[LRCXed]

OK guys, I need some help with you're experiences on buying OEM mirrors from Honda. I bought one from a guy on eBay for my GL500I project that was still in the factory box. He is liquidating a dealership that closed up. ALL the mirrors he has have a stamped symbol and #'s stamped in the chrome casing. All the factory originals don't have this. So my question is this. Have any of you ever ordered a replacement mirror that came with this stamp? The seller, Rich, has very graciously refunded my money due to my questioning him on this issue. We have both worked to find out if the new mirrors all come this way now or if Honda has bought aftermarket mirrors and packaged them as their own.

I'm sending him the link to this post so he can follow along. He's a bike enthusiast as well as we are so his interest in this is so he can sell the mirrors he has remaining with the appropriate information in his listings.



You're help with this would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks in advance for you're input!

Larry

 

[Casey Stangle]

Interesting. I also bought a mirror from Rich, a different part number. I have not received it yet, but will let you know what happens. BTW, that is one humungus camera you have!

 

[lucky]

Interesting. I also bought a mirror from Rich, a different part number. I have not received it yet, but will let you know what happens. BTW, that is one humungus camera you have!

sorry to thread jack right now but if you know larry he doesnt do anything half assed with him its go big or go home......



and now back to your regular scheduled thread postings

 

[marshallf3]

I can't say I've ever seen one that was stamped unless some law came along about safety glass or something - same reason our car windshields have all that writing on them now.

 

[LRCXed]

Thanks gsting, what mirror did you buy?

I just realized that this picture has the first image even close to taking a picture of myself. LOL Yes it is big. It's a D200 Nikon. But it does a great job on pictures if I can hold it steady enough from it weighing so much. It's what I used when I did the pictures in the carb rebuild book.



I sure hope more guys chime in on this that have bought OEM mirrors.

 

[LRCXed]

Lucky, since you're here then I know were at least in a partially regular thread!



Marshall, that's what I am starting to think. It's just too bad we don't know how long the mirrors he's liquidating have been sitting on the shelf of the closed dealership. It would help to know how long ago, if they did, that the stamped mirrors started coming out.

 

[Trickster]

Larry, I would call a Honda Parts Manager or 2 and get their opinion, since they sell them.



I am going to say those are knockoffs.

 

[LRCXed]

I did just that trick. They didn't know anymore than what the outside of the box looked like. And nobody else has ever mentioned anything about the stamps if they did order one.

Thanks for the vote.

 

[Interstater]

The factory original mirrors on my '99 Honda Valkyrie have similar marks on their backsides. It looks like that same oval emblem and a "made in Japan". The Valk mirrors don't have that long string of characters though.



I think the mirrors you bought are likely from Honda. For some reason they started marking them.

 

[DaveF]

I've recently purchased replacement mirrors from Honda that also have this marking. The quality, optics, etc of the replacements appear to be identical to the originals without the marking.



I don't know if Honda makes their own mirrors or if they purchase them from suppliers.

 

[marshallf3]

and a "made in Japan"



Then that part might have to do with the laws that came into effect some years back in the U.S. re3quiring "country of origin" to be clearly marked on quite a few classifications of items - they even dictate whee the marking has to be made.



Cost us a fortune at our business going through the change, we may have stock from several years back that is all the sudden reordered and we've got to pull every product out and put a sticker on the lable - front side of the label at that.



Why don't they just leave crap alone? If something actually still is made in the U.S. you can bet the manufacturer is proud enough to label it themselves.

 

[LRCXed]

Thank you guys for the verification I needed. I guess it's time to find and buy a right side mirror to match the one I bought from Rich.



Marshall, thanks for the explanation. It makes sense now. There had to be a financial gain it it for someone by making the markings a requirement. Deep pockets of the government! I don't understand though why those cheap ebay replicas don't have markings on them. I got one about a year ago and that one had no stamp. Loopholes I guess.



Dave, I think it's probably a sublet supplier that's making them, and making sure everyone knows they made it by putting their MS mark on it instead of Honda's name.

 

[Casey Stangle]

This is the listing from e-bay.



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0484125102&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

[marshallf3]

I'd say about 95% of what we design and have manufactured goes out as "branded" for the particular store chains involved. Very litle actually has our name as the supplier but everything must have a "Country of Origin" indicated on the FRONT side of the label as well as a "contents" listing that can be anywhere. On every new design we even have to have lead and other tests run even if the product was manufactured using identical materials used in products of different visual design. We, and a group of otherr manufacturers that design & manufacture the same type of product all banded together and tried to fight congress over the lead testing issues as by nature none of the materials have or have never been incontact with lead since the beginning of time but we all lost out on that one.



One of these days I'll describe what we do, it's a huge industry segment that's rarely ever even thought about but virtually everyone uses these products on a daily basis.

 

[greghoro]

Just wondering. Do they have flat glass or is the glass a bit convex so you have a wider field of view? The originals came slightly convex but I've read that these are no longer legal and they sell just the flat glass replacements. At least the new, non-OEM ones on eBay are advertised in that manner.



Greg

 

[LRCXed]

The mirror I got is the convex type just like the originals.

 

[InWeldingWeTrust]

I suspect all replacement mirrors will now have some stamping on them those shown are clearly made in japan, but to conform to UK VCA E11 Automotive requirements. OEM factory fit items may well still not as they will be covered under the models whole vehicle type approval number coding, but replacement mirrors (even from the manufacturer themselves) will be capable of fitting many models so will have to show they conform to one form of standard or other and may either be UK, Euro, Inmetro, or Jatma marked

 

[marshallf3]

I suspect all replacement mirrors will now have some stamping on them

It's getting bad. Buy a can of Planter's dry-roast peanuts and it says "processed in a facility that processes nuts"



Buy a store brand can of green beans and the ingedient list is in Spanish first, then English even though they were packed in the USA.

 

[Casey Stangle]

I received my mirror today. It was an exact replacement and also had the same markings.

 

[Interstater]

I did a little more sluething.

If you look closely at the little oval mark on the newer mirror you will see that it contains an "M" superimposed on top of an "S". That is a corporate mark for Matsuyama, apparently one of Honda's preferred providers for mirrors and auto glass for quite awhile. I would bet they made the original mirrors for our bikes, they just didn't mark them back then.