Side Mirrors in the dark

[JonnyE94]

Hi everyone,

I'm just looking to see if people are experiencing the same issues as myself as I can't seem to find anyone talking about the same problem.

With the dark awful weather in the UK recently, does anyone else have terrible visibility issues with the side mirrors in the dark? Mainly headlight glare from oncoming traffic.

At some points I can't actually see vehicles, just headlights and the glare from them. It truly is horrendous.

I've attached a picture showing an example from a car behind me - this is about the same level of visibility I get when merging off a slip road for example.

Is it just me ?!

[Verone]

It looks like in the bottom image (left side camera) you have some form of crap on the camera lens.

Water generally doesn't bother mine, but when people swap to their studded tires in the winter in Iceland, we get a lot of fine dust that comes up off the road where they're chewing up the asphalt and clings to absolutely everything. If it stays dry, a couple of weeks of driving and your car can look pretty much grey, regardless of the colour.

Just last Monday I had a similar situation to yours with both my cameras after the car had been standing outside over the weekend. A jet wash then a bit of glass cleaner on a microfiber and my cameras are super clean again now.

[peniole]

Not just you. I picked up a demonstrator a few weeks back and finding the same problems. Take a clsoe look at your lenses, do you see some blue or rainbow hues/spots on the lens, like so:



Obviously that's a severe example, but you get what I mean. Then it's the antireflective coating coming off the lens. Even though mine was a demonstrator kept and maintained by the dealer for just a year, and I noticed this upon delivery there's nothing they could do. Someone used a terrible kind of washing technique/chemical that caused the degradation. I suspect if you take it in for a warranty they'll claim wear and tear.

I suggest switching to wide angle view rather than the standard view, it becomes slightly less of a problem then.

[Trykpaa]

Camera mirrors in the E are not perfect. Quite pixelated, especially in the dark. I have come to the conclusion that if I can see that there is a vehicle, then that's sufficient information

Comming from the E I am more often shocked of how poor visibility is in normal mirrors (water, fog, dirt on window inside/outside and mirror) and how much of a blind spot the mirror itself makes.

[JonnyE94]

Thanks for your replies everyone!

It's not the pixelation / quality of the camera that's any sort of problem, it's the sheer amount of headlight glare which leads me to think Peniole may be right in the anti-reflective coating is either coming off or has already come off.

I've only had the car for around 2 months so I've never really noticed the problem until now with it being pitch black when I set off from work at 5pm!

I'll take a look at the camera to see if there's anything visible that's peeling.

Thanks again everyone!

[htom]

Same here in Ireland, despite we keep the cameras clean. I'll switch to wide angle as suggested above and see if that helps.

[Verone]

Same here in Ireland, despite we keep the cameras clean. I'll switch to wide angle as suggested above and see if that helps.

I had no idea there was a wide angle option on the cameras... No idea how I didn't notice this before as I've been through the car's menu options a million times over.

I'll have to try this too.

[upsilon]

I suspect it's the way or chemical we used to clean the car/lens or perhaps some car shampoo with wax which leaves wax on the len surface which caused the problem.

I am planning to use some wax removal on the lens and see if it improve the diffusion of light. Soft99 Glaco does market a spray-on for side mirror and on board camera, had yet to try it, am thinking this as step 2 after removing any possible wax and leave a coating on the lens.

"Glaco Mirror Coat Zero

ULTRA-HYDROPHOBIC EFFECT
FOR MIRRORS AND ON-BOARD CAMERAS
REPELS WATER EVEN AT 0 KM/H"

[5thcivic]

I would be careful of what to use on the camera lenses, it could do more harm than good on the coating. I would only use water (maybe warm) and microfibre. Frankly I find the cameras better than mirrors in the dark because the sensitivity shows you more mostly. Headlights are a problem whatever.

[peniole]

These work well, but after some mild soap if needed and water to dislodge any dirt.

https://www.zeiss.co.uk/vision-care/nee ... aning.html

Costco occassionally have them on sale. https://www.costco.co.uk/Health-Wellnes ... s/p/431332

But the widescreen setting made a bigger difference for me. The effect was similar to undoing a electronic zoom.