Side Mirror Glass Turned Bronze!

[dkents]

The glass in my '97 E320 driver side mirror suddenly turned bronze in color last week. Does anyone know why and, short of replacing it, can anything be done? The dealer said it's fairly common but did not know what caused it. Thanks.

 

[landover]

The heater element has burnt the backing on the mirror.

 

[dkents]

The mirror is not heated. It changed to a uniformly bronze color suddenly one day for no apparent reason. The passenger side mirror is still the proper color.

 

[landover]

Sorry I thought it was.don't know now!!!!

 

[Spike]

I'd be very surprised if your mirrors weren't heated mate. Its been standard on far lesser models for years....

 

[190]

You probably will find that your mirrors are heated On my 190 they turn on to demist the mirror automatically when it's cold outside try turning your ignition on and touch the mirror glass and see if there is any heat on it try it on both mirrors as the one that has turned bronze may have burned out. hope this helps.

 

[Myros]

heated mirror

My 94 C280 mirrors heat up automatically when the temperature drops to 4oC or below. If you have similar electronics, you might not get a result unless the ambient temperature is officially "chilly". You might end up having to cool the temp sensor to trip the mirror heaters into action. Can you remember whether it was really cold the day the colour change happened?

 

[dkents]

Driver Side Mirror Glass Turned Bronze!

Thanks to all of you for your comments. I'm new to this forum and am quite impressed.

I checked my original purchase window sticker and there is no mention of a heated driver side mirror feature. It was not an option I chose or paid for. Unless it is somehow included in the base price, and not mentioned on the purchase window sticker, I don't have heated morrors. Further, I live in Southern California, USA, and the lowest temperature we've experienced in the last eight months is approximately 60 degrees F. I seldom ever use my window defogger or defroster so this couldn't have caused it.

My driver side mirror is supposed to automatically dim at night along with the inside rear view mirror but I do not believe it is heated.

The dealer serivce advisor did not know what caused the very noticable change in glass color and did not even know the mirror dims automatically at night.