Does anyone know anything about this? A couple months ago, the driver side mirror of my IS250 developed a black spot and it has been growing ever since. What is it?? I could not find anything anywhere on the internet. It's almost like I'm the ONLY one who's having this problem. Do I have to replace the entire assembly, or just the mirror? I also could not find a replacement assembly for it that has auto dimming, heating, flood light, memory and BSD. I could only find ones without memory and BSD.

Help! It's rapidly growing now and I need to fix it ASAP.

 

You can just replace the glass...no need to replace the entire mirror.

Here's the mirror part number: 87940-53800-C0 (this mirror is for a black IS...assuming your car is black) @$700
Glass part number: 87961-33B30 (for glass with BSM) @$400

I'm sure if you search around on eBay and the like you can find the glass cheaper. Glass is super easy to change.

You see those spots a lot on BMS mirrors...the electrochromic glass starts to deteriorate and the blue mirror starts to turn gold/bronze.
Never seen it happen on an IS before. Did the mirror glass get chipped or damaged somehow?

 

This used to happen in the BMW world. apparently due to some chemical inside due to the heated mirror feature. You would likely have to replace the glass. It is very very expensive even used. over $300 IIRC. maybe $400.

there's been a couple others posting this lately.

Sorry man. things are heating up for us 3IS owners in terms of problems (no pun intended)

 

This is the first person I've seen report this...unless on another Lexus vehicle chat this has happened with a model that uses the same mirror as the IS.
Having said that, if it was that common we would have seen more posts about this already.
The glass could have also been damaged and that caused this to happen...try and leave an open mind to all possibilities.

This is quite common on BMW's (like you said) cause the mirrors are crap...and the mirrors are German!! What ya think about that @E46CT ?

 

Crap! None of the responses sound good so far :-(

This isn't covered by the warranty? I have 65k miles on it now. I was shocked to hear that just the mirror glass costs over $300. This sucks! There hasn't been any damage to it as far as I know. It just happened randomly a little over a month ago and I had no idea how. But it does make sense now that it all started from a very specific spot at the bottom and it just grew from there in a circle. Probably something hit that spot really hard and did some damage on the inside but I wouldn't know. I bought it at 40k miles, so I have no way of knowing if it occurred before or after.

 

It's been a while since I was checking in around here since I bought mine last February. Things are heating up for 3IS owners in regards to problems eh? Is there a list somewhere?

 

yeah posted it the other day. we're noticing 1-3 problem threads a day come in. usually electronics related. just keeping track and given many of us are nearing the end of a lease, it's good to consider whether or not we want to keep the cars or get another.

 

Well that does me no good as I bought mine used at 40k miles. Kind of a downer because I've been really enjoying it since I got it and I planned to keep it until it dies. Sure there are quirks and whatnot, but no major problems aside from the mirror. Also had a couple flats but I know it's part of having a car with low profile wheels and living in the Northeast with all the potholes.

 

You should be fine. The powertrains are pretty solid. it's just stuff like radios, amps, door actuators and apparently the glass. and some headlight stuff. 2014 and 2015 models tend to be taking the heaviest hits electronics wise.

this is where it will be good to be savvy, use ebay for used replacement parts, and learn to wrench if you don't know how.

same S we had to do back in the day on the BMW forums. that's how I got decent around working on cars. out of necessity, avoiding dealer costs

the bmw 3 series (e46) was also extremely strong and robust powertrain wise. just the accessories and do-dads like we see here. now the IS is being passed the torch

 

Yeah that is certainly good to know. That was why I picked Lexus - I knew its powertrain is rock solid and should last as long as the car lasts. Although one shouldn't discount the electronics issues because they are obviously $$$ to fix and they all add up! Still love Lexus and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one after this! Great brand and a pure joy to drive!

 

Thanks everyone! As per usual, I knew I could always count on all of you in this great forum and community ;-)

 

Sorry the torch will never be "passed" from any German car to Lexus in terms of reliability. You are seeing a few issues cropping up on cars that are now 4-5 years old. Go to any of the German 3 forums and you have post after post about issues with brand new cars. You're just starting to sound stupid now...

 

It's all good man. Just the reality of nice toys. The reliability tends to be less than say a Corolla. You have to pay to play sometimes.

and yeah some of the components are very expensive to replace even used. AMP=$500, headlight=$400, mirror glass=$300. i suspect some of the electronics can be fixed component-level but nobody's been brave enough to attempt it so far. with time the community usually finds a fix.

And I will just start to ignore any attacks or irrelevant off topic stuff.

 

I first noticed this ring on my driver's side mirror in the Fall (about three or four months ago). It started in the bottom middle but has been spreading horizontally to the right. Always starts with a faint blueing (you'll see it to the right) and then seems to erode the glass altogether. It is running along the bottom seam which i thought might perhaps be due to water/snow/salt getting in, so thought about putting a silicone bead or rubber cement to try and quell it. Then I saw the original post in this thread and see his ring spread vertically so doubt a sealant will work. I guess I'll live with this until it obstructs my view, then spend the $$ to replace the glass.

 

That looks like the mirror is decaying. Looks like something is living in it.

*Mirror mites*