A great, inexpensive mod to your
Porsche
is a multi function mirror.
I have a 2004 996, and the stock mirror had no functions beyond reflecting traffic approaching from the rear! I wanted to add
HomeLink
for my garage door and auto-dimming, so I did some research and found that you can add a lot of functionality to your rearview mirror very easily. In addition to the features already mentioned, you can add outside temperature and a compass, and, if you don’t find your interior lights adequate, some mirrors come with courtesy lights on the bottom edge of the mirror! Just remember: more features come with more complexity (and wires!).
I live about 20 minutes away from a ‘pick-a-part’ junkyard (LKQ), so I did my shopping there. E-Bay is another source. I found a Gentex
#015894
mirror at LKQ which had the features I wanted plus a compass. The cost was about $20, and I made sure that I got the connector that plugs into the mirror plus a couple of feet of wire for good measure. Gentex makes the mirrors for many major manufacturers. Mine came from a Hyundai, but I tell people it was from a Lamborghini Huracan. The connector has 4 wires: one ground, and three Positive for each of the three functions. You can combine all the positive wires into one with no ill effects, unless you want to keep your HomeLink hot all the time (no parasitic draw, but minor security issue as anyone could break into your car and open your garage if you’re parked outside).
If you got your new mirror from an Audi, there is a good chance that it will have the same round twist mount that your Porsche has. Take the Porsche mirror out by twisting the mount counterclockwise a quarter turn, and then put your Audi mirror in. If you’re like me, and got a Gentex mirror, you’ll need to buy an adapter from Master Tailgaters for $20. You can find them on Amazon (“Master Tailgaters Rear View Mirror Three Metal Bracket Adapters for Volkswagen, Audi”).
They sell a kit of 3 adapters. It’ll be pretty obvious which is the right one for this project. The adapter fits over the Porsche mount and tightens with a set screw.
Once you get the adapters sorted out, you slip your mirror onto the mount and tighten the set screw that is part of the Gentex mount, and you’re halfway there! You can now use your mirror but not the cool functions that need electricity. For that part, read on!
These mirrors are simple, logical and self contained. That’s why you can ignore PIWIS and all the other scary things that you need to go to the dealer for. Now just wire the ground to a ground and the positive wires to a switched positive and you’re done!
Some people can disassemble the dome light and find places to attach the wires. I hope that others will comment with the correct color combinations of Porsche wires to hook into. I’m told a multimeter is useful here.
I wanted to hook into the cell phone wiring in the console, so I needed a longer cable, and did this: Attach 10 feet of 4-connector wire to the mirror connector either by soldering or rewiring the connector. Soldering worked for me, and I hid the evidence in the plastic panel just above the windshield (Cabriolet). I removed the driver side sun visor my unscrewing 2 torx screws and pulling the sunvisor away. This allowed me to plug into the mirror, leave a little slack for mirror adjustments and then tuck the wire under the windshield trim and run it down the A-pillar and feed it down into the area under the dashboard. Then I zip tied it to various stationary pieces of the car to keep it out of the way and threaded it over to the console where the cell phone wire was waiting for me. To get access to the cell phone connector, I had to pry off the plastic panel next to the driver’s knee and then pull off the adjacent carpeted panel so I could see the area beneath the radio and A/C. From that point it was easy to use a ‘tap’ to attach the one ground wire and the four power wires. (confession: I wired all three positive mirror wires together before tapping the
switched power
supply wire. The voltage is so low, I didn’t think it made much difference). The black ground wire from the mirror connects to the brown ground wire from the cell phone plug, All the positive wires can attach to the red/green switched power wire.
Replace the A pillar cover and the sun visor, replace the panels on the side of the console, and you’re done! Program the HomeLink to your garage door and marvel that when you switch the car off, the programming is not erased, just unusable until you subsequently put your key in the ignition! (N.B. I have a “rolling code” opener. Any Gentex mirror from the 21st century is compatible.). The compass, if you get one, is self adjusting. It’s great for getting out of a parking lot when Google Maps tells you to ‘Head South toward some street you’ve never heard of.’
Very nice - and if you don't have a handy pick=a=part junkyard,
Amazon
still has you covered at a slightly higher price - if you care to give up the
Homelink
(my 987 has it in the overhead console) and compass (my headunit has it..)
$80 -
https://a.co/d/01eeBvh
(frame)
$110 -
https://a.co/d/4ZdlbYL
(frameless)
I think I'll spring for the frameless.. looks a bit more "modern"... (and the factory flip-2-dim mirror is frameless..)
Got the framed one.. it seems large, but actually is only about 1/2" larger than the factory flip mirror. It is a bit taller and fuller which gives it the larger look. It might actually work better, especially with the top down.
Went to install it - I got waylaid by another
Boxster
owner with a check-engine-light after he took his car out of winter storage - that took an hour (my NT510 hadn't been charged recently and was unhappy about that... so I had to dig around and get out the
NT530
..) Anyway - gas
cap
I think. Then for some really stupid reason I decided to see if there were screws holding the light console on the header. My console has
HomeLink
, and the
Homelink
buttons. I pulled off the bezel around one of the button pairs, and immediately 4 parts decided to part company and hide. An hour later I had rounded them all up, and went again to reinstall it.. whoopsie - did it again.
It popped back out, wouldn't stay in, and parts started departing the area. Now with a convertible, top down, it would seem parts would be contained in the cabin area, and it turns out they were, but with dark coco mats, and a dark blue interior, black parts were not easy to see and capture. Another hour went by.. and I had all of them together again. It was then that I realized the rubber piece in the switch assembly that provides the nice soft-touch feel, and has the shorting contact for the switch, is not symmetrical. It looks like it is - it's not. It is subtly different and must be oriented JUST SO for it to go back together.
It finally went back together and I quit for the day. Tomorrow I'll look again. Anyone know how to grab the mirror to twist it off the mount? I don't want to screw it up in case I decide to reverse this modification.
I'll try and take photos tomorrow.
PS: The reason it was a really stupid move with the switch, is I did the same damn thing when I was installing the
LED bulbs
in the console. And had the same problem putting it back together. DON'T DO THAT. Don't be like me, be smart!
Looks great and a simple install if you’re patient with the wire routes!
I just swapped out the stock mirror with an old Genetex mirror w/
homelink
I had laying around! My wife said I keep too much old junk around. I showed her a thing or two! 😂
Just as an update - I absolutely LOVE the self-dimming mirror. It works amazingly well. RAM pickup behind me - no problem, the blinding lights from the RAM are just dimmed to a level where they don't annoy me. The flip mirror simply sucks - in a convertible where there can be bright light sources (like street lamps) passing by overhead - when it's flipped - it then reflects those overhead light sources. It also doesn't really dim effectively in response to the light hitting it. If you have the flip-mirror - do yourself a favor, spring for the $100 mod with the self-dimming mirror. I haven't checked if
Amazon
still has the inexpensive one, but.. if they do, that and the adaptor will be just over $100, money very well spent.
