Frameless Auto Dimming and Universal Remote Rear View Mirror

[ecko04]

True. I guess I got lucky on my second try. Mine came from a Legacy that had it from the factory, not the accessory you can buy at the parts counter, so it has the extension on the mount to clip the harness onto. But still, not worth rolling the dice. first mirror I got had the stupid lane assist camera. I figured I could take it off and use my existing bracket. wrong, wrong, wrong. all-in-one metal bracket and the mounting points for the brackets differed between generations. I figure now I have a spare for parts in case something breaks or gets damaged.

of note, I did see the behaviour you mentioned- compass and no homelink regardless of ignition- when I plugged in the camera mirror with the kia harness mounted upside-down (as in same order it was on the Kia mirror, pink up if memory serves me right.) the correct orientation is the opposite- pink down. the harness is the same, but reversed- the tab in the plastic cover that holds the harness in place is on the opposite side on the newer gen mirror.

Thats another thing that turned me off on it. The amount of work and know-how of wiring that needs to be done to troubleshoot and figure out what’s working and what’s not. Not to mention cracking open a mirror — for a lot of people it would’ve been their first time and risking damage to their $100-200 piece of equipment that they just got.

There are PNP options out there that would probably work best for all but the most particular among us.

 

[djerickd]

I installed the Rostra 250-8709. Easy, plug and play!

This looks like The ONE To get!

 

[ecko04]

This looks like The ONE To get!

Not necessarily. It doesn’t have to be.

I would recommend reaching out to Bob @ Bob’s Automotive. I’ve worked with him for years and mirrors are all he does. He has just about all of them available.

He has an eBay store, but I strongly suggest that you contact him by email (rearviewmirrors@csinet.net) and mention my screen name and you’ll get a better price than anything you would find searching on your own (he and his company are not affiliated with me, I do not profit from his sales, and I don’t get anything free or steeply discounted). The only reason you’d want to mention me is so he knows what type of wiring harness you have.

If you like the Rostra, Subaru, or any other mirror, just mention it and he’ll have it pinned to our connector for easy PNP.

The Rostra mirror is $119 shipped — the last time I checked.
The Subaru mirror with the red compass is $149 shipped — last time I checked.
The mirror that I have GENK85A, which is $299, but can be found for around $240. It’s quite a bit more than the other two.

Bob will tell you a lot of useful information in his email exchanges and would probably start by him asking your familiarity with what you’re buying. If he knows you plan on putting the mirror in a different car (i.e., Subaru going into the Stinger) he will advise you of the differences in harness connectors and functionality that may be lost, that Subaru often changes model numbers on their mirrors, that mirrors have differ slightly, etc.

The difference among the mirrors are:
- Rostra, edge room edge glass, auto-dim, green compass, Homelink v5 (no LEDs to indicate door successfully opening/closing), slightly smaller than stock.
- Subaru, black slim bezel, auto-dim, red compass, backlit Homelink buttons, Homelink v5 (Directional LEDs to indicate door opening/closing), about the same as stock
- GENK85A, edge to edge glass, auto-dim, green compass, backlit Homelink buttons, Homelink v5 (Directional LEDs to indicate door opening/closing), slightly larger than stock coupled with edge to edge allows for greater visibility out of the rear.

 

[djerickd]

Emailed Bob thanks!!

 

[ecko04]

If you decide to source your own mirror and need help wiring it, just follow this tiny guide:

Only for KIA/Hyundai. Toyota and others have a different wiring configuration.

4. Outside dimming mirror control – yellow
6. Ignition – white
7. Reverse – grey
8. Ground – black
9. Outside dimming mirror control – brown
10. Constant hot - green

This is the back of the connector, that being the side the wires enter into the connector.

 

[djerickd]

I have a hyundai homelink mirror now but want an edgeless like my Cadillac had

 

[ecko04]

I have my Rostra edgeless mirror that I’ll let go for $100 shipped. I’m using the GENK85A.

 

[cwatt79]

I have my Rostra edgeless mirror that I’ll let go for $100 shipped. I’m using the GENK85A.

Sending DM now!

 

[cwatt79]

Does anyone know how to calibrate the compass on the Rostra edgeless mirror? Mine is way off.

 

[Snowwhite]

Does anyone know how to calibrate the compass on the Rostra edgeless mirror? Mine is way off.

Make sure it’s in the right zone for your location, then drive the car slowly in a circle a couple of times. It’ll catch up.

 

[cwatt79]

How do you change the zone, though? I don’t see any buttons for the compass and can’t find any literature on it.

 

[djerickd]

Email Bob

 

[Snowwhite]

Gentex compass faq

 

[ecko04]

Coming back to this thread.

I stumbled across a much “easier” way to use the Subaru mirror that doesn’t require opening the mirror.

The Subaru uses a different 5 pin connect than that used for KIA/HYUNDAI. However, the wire colors and internal mirror pin locations match standard GENTEX wiring.

So what you do is:
1) Cut the 5 pin Subaru connector off and trash it.
2) Contact Bob and order a male pigtail KIA/HYUNDAI harness. It will be the 10 pin harness used in our cars.


With the pigtail harness and the cut wires from the mirror, you strip about 1/2” and wire as follows. The wire colors match those on the Subaru mirror. It will only use 5 wires as there is no 12v constant in the Subaru mirror (unless you open it and do some things, which I believe are beyond the scope of most users on this site).

The diagram above shows the PIN numbers when looking at the pigtail from behind (where the wires slide in) with the connector tab on top.

4. Outside dimming mirror control – yellow
6. Ignition – white
7. Reverse – grey
8. Ground – black
9. Outside dimming mirror control – brown

With those wires up, go ahead and use your chosen method to secure your twisted wires. I choose to solder, but you if you don’t have a soldering iron you can use heat solder tubes, which are basically the same thing and just require a heat gun or low flame lighter.

With that done your mirror should power on with the ignition, backlight will work, Homelink, and Compass will also work.

This should be much easier for most folks than cracking a mirror open.

The steps above should be useful for anyone who sourced their mirror from eBay that will come with the 5 pin harness.

Alternatively, if you order the mirror from Bob, you can just ask him to swap in a 10 pin KIA/HYUNDAI harness instead of the 5-pin thereby making it PNP when you get it.

 

[SnowyGT2]

Coming back to this thread.

I stumbled across...

...Alternatively, if you order the mirror from Bob, you can just ask him to swap in a 10 pin KIA/HYUNDAI harness instead of the 5-pin thereby making it PNP when you get it.

I did exactly this, well for a GENK85A mirror. I emailed Bob on the 4th and received a very fast and friendly response to my inquiry about the GENK85A mirror configured for a Stinger. I made sure to mention your username and he didn't question anything. Very reasonable pricing and fast shipping as it should arrive on the 11th. Excited to get rid of the fugly stock mirror for sure!

Thanks for help with this!

 

[ecko04]

Excellent!
I took my GENK85A and put it in my wife’s Telluride. I have the Subaru mirror because I like the red compass

 

[terrylharris]

Doesn't your OEM mirror already include Homelink? My GT1 does..

My 2018 GT did not include Homelink.

 

[dvpatel]

I have managed to also get a GNTX-1427 mirror with homelink and the red compass as depicted in the pictures are non-frameless and more stubbier. It has the wires brown, yellow, white, black and gray in that order on the mirror side. I need the wiring information for that model. I have been searching for 2 days. Anyone has the mirror side wiring pinout information for that model out of the 2017+ Impreza/Legacy and may be other models of Subaru?

Contrarily, if you have the 5 pin Subaru information black, black, black/white, black and black/red harness, that may help too. I just need to order of the reverse indicator, the ACC switched and the ground. I think the white on the mirror side is ACC +12v, black is ground and brown is reverse but don't want to incorrectly power the mirror and fry it.

BTW. In light of full disclosure, I need that mirror in a Honda not a Stinger but this thread seems to be most detailed and has an identical mirror to what I have so I figured I'd register and seek out information from you guys.

 

[turboAWD]

Just curious - are there any mirrors with really cool features or anything available? Or is it mainly about looks and visibility? I am still somewhat interested, but haven't found that specific reason to go and do it. Driving the car like 25 miles/week these days, if that..

I had to have my windshield replaced, and while it seems they did a great job, the mirror wiring cover (black piece of plastic about 2x3 inches) keeps falling down now.. Guess I'll need to look into putting some velcro in there or something..

 

[dvpatel]

Just curious - are there any mirrors with really cool features or anything available? Or is it mainly about looks and visibility? I am still somewhat interested, but haven't found that specific reason to go and do it. Driving the car like 25 miles/week these days, if that..

I had to have my windshield replaced, and while it seems they did a great job, the mirror wiring cover (black piece of plastic about 2x3 inches) keeps falling down now.. Guess I'll need to look into putting some velcro in there or something..

The cover is 2 pieces. You simply pull out to expand it. It should go under the headliner and then it should not fall off. Also, if the mirror and the cover are original, the cover actually clicks into the mirror windshield bracket. Post pictures of the bracket and the plastic piece and I can see if I can help you out.