My rear view mirror broke. Can I?....
 

My rear view mirror inside the car broke. I saw a few overpriced used units on ebay. I'm wondering if I can replace it with some other mirror. Are there any generic mirrors that fit the same ball/socket or not?

Thanks,

1991 300d, 214k

I'd run a part wanted ad here. I might have one around. I'll look.

If it's for your 91 300D I have one in good condition you can have it for $30.00 shipped

For others who can't get a cheap mirror. I have owned lots of GM Cars. They have steel mirror mount glued with special glue kit ($7-$14 depending on where you get it) to the inside of the Windshield and then the Mirror slides over the mount.

You can use those on any Windshield assuming you find a mirror that fits within the opening of your sun visors.

There is likely a Youtube video on installing the Mirror Mount to a windshield using the glue kit.

There was someone offering to mount a Gentex mirror on Mercedes stems, as a product. Gentex makes those modern mirrors with electronic stuff built in. Things like garage openers, compasses and rear camera displays. They're used as OEM by almost all mfg's these days. So it is possible to do what you want.

Found it, you will need to search around the site for it:

www dot 2phast dot com/500e/default.htm

I've had 2phast's mirror in my w123 for years, and I highly recommend it if you want to "upgrade".

My reason for going this route was:

1. Looks OE
2. Has auto-dim and compass built-in (with correct amber color letters too)
3. Has Homelink garage opener function (no more remotes/clickers in the car)

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8453/8...2535ffa9_c.jpg

Seems they have discontinued the W123 mirror. Such a pity, that would have been a great upgrade. I tried to send 2phast a message on their web form, but apparently they haven't emptied their inbox in a long time, the form was rejected with an error messages saying the maximum number of form inquiries has been used.

In my experience, the 123 mirrors last longer than the 124 mirrors. 124 mirrors tend to die from brittle plastic on the back of the mirror. However, 123 mirrors have the wrong mount. As an experiment, I removed a 124 mirror from its mount, so I know that part is possible. I heated up the mirror plastic around the ball and it pulled right out.

Assuming the ball/socket size are the same, one may be able to replace the mirror with an older or newer mirror.

126 and 123 mirrors interchange. Pull the base and all.

That's a shame about the w123 mirror from Rik (2phast). I guess I should have gotten another if I knew it was not going to get made for a long time.

The stalk is longer on the w126, and may not give the correct visibility? The w126 also had the "sun visor" above the mirror, but the w123 did not.