We installed the auto dimming compass mirror in our 2008 MAZDA5 Grand Touring NAV with rain sensing wipers.
The Rear View Mirror, Auto Dimming with compass, is part number 0000-8C-Z01 and the installation kit for our car is part number 0000-8C-L13.The install was fairly straight forward it took about 3 hours moving really slowly to get it all done.
My impression of the install: fortunately my stock mirror just slide right off (like it was loose) so no problems there. The new mirror slide right in place secured with a T-20 Torx. Below is a picture of the wedge style mount, the penny is for scale. Tucking the wire under the headliner, the headliner barely touches the roof, there is a big gap so it is easy to tuck the wire away towards the passenger side A pillar trim. Removing the A pillar trim wasn’t too bad. The push/pull pin holding the A pillar trim is a white pin you remove after the plastic A trim is slide off. This white pin was so tight I was afraid it would break while muscling it off. I spent 20 minutes gingerly trying to pry it out, until I finally got fed up and gave it good a tug and it popped free without breaking -- what luck. Fishing the wires through the dash / fuse area and down behind the passenger kick panel trim was easy. There was one mistake in the instructions on which wire to tap, it should be the green wire with black strip AND SILVER DOTS. Finally the plastic cover that comes in the install kit secures to the rain sensing element to cover the mirror mount and wiring could not be more complicated to install. If you are good with a rubik’s cube (I’m not), you might be able to figure it out. With some patients, I did manage to install the trim without messing up the rain sensing element. You remove the back half of the plastic cover, exposing the circuit card assembly to add a black cover and snap all the pieces back together while lining up on the plastic tabs of the lens glued to the back of the windshield -- An unbelievable amount of risk to potentially screwing up a bunch of expensive items for a simple cover that could have easily been designed not to involve the sensing element at all. Snap everything back together and calibrate the compass - cake. The dimming works great and the compass is a nice feature the GPS neglected to have on the screen.
In hindsight, since there are only two wires (+12 IGN and ground) to run the compass dimming mirror, you can probably get away without the install kit, and reuse the black plastic mirror cover that comes in the car with the stock mirror. If your handy with a dremel you can likely carve out a path for the wire and skip messing around with the rain sensing element secured to the back of the windshield. I haven’t tried this, just my 2c.
Here are some pictures for those still interested.
The Rear View Mirror, Auto Dimming with compass, is part number 0000-8C-Z01 and the installation kit for our car is part number 0000-8C-L13.The install was fairly straight forward it took about 3 hours moving really slowly to get it all done.
My impression of the install: fortunately my stock mirror just slide right off (like it was loose) so no problems there. The new mirror slide right in place secured with a T-20 Torx. Below is a picture of the wedge style mount, the penny is for scale. Tucking the wire under the headliner, the headliner barely touches the roof, there is a big gap so it is easy to tuck the wire away towards the passenger side A pillar trim. Removing the A pillar trim wasn’t too bad. The push/pull pin holding the A pillar trim is a white pin you remove after the plastic A trim is slide off. This white pin was so tight I was afraid it would break while muscling it off. I spent 20 minutes gingerly trying to pry it out, until I finally got fed up and gave it good a tug and it popped free without breaking -- what luck. Fishing the wires through the dash / fuse area and down behind the passenger kick panel trim was easy. There was one mistake in the instructions on which wire to tap, it should be the green wire with black strip AND SILVER DOTS. Finally the plastic cover that comes in the install kit secures to the rain sensing element to cover the mirror mount and wiring could not be more complicated to install. If you are good with a rubik’s cube (I’m not), you might be able to figure it out. With some patients, I did manage to install the trim without messing up the rain sensing element. You remove the back half of the plastic cover, exposing the circuit card assembly to add a black cover and snap all the pieces back together while lining up on the plastic tabs of the lens glued to the back of the windshield -- An unbelievable amount of risk to potentially screwing up a bunch of expensive items for a simple cover that could have easily been designed not to involve the sensing element at all. Snap everything back together and calibrate the compass - cake. The dimming works great and the compass is a nice feature the GPS neglected to have on the screen.
In hindsight, since there are only two wires (+12 IGN and ground) to run the compass dimming mirror, you can probably get away without the install kit, and reuse the black plastic mirror cover that comes in the car with the stock mirror. If your handy with a dremel you can likely carve out a path for the wire and skip messing around with the rain sensing element secured to the back of the windshield. I haven’t tried this, just my 2c.
Here are some pictures for those still interested.
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