Insensitive Rear View Mirror

[ajis250]

In my opinion. One of the very few things I did not like on my IS was the AUTO rear view mirror level of "insensitivity", in other words, it would not dim neither soon nor dark enough so Dear Mr. Lexus: How about adding an allways on option to the Off and (frequently useless) Auto mode,... or read on.

Again, this is my opinion, perhaps age has made my eyes more sensitive?. Here's what I did. First I tried a little piece of electircal tape to cover the hole beind the mirror, next time you have lights behind bothering you even on AUTO, cover the back with your hand and you'll see the difference. If you place the mirror high, close to the "ceiling" is even worst and if you lower it, blocks my view and won't solve this issue. I don't have tinted windows so can't comment on that.

Another option, the one I will keep from now on: find a leftover pice of tinted paper for windows, all you need is about 1 inch by half inch scrap piece, remove the clear backing, get it wet to activate the adhesive and place it. The improvemnent is noticeable, it won't affect daytime or when ther is no cars behind. The adhesive is very light and wont cause damage if removed.

It increases the sensitivity of the mirror as this guy seems to work by contrasting the lights in front with the ones behind. Not necessarily the right approach since lights behind can bother a lot even if you are on a well lit street or at dusk.

If sometimes you are bothered by lights behind you, try it.

[tex2670]

I haven't had any complaints. But--how do you see in the mirror during the day with the front sensor blocked? It's dark all the time.

[ajis250]

I haven't had any complaints. But--how do you see in the mirror during the day with the front sensor blocked? It's dark all the time.

No, in the day theres no change at all.

[1990LS400]

ajis250,

Have you driven other IS250's to verify that there is not a problem with your auto dimming mirror? Do the outside mirrors of the IS250 autodim like the ones on the LS? If so, are the outside mirrors dimming adequately?

Have you had your eye's checked? Seriously. My eye doctor told me that many people like me have the beginnings of cataracts by the time they enter their 50s. Astigmatism and keratoconus like I have also can make eyes especially sensitive to light. Or you could have a undiagnosed eye injury. I had a scratched cornea several years ago - from the rigid contact lens for keratoconus - that made one eye so sensitive to light that I could barely drive day or night -- I even had one of those eyebrow tint strips added to the top of my windshield trying to cope before my cornea scratch was finally diagnosed several months later.

OK, if your eyes are fine and your IS250's autodimming mirror is not defective, tinting the windows of your car would likely reduce the stress all that light is causing you. However ... I noticed that after my back window was tinted, the auto dimming mirrors are less sensitive to light from following cars and do not dim as quickly. Others on these forums have said that their audodimming mirror sensitivity was not affected by tinting their windows.

According to http://www.tintcenter.com/laws/FL/ , Florida allows much darker tint than most other states:

Front Side Windows Must allow more than 28% of light in.

Back Side Windows Must allow more than 15% of light in.

Rear Window Must allow more than 15% of light in.

15% tint on the rear and back side windows is very dark and could make it difficult to see well enough to safely back your car. I have 35% on our cars and my wife still sometimes complains about the glare. I'd rather have slightly darker 28% tint but we stayed with the 35% maximum allowed by the state where we live. I'd suggest that you get 28% tint on the sides and rear window. After all, you do live in mostly sunny Florida. Another bonus is that window tint reduces sun damage to interior materials

[ajis250]

Hey 1990... thanks for the advice, I do agree that age could be a factor (50) but no injuries and I am not going to stop driving my IS!!!, in fact I already asked to be buried in it (unless a 350 finds me before then).

My IS does not auto dim the outside mirrors (should they??) and the interior works, however seems to react too little too late.

I noticed marginal improvement initially by lowering the stance of the mirror as if the sensor could get a stright view to the back where normally I would place it as close to the ceiling as possible but covering the front sensor made it react a lot sooner to approaching headlights.

As far as tiniting windows, I suppose it may help but for now, the little tweek works great whithout the risk of a monkey with a blade next to my leather and also removing the door panel because of the tweeters.

Try it you'll see what I mean.

[1990LS400]

My IS does not auto dim the outside mirrors (should they??) and the interior works, however seems to react too little too late.

The specs on http://www.lexus.com/models/IS/detailed_specifications.html for the 09 IS say that auto-dimming outside mirrors are optional.

As far as tiniting windows, I suppose it may help but for now, the little tweek works great whithout the risk of a monkey with a blade next to my leather and also removing the door panel because of the tweeters.

We have had several cars tinted without any damage. I don't think you have much to worry about. If you don't want to find a tint shop on your own, most Lexus dealers will have it done for you. Dealers usually subcontract out the work.

It is not necessary to remove door panels to tint the windows. It usually has taken about two hours to have a car tinted. After the tint has been applied, the windows should not be rolled down for several days -- we usually wait about one week.

I had our car windows tinted immediately after I lost of a patch of skin on my left arm to skin cancer -- way too much time spent at the beach and too many scuba trips to Key West. If I had realized how much more pleasant a car is with tinted window, I would have started having car windows tinted a long time ago. The tint on my current 00 LS is over five years old, looks as good as new, and has a lifetime guarantee.

[chanlidavid]

hi everyone .. some question i dont understand. are why the IS 350 on fuel economy is better then IS 250 AWD? the IS 350 is 3.5 V6 should use more gas. i saw it on LEXUS website detailed specifications

[mr_raider]

hi everyone .. some question i dont understand. are why the IS 350 on fuel economy is better then IS 250 AWD? the IS 350 is 3.5 V6 should use more gas. i saw it on LEXUS website detailed specifications

The magic of modern engineering! Also the Is250 needs to be revved harder to get going than the 350 which has a bigger engine and more torque. The AWD is also carring 200pounds of extra weight in the transmission.

Mind you Lexus's numbers are EPA numbers, and should always be taken with a grain salt. In cold hard winter weather in stop and go urban traffic, you'd be lucky to get 15mpg on either car.

[tex2670]

I haven't had any complaints. But--how do you see in the mirror during the day with the front sensor blocked? It's dark all the time.

No, in the day theres no change at all.

Maybe there IS something wrong with the mirror, then. If you cover up the sensor on the back of the mirror (the one the faces toward the front windshield), the mirror will turn dark in the middle of the day.

If you have the Lux/Sport Pkg, the outside mirrors will turn dark too, but not as dark as the inside ones.