Aero Convex Passenger Side Mirror

My experience has been that Stoddard & NLA parts appear to be coming  from the same company….depending what coast you call from ( or the 1800 # you call… east or west coast)  as  they ship from one of multiple wherehouses they both seem to share.    Years ago they operated separately ( east coast vs west coast)…. But last decade or so years they appear to be interchangeable.   Both are licensed by “P”: and sell a complete catalog of parts, and use the same part numbers.

Sierra Madre (SMC) tends to purchase a significant number of their P car parts ( per my experience) from stoddard/NLA… their parts often come in the stoddard/NLA baggies with their markings on the labels.   On the SMC web, part numbers trend to be the same, with SMC at the beginning of the p/n.

parts I have ordered from Pelican seem to come in bags labeled with either stoddard or NLA labels/barcode stickers.

i tend to chase lowest price for these type of parts or discount coupons/sales from either NLA, Stoddard or SMC…. Depending who has the part in stock when I call.

i have purchased several aero convex  over the years ( mirror only, not full assembly w/ body mount… mostly because of vandalism replacement needs, one because of a rock strike from a truck tire highway incident… I drive my car regularly and leave it parked in public lots/ streets often).   First from NLA, second from Stoddard, third from SMC ( depending on sale coupon and availability)…. All came in the same box with same NLA/Stoddard part number markings.   They all appear to be Chinese made with the German stamped markings….. but work well and chrome has held up well.

hwppy shopping.

@Lfepardo Thanks for the information.

I make and sell a mirror that will work better than the Aero mirror. It mounts to your windshield frame in minutes, doesn't require any  holes to be drilled, is useable with the top up and side curtains on, mounts on the right or left and comes in flat or convex.  There are a few people on this site that are using them who might post a photo of it in its actual position for you..........Bruce

I have posted this before but suffice it to say that I have never felt the need to have a convex passenger side mirror, using this method in all my cars really helps to eliminate the blind spot.

Of course if you have Blind spot avoidance in your DD, you might not need it.

adjust mirrors to eliminate blind spot

@IaM-Ray posted:

I have posted this before but suffice it to say that I have never felt the need to have a convex passenger side mirror, using this method in all my cars really helps to eliminate the blind spot.

Of course if you have Blind spot avoidance in your DD, you might not need it.

Ray, good tip! Most people don't adjust their mirrors the correct way. Having driven a truck for 30 years with no central mirror, I automatically look all the time. I scan every few seconds, both mirrors, gauges, road.

It really annoys me to have the car tell me someone is there when I already know!

I wish I could turn it off, like: auto stop/start, automatic braking, lane departure, adaptive cruise control, rear cross traffic alert, and lane keep assist. Thankfully, I can either not use all of the above or turn them off.

I REALLY wish I could turn off the blind spot thing. I always know where everyone is around me.

I'll echo Danny's comments on the techno-nannies with the exception of active cruise.  I fell in love with it on the recent Tour de Smo'.  The car doesn't steer itself, thank goodness, but it does adjust speed to traffic.

Well, there is a way to turn OFF, the auto start stop, I have done that on two of my VW’s as I got fed up of being at a turn and having to add 1-2 secs for the engine to engage.  Absolutely dangerous IMO.

My new Silverado 1500 diesel monster truck has a lane departure system, but not blind spot monitoring. As a car-guy, I want to hate it... but I just don't. I rather like it. Jeanie's Pacifica has blind-spot monitoring but not lane departure warning, and I find it kind of irritating.

But it is the start/stop systems on anything newer than 2018 that are instruments of evil straight from the pit of hell. My 2018 Transit Connect doesn't have it, but the '22 does.

I have an Autostop Eliminator on the Pacifica and had one on the (now traded) F150 monster truck (lite), both of which came equipped with this idiotic nonsense, but on the Cheby monster truck I need to tear half the dash apart to install the hardware. I'm learning to just mash the stupid delete button every time I start the truck, but it's a hassle I don't want or need in my life.

Mostly, I'd just like a word with whoever thought this was a good idea. Start/stop is proof that "the gubment" (as it's been called here) is staffed by morons. This saves exactly nothing -- the fact that anybody needs this explained to them makes me despair regarding the general intelligence of humanity.

Ask me how I really feel.

$13 on aliexpress …

$89 from a company that actually provides installation literature and a warranty.

Yes of course, it really just needs to trigger the switch so I just needed a circuit that kept the memory but I paid $90 for my suv for the same reasons as you did.  but the $13 works on the other car was a trial and it has been working since March without a hitch…

I guess I'm lucky.  BMW thought to make the nannies disable-able (like my new word?).  In any sport mode the auto-stop is disabled by default and there is a convenient button to turn it off in the other modes.  Lane departure is limited to a configurable steering wheel vibration and blind spot warning is just a small light in the side mirror meant to draw your attention.  Anti-collision braking is easily configured as well.  They haven't completely forgotten that they're building driver's cars.  All in all, not bad.

Hey Stan, how do you really feel?

Lane, I would hope any car with sporting intentions would have a disable for all the CRAP.

I can turn it all off on the Suby, with the exception of blind spot monitoring. The Crosstrek isn't exactly a "sporting conveyance". It is comfy, rides and handles well, though. Overall, we love it.

The annoying thing(and yes I could easily buy/fabricate a bypass) is that you have to disable the auto stop-start "feature" every time you start the car. My wife doesn't want me to disable the start-stop because the car is under warranty still(yeah, yeah, yeah). My hands are tied at this time.

The other REALLY annoying thing is having to disable the automatic braking(which has activated on me three times when there was zero danger of hitting anything). You know when someone is turning right and slows down and you get a little closer to them but there is plenty of room and you know they'll clear the lane so you're fine? That is precisely when the system over-reacts and slams the brakes on. REALLY ANNOYING! This one doesn't have a permanent disable option.

So now, the procedure is get in, brake pedal, push start button on right on the dash, disable start-stop on left by dash light dimmer, reach up by sunroof to disable automatic braking. Every single time I get in.

The good thing is all the other stuff either stays disabled or you simply don't turn it on, ever. Imagine my surprise though on the interstate when I accidentally touched the lane assist button but a) didn't know I turned it on and b) that the car even had the "feature"!

Sorry for the thread drift.

Now, get OFF my lawn, and take your nannies with you!

I'm happy to drive a WRX.  It has so few automatic functions - blind spot, and automatic high beams (if I want it).

Otherwise, it's just me, and that's the way I like.

Well we are committed to keeping our cars until they fall apart hopefully never… or to buy something used if you must to replace them.
the nanny state cars  sold…. go along with the zero meat by 2030 agenda the 15 minute cities etc etc

the now religion

I hear you and agree with you, Danny.  Pam's Outback is very nice in many ways, but its nannies are overly aggressive (e.g., the automatic braking)  and always default to ON DAMMIT! mode.

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We last went shopping for a 'utility' car at the end of 2019, so 2020 model year.

I wanted a bare bones, bottom-feeding econobox for Costco runs, local errands, and freeway droning. It had to be small (or what passes for 'small' today), Japanese, hatchback, and, if at all possible, manual box. And no nanny stuff. None.

The only thing available that checked all those boxes was the absolute base model Suby Impreza. Any Subaru above base had the nannies. Honda, Toyota, and Mazda offered only one hatch each with a stick, and all of those had at least a few nannies. One more plus for the Suby was a handbrake that was still a hand brake, not some unmarked button you search for as the middle pedal goes all the way to the floor on a dark and stormy night.

Apparently, I was just in time. The next year, even the base Impreza got the nannies. (How cost effective could it be to sell only one low-volume model configured differently than the rest of the entire fleet?)

So, I guess I must be driving a very rare car. Like the Speedster, this was the loss-leader stripper model. And just like MY Speedy, it has a two-liter, flat four boxer engine, too.

Maybe I should stop driving it and put it in a barn somewhere. It could be worth six figures some day. I doubt that I'll ever do any extensive modding for track days.

They're only original once.

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I got a 2020 GTI with DSG and no nannies, no lane avoidance except auto start/stop, still have a hand...brake. Got a wire device to get rid of the start stop...  Heaven.  We subsequently got two 2019 vw.. same situations.

My 2018 GTi has stop start.  It really doesn't bother me.  It restarts in the time it takes me to move my foot from the brake to the gas pedal.

It started behaving differently when I got a new battery.

For daily driving I don’t mind the nannies as long as they can be turned of easily.  If I were retired I probably wouldn’t want them, but for us warriors there are still working full-time and driving in or near big city; they can come in handy.