Something very strange just happened to my door mirror

My wife moved my car the other day so the mirrors were off. So this morning I got in and adjusted the mirrors. No problem, I can see fine. I set off to work, the mirrors are still fine. 3-4 miles into my commute I have a couple of roundabouts. Coming into the first I'm int he left of two lanes so I go to check my right hand mirror to see if anyone is there and the mirror is black! At first i think it's fallen out, then once through the roundabout I look more closely. I can still see the 'Objects in mirror are closer than they appear' logo, I can see some fine cracks and the surface looks wavy. On getting to work I take a close look and these pics. It sort of reminds me of a burnt credit card or old old thermal copier paper. WTF has happened here? Anyone seen this before?

Are they heated mirrors?

Aliens

It's an auto-dimming mirror and something's gone wrong with it. Try disconnecting the battery and see if it goes back to normal.

mazdeuce wrote: Are they heated mirrors?

The mirrors on my moms 99 Taurus did this. One of the heater wires insulation cracked, and it burned out the mirror, looked a lot like this.

The mercury separated off the back of the glass, if I had to GUESS.

It appears that it's time to buy a replacement glass from Rock Auto.

revrico wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: Are they heated mirrors?

The mirrors on my moms 99 Taurus did this. One of the heater wires insulation cracked, and it burned out the mirror, looked a lot like this.

If they're heated mirrors, this is your answer. Happened to me on my Saab 9-5.

Auto dimming element shorted and fried the liquid inside. I've seen it plenty of times, usually not that cooked though.

Is the glass still there? I've had the glass fall off multiple old Saabs thanks to the heating elements cooking the glue.

What car, not the mkc I hope..

"Objects in mirror are made of dark matter".

bluej wrote: What car, not the mkc I hope..

Nope, it's myour 08 Volvo C30. The MkC was my company car and was replaced by an Explorer Spot last June.

I didn't realize I had heated mirrors. I'll have to check the wiring when I get a new glass.

G_Body_Man wrote: It appears that it's time to buy a replacement glass from Rock Auto.

I'm too attached to this car. I'll pay double for the OEM glass from volvo as I'm stupid

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Only double? I'll have what you're having...

(I bet it's more than that!)

I thought C30s only had auto-dimming interior mirrors, not wings too.

I'm surprised the glass didn't come loose and fall out from the heated mirror getting shorted. On my Subarus at least the only thing holding the glass in is a butyl gasket and a piece of two-sided tape.

The heat gun I used to take the cracked glass out sure didn't do that to it.

Crazy stuff, glad nothing worse happened.

Apparently your mirror said "420 blaze it"

In reply to GSmith:

$60 from Rock Auto or $90 for the OEM part from IPD. Not bad actually.

Flaming mirrors - knew the C30 was fast but...