Turn signals in mirrors mod, "how to" guide. | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Turn signals in mirrors mod, "how to" guide.

fcat

Well-Known Member
Joined
July 29, 2008
Messages
397
Reaction score
4
Year, Model & Trim Level
1999 5.0 V8 Limited
So on a recent trip to the USA i saw several SUV's with hidden turn signals in their mirrors. These weren't like stick on arrows as when the turn signal was off it just looked like a regular mirror.

After looking round online i found i could purchase new mirror housings with the turn signals in the glass for $280 for a pair!!! I knew there must be a cheaper way of doing this without using the cheap stick on the front of the mirror arrows and i found the following LED arrows on eBay and ordered a pair to be delivered to my friends house for when i was out in the USA just this last week.

I got back home 2 days ago and set to work making these things work for my Ex. Below is a rough outline of what i did and how i did it.

1. Link to LED arrows on eBay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270468960925?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

LED arrows, i ordered mine in amber.
oaakx2.jpg


25jf9k2.jpg


2. Remove mirror glass and backing plate from the mirror housing by pulling gently but firmly.

3. Place the arrow on the bottom right hand corner of the mirrors plastic backing plate and draw round the arrow with a marker pen.

4. Then take a sharp craft knife and cut out the plastic. I heated the area up with a hairdryer for a few minutes just to make the plastic a bit more pliable and this worked a treat, be careful not to go too deep with the knife that you end up cutting the silver coating on the back of the mirror.

Backing plate with arrow shape cut out:
ir04cl.jpg


Passenger side:
6pxqtd.jpg


5. Once you remove the plastic you'll see that the mirror has a blue type coating on the back, i removed this by gently scraping it away with the knife, this made the LED's a lot more visible through the mirror but it still has the reflecting properties on the mirror side.

Arrow placed in cutout:
5cc1oh.jpg


6. Once the LED arrow is placed straight in the cutout i then covered the cutout and LED with the sticky back plastic square that came with the LED's. once this was on i again heated it up gently with the hairdryer to make sure it was firmly stuck and sealed.

Cutout and LED covered with sticky back plastic:
2duhxna.jpg


7. Thread the wires from the LED through the mirror and into the door. I took the mirror housing off to do this as it was a lot easier, Its not te easiest of jobs and the use of a wire coat hanger came in handy as i then tapes the wires to the end and pulled them back through.

8. Re assemble the backing plate onto the mirror housing, be VERY careful to make sure everything is lined up before pushing it on with gentle but firm pressure till it clips back in. Unfortunately i wasn't careful enough and the drivers side mirror cracked as i was doing this so Ive gotta source another glass and backing plate and do the cutout again!! if anyone knows where i can get one it would be appreciated if you let me know.

9. I then threaded the wires through the grommet in the door jam and made their way to the side repeater indicator on the wing where i tapped into the two wires, i soldered them on and covered them in shrink tubing.


You cant see the arrows at all when they are off, when they are on they are bright enough to be able to see during daylight but at night they look fantastic.

Mirror all done (turn signal off during the day):
1z6vyx2.jpg


Mirror all done (turn signal on during the day):
bhiu0x.jpg




I'm really pleased with the result and the total outlay was about $30 for the arrows inc shipping, its probably gonna cost me more than that to replace the mirror glass and backing plate on the drivers side which i cracked:(
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





That looks really cool. Well done!

Also do the mirrors just pull out? I've had a hell of a game trying to swap mirrors over between Ex's... Eventually I gave up!
 






Yes they do, just be firm but gentle, i found pulling from the bottom edge upwards was the easiest.
 






Great post...!!!

I'll be trying this out on mine soon...
 






Ive just updated the post with a few more details :) am trying to get a Mod to change the title of the post as i was having problems posting to the forum.
 






Great little mod
Has adding this altered the flashing frequency at all?
 






























Back
Top