Heated mirrors

[ianc153]

I have a 57 plate R56 mini cooper.

now the cold weather is upon us i could do with heated wing mirrors and possibly heated screen wash jets (my cooper has neither!)
can these be diy retro-fitted?
i'm hoping that the mirrors are just a case of replacing the standard mirror glass with the heated type; how can i remove the mirror caps to check if the wiring is there already?

thanks for any help

ian

[hammo18]

I second this for my 07 MCS - would be a very useful thing to have although I thought these were standard for a Cooper S?

[ianc153]

Nobody help?

[JohnnyC]

If BMW are anything like Toyota, the wiring won't be there, they'll most likely use different door looms.

Aren't the heated mirrors next to useless on the Mini anyway?
I heard that they only activate when the temperature goes below zero or something - so absolutely no good for using them to clear the rain off them if it's not freezing cold - nice one BMW

[minimarque]

surely they come on with the rear windscreen heater

[oldtruckpainter]

They come on when you activate the heated seats. Not sure what happens if you don't have that option.

[mab01uk]

I believe the heated mirrors come on automatically on all models where fitted............on an Oxford Mini factory visit we were shown wiring looms are tailored to the customer order so few unnecessary optional wires are fitted to all models. We were shown the considerable weight and cost difference between a basic Mini loom and one with all options added by a customer!

Unclip the mirror glass and look for the 2 wires is best bet?

[RedLyl]

Having heated washer jets is all very well but beware they won't help much if the washer fluid is frozen solid - my bottle was filled by the dealer when i picked the car up, unfortunately they just put water in so not much use a couple of days later when the temp dropped to -4c!

[Angib]

Yes, and it's quite a problem to fix. Last winter's extreme cold caught me out with just winter screenwash, probably good for -2 or so, when the temp dropped below -10.

I can't see a way around this as you can't expect enough warning to empty what's already in the screen wash reservoir, so I've had neat 'extreme' screen wash in the bottle since November and there hasn't been a need for anything more than ordinary winter stuff once yet!