The issue might better be expressed as "slushy salt water", rather than snow. And as you may know, you can drive this car without hitting the brakes for a very long time.
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Power Folding Mirrors
- Thread starter mrfeb14
- Start date
The issue might better be expressed as "slushy salt water", rather than snow. And as you may know, you can drive this car without hitting the brakes for a very long time.
Mario Kadastik
Active Member
JPP
Active Member
At today’s event @ Chrissy Field in SF, I had the opportunity to talk with Jerome G, and get a close look at his personal (well..corporate with MFG tags) red P85+ (debadged). He was very generous and gracious with his time, and fairly candid. He noted that essentially every new feature/add-on/update/retrofit gets put on his S early (he really is on the bleeding/alpha edge), with all of the attendant woes and benefits. He has tested tires (original Contis, new Michelins), suspension upgrades, parking sensors, power folding mirrors, and so on.
Jerome's S with mirrors folded:
I asked about the power folding rear view mirrors and the engineering/retrofit. The mirrors had to be redesigned. Specifically, the chromed casting that is the mounting stem/arm had to be redesigned/re-engineered, and is a bit beefier to contain some of the components, specifically the motor. He in fact was a bit disappointed about the need to rework and slightly alter this component. The power and control wiring is however present in all Model S (no new/additional wiring or power needed). Jerome opened up his driver’s side door to show me that the existing ‘standard’ driver’s armrest window control panel (presumably standard Mercedes part) is swapped out for one (likely another Mercedes part from the bin) that has 3 additional mirror control buttons at the top (sorry, no photo—I did not want to impose). He pressed the buttons to show me the mirror folding/unfolding. I asked about the complexity of the retrofit—he said about 1-2 hours of tech time, and no major issues. Just deinstall/reinstall 2 mirrors and the new armrest control panel—no software/firmware issues. I did not specifically ask, but I assume that your existing body color shell/housing for the mirror gets reused/reinstalled. The upgrade should be available shortly. I did not ask about price—again was trying to balance data gathering against his generosity of time and information.
Jerome's S with mirrors folded:
I asked about the power folding rear view mirrors and the engineering/retrofit. The mirrors had to be redesigned. Specifically, the chromed casting that is the mounting stem/arm had to be redesigned/re-engineered, and is a bit beefier to contain some of the components, specifically the motor. He in fact was a bit disappointed about the need to rework and slightly alter this component. The power and control wiring is however present in all Model S (no new/additional wiring or power needed). Jerome opened up his driver’s side door to show me that the existing ‘standard’ driver’s armrest window control panel (presumably standard Mercedes part) is swapped out for one (likely another Mercedes part from the bin) that has 3 additional mirror control buttons at the top (sorry, no photo—I did not want to impose). He pressed the buttons to show me the mirror folding/unfolding. I asked about the complexity of the retrofit—he said about 1-2 hours of tech time, and no major issues. Just deinstall/reinstall 2 mirrors and the new armrest control panel—no software/firmware issues. I did not specifically ask, but I assume that your existing body color shell/housing for the mirror gets reused/reinstalled. The upgrade should be available shortly. I did not ask about price—again was trying to balance data gathering against his generosity of time and information.
Raffy.Roma
Rome (Italy)
Power folding mirrors (but also Cyclone wheels and other options) are now available for Italy (but I think also for Europe). 
So I asked the NJ service center about retrofit power fold mirrors...I was surprised to learn that they just started offering that as an option. I was flabbergasted at the price-to the point I can't remember if he said $2700 or $2900, lol. I'm like seriously? I already paid for a tech package. Geeze.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Sounds about right. The non-motorized mirror assembly was something like $1100 each installed. Since they changed the mirror stalk, you need two new mirror assemblies, each $1100 plus whatever the motor tacked on to the price. Presumably the wiring is already there, but if not, that would need to be included as well.
I'm surprised it's only $2700, to be honest. I expected more.
They are nice to have. Unlike the power folding mirrors I've used in other cars, they fold every time you lock the doors (or the car locks itself), which is kind of a cool feature. As I've mentioned elsewhere, the downside of this is that when you park the car outside and come back after it's been snowing/icing, the mirrors won't unfold properly unless you clear the snow/ice off the chrome arm that holds them. But that's not really that big a deal.
I certainly wouldn't pay $2700 for them, though.
I certainly wouldn't pay $2700 for them, though.
Wow, I'm glad I was able to add the power folding mirrors to my build in early November when they became available after I had confirmed my order. I think they only added $250 to the Tech Package option price.
Of course no doubt this year there will be some cool new hardware options offered that I won't be able to afford to retrofit to my Model S. Such is the pace of technological improvements...
Of course no doubt this year there will be some cool new hardware options offered that I won't be able to afford to retrofit to my Model S. Such is the pace of technological improvements...
Gizmotoy
Active Member
I guess you could disable them when it's supposed to snow? That is a tough one. In the winter months I suppose you could disable the automatic operation and just work them using the button on the door when snow's not in the forecast. Annoying, I agree. I can't think of a decent alternative Tesla could implement, though.
I'm the opposite. I use mine every day. I have to park within a few inches of a concrete pillar, and folding in the mirror makes it 100x easier. So glad I was able to have them added to my build.
I haven't really tried to figure out how to disable the automatic operation, though I assumed there was a way to do that. Doesn't snow enough here to make it much of an issue.
I think Mercedes work the same way, based on the cars I've seen parked around, though I've never owned one (which makes sense, given the source of the Tesla parts). Mercedes uses a different mirror shape, though, which doesn't have this problem. The Tesla mirror arm, though, is one of my favorite details on the car--it's so much nicer looking and more carefully implemented than what you see on other products. It's worth the inconvenience.
On my non-Tesla and non-Mercedes car there is a 3-state switch to operate mirror folding - opened / automatic / closed.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
The Tesla is a bit different. I was just providing a suggestion. On our cars there's a single button on the door that toggles mirror fold state (open/closed). In the settings on the main display there is a slider to enable/disable automatic folding. The mirrors automatically fold when the car locks. They unfold as soon as you open a door, not when it unlocks. At first this seems like a weird asymmetry, but it's actually pretty smart: if a bike or something is approaching, then mirrors could deploy unexpectedly as you walk up. By waiting until the door opens, it's likely safe to unfold them.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Interesting. I only use the key to unlock it when the auto unlock is broken and malfunctioning (a story for another thread) and didn't notice that! They're certainly quirky cars.
Sorry, I'm an idiot. I could have swore it worked when I was taking pictures of my car. But it did not work when I tested it this evening.
Strangely, my mirrors were not folded when I got to my car after work today. I've never seen that happened. They must have known it was going to check them
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Sorry, I'm an idiot. I could have swore it worked when I was taking pictures of my car. But it did not work when I tested it this evening.
Strangely, my mirrors were not folded when I got to my car after work today. I've never seen that happened. They must have known it was going to check them
Keep an eye on that second part. My driver's side mirror would periodically fail to fold. I talked to Ownership, and they sent out some kind of special build intended to fix the issue. Haven't seen it since.
