When I purchased my '02 NSX this summer, one of the very few things that I saw needed immediate attention was the OEM rear view mirror. It suffered from the common silvering issue and not only looked bad but provided for poor rear visibility :frown:
A replacement OEM mirror is nearly $200 and if I'm going to spend that kind of money, I should just install a Gentec mirror like I have in my Prelude. But the NSX's unique mirror mounting method complicated that upgrade plan for me. Since the car is so new to me, I am apprehensive about breaking loose the OEM windshield mount and possibly cracking my windshield. I think the Gentec is still my ultimate solution but I found a great intermediate solution. Spoon Sports makes an upgrade kit that includes a new, blue-tinted convex mirror that easily applies over the existing glass:
It is only $55 http://www.jhpusa.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=5410&idcategory=0#details at JHPUSA.com so it's a pretty frugal way to go. 76400-BRM-001 is the fitment needed for the NSX. Of course the installation instructions included are only in Japanese but it's a pretty straight forward process. On the rear of new mirror are 3 double-sided tape strips - the one in the middle is noticeably thicker to offset the curvature of the glass. What was initially a bit of a mystery was the suction cup that was included in the kit. After a bit of head scratching, I realized that the cup was to be used to hold the mirror while attaching it to the old mirror. So, I cleaned the original mirror glass with alcohol to remove all of the old grease etc. and removed the backing from the 3 tape strips. Then, I attached the suction cup to the center of the new mirror to provide a handle and guided the mirror into position:
This next step was probably not necessary but I decided to err on the side of caution. I wrapped a microfiber towel around the mirror and new glass and then wrapped a small bungee cord around that to apply even pressure and insure that the adhesive bonded strongly. I let that sit overnight (again, probably not necessary) before removing it. This is how it looks before putting it back into the car:
Here it is installed:
The clarity and field of view out the rear of the car is now fantastic! It's as good as it can possibly get anyway, with the periscope-like slit that we have to work with :smile: Here's a view of the mirror looking up from below. You can easily see how convex the glass really is:
I would give this product a 9.5 out of 10 rating. The half-point deduction is only because there is no bezel provided to "finish-out" the installation and make it look a bit nicer but I suppose that would be very difficult since these mirrors are designed to fit many different Honda/Acura vehicles. Small bits of the old mirror surface are visible around the edges and that is a little distracting at first. In hindsight, I should have blackened the perimeter of the old mirror with a Sharpie or something like that before installing the new mirror. Despite that, this was an inexpensive and simple upgrade that I am very happy with :biggrin:
A replacement OEM mirror is nearly $200 and if I'm going to spend that kind of money, I should just install a Gentec mirror like I have in my Prelude. But the NSX's unique mirror mounting method complicated that upgrade plan for me. Since the car is so new to me, I am apprehensive about breaking loose the OEM windshield mount and possibly cracking my windshield. I think the Gentec is still my ultimate solution but I found a great intermediate solution. Spoon Sports makes an upgrade kit that includes a new, blue-tinted convex mirror that easily applies over the existing glass:
It is only $55 http://www.jhpusa.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=5410&idcategory=0#details at JHPUSA.com so it's a pretty frugal way to go. 76400-BRM-001 is the fitment needed for the NSX. Of course the installation instructions included are only in Japanese but it's a pretty straight forward process. On the rear of new mirror are 3 double-sided tape strips - the one in the middle is noticeably thicker to offset the curvature of the glass. What was initially a bit of a mystery was the suction cup that was included in the kit. After a bit of head scratching, I realized that the cup was to be used to hold the mirror while attaching it to the old mirror. So, I cleaned the original mirror glass with alcohol to remove all of the old grease etc. and removed the backing from the 3 tape strips. Then, I attached the suction cup to the center of the new mirror to provide a handle and guided the mirror into position:
This next step was probably not necessary but I decided to err on the side of caution. I wrapped a microfiber towel around the mirror and new glass and then wrapped a small bungee cord around that to apply even pressure and insure that the adhesive bonded strongly. I let that sit overnight (again, probably not necessary) before removing it. This is how it looks before putting it back into the car:
Here it is installed:
The clarity and field of view out the rear of the car is now fantastic! It's as good as it can possibly get anyway, with the periscope-like slit that we have to work with :smile: Here's a view of the mirror looking up from below. You can easily see how convex the glass really is:
I would give this product a 9.5 out of 10 rating. The half-point deduction is only because there is no bezel provided to "finish-out" the installation and make it look a bit nicer but I suppose that would be very difficult since these mirrors are designed to fit many different Honda/Acura vehicles. Small bits of the old mirror surface are visible around the edges and that is a little distracting at first. In hindsight, I should have blackened the perimeter of the old mirror with a Sharpie or something like that before installing the new mirror. Despite that, this was an inexpensive and simple upgrade that I am very happy with :biggrin:
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