Auto-Dimming AKA Anti-Dazzle Mirrors Retrofit

[nsaneS4]

Has anyone done a complete retrofit (interior and exterior rear view mirrors)?

I've read the side mirrors receive their signal from the sensors in the up interior mirror. I'm wondering if anyone has documented the necessary wiring.

Being lowered + living in a state that only allows 35% tint = seeing lots of bright headlights at night.

[Meow]

The mirrors are anti-dazzle from the factory... no need to retrofit. I don't think any s4 came without them, I could be wrong though. If you have normal mirrors installed you should be able to buy the right glass and install them. I would first check to see if the wiring is there in the mirrors. The mirror pops off and you can see the wires there for heating and anti-dazzle.

Being lowered + living in a state that only allows 35% tint = seeing lots of bright headlights at night.

try living in a state where they are completely illegal.

[koolkoreanked]

Even my base 01 a4 has them. The mirror might have died and just needs to be replaced.

[Meow]

It would appear that the very few cars ordered with the option to not have a sunroof ended up with basic mirrors. Is your car sunroofless? If so its not very common.

[bobkatkat]

His is a Unicorn "1 of 13 6MT w Nogaro Blue Alcantara imported to the US! | 1 of 1 without a Sun Roof! " from his sig.

[nsaneS4]

My mirror housings don't have the electrical connector which power the anti-dazzle feature (circled in red).



My car was special ordered with the sunroof delete option. Perhaps this is why I don't have anti-dazzle mirrors.

[nsaneS4]

It would appear that the very few cars ordered with the option to not have a sunroof ended up with basic mirrors. Is your car sunroofless? If so its not very common.

Yes it is. See signature block.

[christianb5s4]

I'll tell you about my experience with my anti-dazzle mirrors. Ever since I bought the car, all of them worked except for the driver's side mirror. Thought it was the glass, maybe that someone at some point replaced it with non-dimming glass. But low and behold, I cleared my airbag code and immediately after, it worked. Not sure why.

Doubt this helps you much, but little seemingly unrelated things could affect it.

[goalieman24]

I'll tell you about my experience with my anti-dazzle mirrors. Ever since I bought the car, all of them worked except for the driver's side mirror. Thought it was the glass, maybe that someone at some point replaced it with non-dimming glass. But low and behold, I cleared my airbag code and immediately after, it worked. Not sure why.

Doubt this helps you much, but little seemingly unrelated things could affect it.

Interesting.
Similar story. Turns out, the power for the interior mirror is fused to the same spot as the reverse lights. I've got some weird gremlin in my reverse light wiring, so that fuse won't hold for very long. Without power to the interior mirror, it doesn't dim... and so neither do the sides.

You don't realize how much the dimming helps out until it's gone.

[chaos2984]

Interesting.
Similar story. Turns out, the power for the interior mirror is fused to the same spot as the reverse lights. I've got some weird gremlin in my reverse light wiring, so that fuse won't hold for very long. Without power to the interior mirror, it doesn't dim... and so neither do the sides.

You don't realize how much the dimming helps out until it's gone.

pull both tail lights apart and look at the boards sometimes you can get corrosion on the boards. You might have to clean it or replace it if thats the case.


Also Check your rear view mirror and see if you have 2 sensors on it one on the mirror side and other on the back side. If you have them then you don't need the mirror. You might have the harness that has the wiring already there. Do you have a connector that connects into your rearview mirror? I would look to see how many pins it has in there. Also with the side mirrors look to see the connector in the door if you have extra pins in the connector for the body harness vs the number of pins in the side view mirror connector.

[christianb5s4]

Interesting.
Similar story. Turns out, the power for the interior mirror is fused to the same spot as the reverse lights. I've got some weird gremlin in my reverse light wiring, so that fuse won't hold for very long. Without power to the interior mirror, it doesn't dim... and so neither do the sides.

You don't realize how much the dimming helps out until it's gone.

Glad I'm not the only one, then again my knowledge of the electricals and what's connected to what is definitely not that great. I was really happy that it started working, having that one mirror not dimming on the driver's side was super annoying at night.

[R1CH-5100]

I'll tell you about my experience with my anti-dazzle mirrors. Ever since I bought the car, all of them worked except for the driver's side mirror. Thought it was the glass, maybe that someone at some point replaced it with non-dimming glass. But low and behold, I cleared my airbag code and immediately after, it worked. Not sure why.

Doubt this helps you much, but little seemingly unrelated things could affect it.

Very interesting. My door mirrors stopped working (I think) when my rear view bubbled. When I had it repaired the passenger started working again but the driver side still doesn't. My Airbag light is also on. I've been meaning to fix that too. Maybe it will fix my mirror as well ha.

[8bitwarfare]

well here is the wiring diagram for the system. looks like 6 wires go into the center mirror. ignition power, ground, ext mirror in, ex mirror out, reverse sense, and something with the interior lights. #2 and 3 go to the passenger auto dim mirror terminals and 12 and 13 go to the drivers side. bare minimum you could probably get away without the reverse and interior wires. im guessing if left open they would be fine. its not too complicated. Not as bad as retrofitting factory heated seats where anyway haha

[quickglx]

I did it on my previous S4. It was a sunroofless hibiscus red. I had a parts car at my disposal so I swapped the roof wiring harness in, then swapped door wiring harnesses and mirror bases, then had to run a two wire overlay in the main dash harness ( no chance in hell I'm swapping that one out!) to send the signal to the exterior mirrors .... But as you can see in the wiring diagram above, its only a few wires. Its not too bad. I never hooked up the wire for the reverse or interior light. I have the A4 cabrio rearview mirror that has the power button, though rarely used. I also swapped in the heated seats. If you have a parts car to rob the harness out of, its an easy swap too. Both are features are a must have

[christianb5s4]

It doesn't seem like it's that difficult, the most costly part is getting all the mirrors themselves as the anti-dazzle stuff always sells at a premium.

[landfill]

^^^Yes OP has the holy grail of s4's. Atleast for me. I think I stated this in an older thread of his
and who would have figured it'd end up in Hawaii. Also I never new there were states where tint
was illegal until moving to CA. FL. is %35 up front and %25-%20 in the back.