Va_TTer

One of the only design flaws I've noticed in the MkII TT Roadster is that the side view mirrors do not pivot far enough outwards to provide complete blindspot coverage. With the seat all the way back (I'm tall) and the top up, the car has a driver-side blindspot that is worse than in any car I've ever driven. The passenger side isn't much better. One of the first things I did when I got the car was research options to eliminate the blind spots. I found some OEM Audi mirrors (the style they use in Europe, but not the U.S.) that virtually eliminate the issue. The mirrors are a direct replacement for the U.S. OEM mirrors.

My observations on install are below; given that the OEM mirrors can (and in my case, did) break when you try to remove them for replacement, your install mileage may vary. It's not my fault if what worked for me below doesn't work for you. I did eventually find install easy after a bit of trial and error (although the error led to the shattering of my OEM driver-side mirror first). The whole job to do both sides took less than 20 minutes.

Here's what I did:

1. slide a soft cloth (I used a microfiber drying towel) under the entire length of the bottom edge of the mirror glass, between the glass and the mirror housing. (NOTE: I didn't do this when I first tried to remove the mirror; because there was no real clearance between the bottom edge of the mirror and the housing when I started prying at the top, a pressure point developed at the bottom center edge of the mirror. That pressure point sprang into three vertical cracks when I tried to pry out the mirror. The cloth eliminated that pressure point, and avoided cracks when I removed the other side).

2. Push all the way in on the bottom edge of the mirror, to pivot it and expose as much of a gap as possible behind the top edge of the mirror. When the mirror won't pivot any further, stop pushing on the bottom.

3. Slide a pair of soft but firm L-shaped plastic prys behind the top edge of the mirror (I used a pair of Safety 1st baby gate latches (pictured below) -- the flat part where the holes for the screws are, not the hook end). Hold them a several inches apart, to distribute pressure points along the top edge. You might also be able to use your fingers for this, but I couldn't ever get enough clearance to get two fingers comfortably behind the glass.

4. GENTLY and evenly pull straight out on the prys, until the circular clips holding the top half of the mirror in place pop loose (see back of mirror picture below).

5. Gently Pivot and lift vertically the outer edge of the mirror, to unseat long-ish curved bar (seen below) from its groove.

6. The whole mirror should now be out in your hand. Unclip the two wires that run to the heater (tracking which wire goes to which position).

7. Clip the two wires to the new mirror.

8. Ensure that the long-ish curved bar on the new mirror is seated back in its groove.

9. Line up the circular set of clips with the circular plastic fitting within the mirror, and pop the new mirror into place with gentle direct pressure on the center of the mirror.

10. Windex mirror using soft cloth to eliminate finger prints.

That's it.

Thanks to ECS Tuning for selling and quickly shipping the mirrors. The mirrors are here on the ECS site: http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-TT_MKI...rrors/ES10381/

Pictures of them front and back:

Pete@ECSTuning

Excellent write up! Thank you for the order BTW.

You should thow some "inside the cabin" installed pics up too.