find one that works for RHD, so the convex mirror is on the left (RHD passenger) side. I'm looking forward to installing it on my RHD DC.
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[metahacker]

Yeah, I saw a convex NOS passenger side mirror on BusOK.nl aka www.have-a-nice-bay.nl
Looked awesome. That was what sparked my search for these parts.
I probably would have just ponied up the cash for the NOS if I could have gotten a matching pair.
Clearly....not easy to find But they do exist OEM/NOS And I bet they're fantastic

[scrivyscriv]

Fanfare please, the imported German side mirrors have arrived (early)!!

The new glass is much thinner, and comes with killer double-stick foam tape. DON'T take the backing off the tape and stick it unless you really mean it! I peeled back one strip to stick the new glass to my old mirror for the photos. It's stuck on there good and will take a heat gun to remove.

I'm going to set the glass into the housing with black RTV, without the gray plastic seal-weatherstrip around the edge.
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[NASkeet]

[lovine]

As a side note, the mirrors from eBay Germany are slightly larger and are designed to stick on top of the original glass.

Here they are edge to edge. It's a few mm larger and will barely fit in the housing by itself. I'm pretty sure you can't use any tubing or molding around the glass as it won't fit in the housing.

I managed to break one of my OG mirrors trying to pry it out of the grey gasket. I guess my options now are either to
1) Install convex mirror directly into the housing, and RTV the edges
2) Have a glass shop cut new glass same as original, replace gasket with new tubing/molding, stick on convex mirror
3) Have glass shop cut the convex mirror to exact same size as original, and replace gasket with new tubing/molding

My RTV beading skills are questionable at best, so I am looking to keep some sort of molding for a clean look. Am leaning towards option 3, but hesitating a bit as the glass was pretty pricey and don't want to risk destroying them in the process too.

Anyway, thought this might be of interest to anyone else planning to 'swap' out the original mirrors, as it is not a direct swap if you are planning to use a weatherstrip gasket around the mirror.
_________________
1979 Bay Window 2.0 FI
1990 Adventurewagen GWM 1.8T
lovine.com

[scrivyscriv]

the mirrors I got were a direct fit with the old glass removed. I bedded them in a fat bead of rtv and they have been great ever since... Even in the Tennessee heat.
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[metahacker]

original poster here with an update on this subject --

a vendor started making a complete replica OG convex mirror (instead of a stick-on glass piece)

you can buy them here
https://resto-bus-parts.myshopify.com/products/bay-window-convex-mirror-1968-1979-pair

going to give them a shot too and see how they compared to my Wolfsburg West stainless + German spiegelglas konvex add ons

here's another tip -- also a good time to replace the bushings underneath the mirrors, this guy cuts stock appearing ones from Delrin

https://www.ebay.com/str/mark1partscentral?_bkw=bus+mirror

if you're familiar with Delrin, you will understand that the material is a good choice for this application