Mirrors. Shiny reflective things, unused by many a motorist.

A week has passed since the marvellousness of an MOT pass. I sit here, with Dexy's Midnight Runners playing on Spotify and contemplating mirrors.

When I bought the Arnage the door mirrors had stick on mirrors over the top of the originals. Very well fitted, so no issue there. However, they didn't look quite right. I have been keeping an eye out for replacements almost since day one.

Hands up if you know what aspheric means? I didn't know until I found out that the Arnage was fitted with these very things "aspheric mirrors". Now, thinking it through I should have realised that it means a mirror that is not spherical, or more specifically has a profile that is not part of a sphere (or cylinder). I thought it was because they dim to avoid glare. Apparently not.

Anyway, I looked online in the usual places for replacements and to my astonishment and amazement which bordered on stupification (brownie points if you know where that phrase is from) found that they cost £233 each and are not even brand new! I suspect there are no new ones left. Never fear I am sure a couple will turn up. Fast forward a period in time equal to the gestation period of a human and I decided to buy a couple of replacements, with the heated bit but not with the dimming bit (which seemed elusive). After some research it transpires that the mirrors are Audi, as pointed out by "Josh's World" on YouTube (a good set of Arnage videos there if you haven't discovered them already). Specifically Audi A8 (also A6 and A4 models too I believe, depending on the model year). I took the plunge and spent £16 on two mirrors for an Audi A8 (1998).

WRONG. Being the idiot that I am I didn't do my research properly and when received they were the wrong size. Poop.

Last week I was once again looking and a nice man on one of the Bentley Facebook groups, thanks Paul Brown, kindly pointed out that I need the slightly later 1999-2002 mirrors. I duly ordered a set, fortunately the same price as the others at a little over £8 each and before you could say "stupid Bentley owner" they arrived.

I wasted no time in fitting them, in fact so little time that I even forgot to take any pictures of the process, so all you get is an "after" pic. However, the process to change is amazingly simple. You can, if you wish follow the official workshop guide which tells you to remove the two screws from the housing (underneath) and then remove the lower cover before angling the mirror and pushing gently from the back. Seemed simple enough. Quick. Straightforward.

I opted for my tried and tested method. Angle the mirror downward, get a curved trim remover and gently tug the mirror. They came off easily.

Now, behind the mirror there are two sets of wires. Two wires are spade connectors for the heating element and then there is a small flat plug for the dimmer. As this was no longer needed I tucked this away inside the housing so that, in future, it can be reused. Once the wires had been disconnected it became clear that the replacement stick on ones had been put on at some point because water had got into the original glass - the dimmer looks like it needs some sort of layering and once full of water affected the mirror quality. I am not sure why they didn't get Audi replacements, but I suppose they may just not have known.

The replacement was simply fitted but connecting the heating wires and then simply clipping it on to the adjuster in the housing. Total time for both mirrors, approximately 6 minutes.

The final result is this - note that the original mirrors had a black rubber finisher round the outside of the mirror which could not be saved as age seemed to have perished them enough that they started to break up on removal. Maybe this contributed to the water ingress, I am not sure.

I'm very pleased with the mirrors. Sure they don't dim, but the stick on ones I had on didn't either. Purists may well be, at this very moment, wringing their hands and muttering "no, no, no!" but everything is still there and should a future owner decide to spend £466 on two mirrors, that will be up to them and the gubbins (technical term) is all there.

Of not over the past week is the realisation that I will never get round to cleaning the headlight covers, so it will be off to a man that can in the not too distant future.

So that's about all for this week. Apart from a good clean, followed overnight by rain that left even more crap on it than before I washed it, nothing much has happened. I'm still loving the Turtlewax Hybrid Ceramic coating, as hosing off the dirt is very easy for a quick wash and go, if needed.

Any questions, then please do get in touch. Check out the various Bentley groups too if you are interested in discussions of all sorts - "Bentley Arnage and Rolls Royce Silver Seraph", "Rolls Royce and Bentley Cars Topics, Faults and Resolutions", "Bentley Owners Club" and many more that you will find as you look into these groups.

Next week; Wheels; do they have to be round?