Exterior mirror for 280?

[ohoraherecaptain]

Hi Guys.
I plan to add a rear view mirror to the passenger side of my RHD Pagoda. Any of you got one?
John.

[cfm65@me.com]

Hi John,
The passenger side mirrors are different to the driver side ones.  From the driver position, note that the drivers mirror is at a slight angle, about 25 degrees. The passenger mirror must be able to be adjusted to a more acute angle, about 45 degrees.
Therefore, a LHD drivers mirror will not work as a RHD passenger mirror. There are 4 mirrors for the Pagoda, LHD left and right, RHD left and right. Then there are off course the old style swan neck ones and the more modern ones for the later cars.
Dont ask me why I know.
Regards
Chris
Cape Town

[ohoraherecaptain]

Nice one Chris.
Ta.
JOH.

[Garry]

I am not sure I agree that there are four mirrors, two for LHD and two for RHD.   

My understanding was that there was only a left and a right hand mirror.  It is the positioning of the mirror that allows it to work correctly.  That is in a RHD car the left mirror is set back several cm to compensate.  I believe the backing plate was set in the correct position to allow for the fitting.

Garry

[ohoraherecaptain]

I recall Kenny Everett saying that the guy who invented the rear view mirror never looked back! So, I guess, that's why I want one?
HELP!

[Paul & Dolly]

Hi John,Garry,Chris

I have just measured my RHD  250SL, and I do not know which theory this adheres to .....

Both mirrors are useable to me, but the passenger side is on the limit of adjustment

Reflections on a sunny day!
Paul

[Cees Klumper]

I do have a passenger side mirror and all I know is that, due to its positioning close to the windshield, it 'whistles' / creates wind noise when driving which is very audible with the window or top down. I even angle it crooked so I don't have to hear the sound (while still being able to see through it properly). So I would recommend carefully positioning it so it doesn't whistle.

[TheEngineer]

Isn't that funny how little changes can make for a big nuisance ? When I bought my car it did not have a passenger  side  mirror  and I missed it. I installed one and  replaced the  glass  with  a  convex one. It works well and does not whistle. Maybe I am not  driving  fast enough?

[cfm65@me.com]

Hi Paladin,
Apologies to all. It seems the answer lies in the alignment and positioning of the mirror base plate.
Regards
Chris

[Jordan]

Chris, when you remove the interior door panel to install your mirror, look up inside the door skin and you should see a reinforcing plate.  The mirror should fit somewhere on that plate otherwise you will just be securing the mirror to the thin door skin metal.

[cfm65@me.com]

Hi Marcus,
Yep, I believe so.
However, I did not realise that when I fitted the extra mirror on my 230SL, about 30 years ago.
I'll keep it in mind this time around, when fitting a passenger mirror to my 250SL.
Regards
Chris

[ohoraherecaptain]

Many thanks Paul for taking the time to measure this. I'm going on 60 and have always driven with LH RVMs, so - sun or no sun - I'm going to have to have one.
Was away over the weekend and noticed a 230 with both mirrors, also [to my eyes] a really beautiful and elegant designed arm [see pic]. Mine of course is a 280 but as I got to get a second one I'm going to pop this question: is it sacrilege to use this earlier mirrors on the 280?
What do you think?
John.   

[ohoraherecaptain]

Hi Guy's.
I'm in the process of purchasing an LH rear view mirror for my 280. However, I was away for the weekend and spotted a 230 with both mirrors, and [to my eyes] they looked much more elegant in terms of design [see pic] than the 280 one, I'm considering.
The question therefore - I want to present to you guys - goes like this: is it sacrilege to use these earlier mirrors on the 280?

JOH.   

[ohoraherecaptain]

Thanks for that.
I've just put up a new post on the 230 RVM. If you have any views/thoughts on it, I would appreciate you sharing them.
Cheers.
JOH.

[ohoraherecaptain]

Nice looking Pagoda!
Just posted a new question on the types of RVMs used on the three models, so would welcome your thoughts on the question I posed.
JOH.

[ohoraherecaptain]

Cheers Chris.

[Garry]

John,

There were two types of mirror, the swan neck for the 230SL and the early 250SL and then the later squarish arm one for the later 250sl and the 280sl.  Many of the 230’s were unfortunately fitted with the later mirror as the early ones were for a long time not available. 

My recommendation would be to fit the one that is appropriate to your model Pagoda, that is if you have the 280SL then for the later mirror.  Now that you have read all the posts on the positioning, you will realise that it needs to be sat back a minimum of 2cm further than the RH side fixture.  There should be a backing plate fitted already but if not make sure you fit one otherwise the mirror runs the risk of vibrating off the thinner metal of the door skin without a backing.

Been an interesting discussion and a couple of red herrings but hopefully you have the fill picture now to make a decision.

It was a good and reasonable question on where to fit the mirror, and yes, I did fit a LH mirror to my car some years ago with out the full knowledge and set it at the same position as the RH mirror.  It works, only just but badly.  Hopefully you will not make the same mistake.
Garry

[JamesL]

I've merged the topic to keep the subject matter in one place for future searches

It's your car and I too love the older mirror style. I wouldn't put them on my 280 though

[ohoraherecaptain]

Thanks. Really appreciate your response.
John.

[TheEngineer]

Attached is another pic of a 280SL with both mirrors. You should match the mirror you have on your car now.

[ohoraherecaptain]

Cheers!