I live in Australia and had to replace the LH door mirror on my 2001 Cougar. This is the passenger side for us as we drive on the left with RH drive. There were none available in Australia.
I got one in the correct colour (Laser Red) from the USA, but there is a problem in that I can't adjust it adequately to see behind me along the side of the vehicle.
The actual question is:
Is there a difference in the mounting or otherwise between a LH mirror for a RH drive vehicle and the mounting for a LH drive vehicle?
Ford themselves in both the US and Australia seem unable or unwilling to answer this.
If there is a difference, can it be adjusted out or do I need to get another spare from the UK which is also a RH drive country.
It's not so much the cost of getting another one, but I don't want to do it and find myself with exactly the same problem.
replied to: oldbill31
Replied to: I live in Australia and had to replace the LH door...
Do you still have the one that was on car yet? Is it totaly destroyed? .. The problem is that it does not angle enough towards side of car! - (Travel) stops before you get far enough over to ("pull" it to) side of car! Is this the "inside adjustable type? A little ingenuity here may be possible to figure out where to extend, or block Pivot point so that outer corner of mirror goes further to rear,- and inner corner goes further forward! -
Also it might be possible to add a wedge shaped spacer (under mountiong) to make front stand out further,- or grind down edge at rear, so the "post angle from mount on door to mirror is in effect moving mirror closer to door at back, than origionally built!
Chances are that the origional mirror has a little more angle on the "post" that sticks out between mirror head, and mount on door!
Possibly easier to grasp concept, - if you sit on the passengers side of your car, and try to adjust mirror on that side (driver side) so you can see side of car (to get right angle to see behind car)! You should have somewhat the same results,-- you can't turn far enough to see side of car in mirror,-- but the one on pasenger side now does not go out as far away from the other side of road as the one on drivers side! (Your probelms are identical,- except reversed!
Been 40 years since I worked in "foregn car garage" in U.S.
But angles etc just reverse in essence! Sopmewhat "funny" shifting gears with left hand instead of right, but I enjoyed "test drives". I had a RHD english car for a while, and I actrually liked being on "curb side" of road,- I can see very edge of road better from there, - and I always drive as far away as I can from traffic coming from other direction!
YES! One from a "right hand drivers side" car should work just fine -- (and if color doesn't match), you can always paint with "matching" color from spray can --- before putting on,- and then you don't have "overspray" or masking problems! Am thinking that "Dupli-Color" paints should be common in use down there! ?Aresol spary cans".
replied to: oldtimepilot
Replied to: Do you still have the one that was on car yet?...
Hullo Oldtime
As I suspected, the two fittings (not the actual mirrors) that attach the mirrors to the car are different.
I took the replacement one back off and when looked at next to the old one it is very obvious. I took a couple of photos but don't think that I can attach them to show you.
However, the difference lies in a much longer curve at the front of the RHD fitting which obviously therefore angles the mirror much more towards the car body. Also, inside the fitting there is the notation LHD, whereas in mine there is only an L.
I took them both to bits and reassembled one using the new mirror and the old fitting and, hey presto, it works.
It's just a shame that the bods at Ford both USA and Australia could not answer my simple question "Is there a difference in the fittings and can it be rectified?".
The answer being "yes there is a difference and no, it can't be rectified, you must get a correct side drive fitting"
Just a warning for anyone else in a similar situation - watch out for differences between LHD & RHD items such as this.
By the way, I had already tried the "sitting in passenger seat and looking at the drivers mirror" bit, which is why I was pretty sure that there was a difference in the fittings - I just didn't know what it was.
Regards
