bullet mirror - Achtungkraft

[wrxnofx]

Originally Posted by robblr

a steal at $4,400

What the absolute F?! $4,000? Are these magic mirrors? Are they made of platinum?

[shoooo32]

Wait what? The Carbone mirrors are $4,000?!?

The entire idea of the Achtungkraft mirrors was to replace the heavy flag mirrors on impact bumper cars with something nicer without having to weld/repaint the car. I think Bryan charges $800/set, which is more than fair for billet mirrors made to a high standard with amazing visibility. Bryan is a friend, but my bias ends when it comes to functionality. I've been running these mirrors for four years (roughly 40k miles) and you'd have to fight me to take them off. Visibility is that good.

Note, my car is the one pictured in an earlier post (with the stripes). Half the photos show my earlier mirror setup, which was Vitaloni's bolted to my original white factory flag bases. They looked okay but you couldn't see anything out of them.

As for Carbone, $4k is laughable. At that price I'm welding up the door holes, repainting and running chrome flags.

[brasch]

Thanks Tony, we strive to design beautiful, functional and high-quality parts, at a reasonable prices that we would be willing to pay for all the above (Internally We Call it "REMOVE THE PORSCHE TAX") that work for anyone wanting to drive their cars as they were intended to.

Sorry we have been so busy it is hard to stay engaged on all the platforms, but thought I should weigh in. Our Base set of Flag Mirror Replacements are currently $650 a set and we are on our 4th iteration, we keep tweaking based on more miles and feedback from all of you.

For all the questions on the mirrors, here are some thoughts:

1) Our Convex Mirrors are custom made to our specifications, so that you have the best visibility with the least amount of distortion. WHY did we spend the time and money on this? Because we have spent literally 10,000 of thousands of miles driving our old air-cooled cars and we need to have the best visibility for all types of driving.

2) Original Talbots and others, while really inexpensive, are useless on an old 911. We have a backdate in the shop, you can barely see anything with them, NOT SAFE IMHO. But they look the part.

3) BUY and TRY We are DIY/Porsche nuts like you all and honestly sometimes you just need to try out a part and see if it works for your needs. So as long as people do not damage anything, if they buy our mirrors and don't fall in love, we take them back, no restock fees, experience is the best test.

4) Electric vs Manual Adjustment this is one i did not see in the thread, but comes up often from people. We chose to keep ours manual, for now, to reduce complexity and cost. But also we have found selling 100's of sets that most of our old 911's are driven by one person, meaning set and forget. So the added complexity and cost is not really needed. In v2 on we have added spring loaded front cone adjustments so that if needed the adjusting is easy for any new driver.

5) The original flag/chrome flag mirrors look decent on cars and we just wanted to offer an option that allows for some personalized flair.

Let us know if anyone has any questions,

[brasch]

Ohh and yes the NineEleven Outlaw mirrors that Carbone is selling are very nice looking, and expensive, but are amazing too.

IF YOU WANT TO SAVE $800+ USD buy direct from them, Carbone seems to be adding a CB Tax on Top (enough to buy our mirrors + some other parts too!!)

https://nineelevenoutlaw.com/collections/porsche-964-993

[Showdown]

rant/

I’m sorry, but Carbone is gross. Between their ridiculous conspicuous branding that renders their parts ugly and obnoxious (I’m also looking at you Rennline), a design style that’s not quite classic but not modern and ultimately confused, and prices that are comically insulting I really can’t understand the appeal.

I think carbone and rennline, aside from some nice pieces like phone mounts or adjustable pedals and carpet sets scream “I just bought a 911 and am “outlawing” it, woo-hoo!”

In short; boring and obvious.

/rant

[shoooo32]

I've pissed off a few people by saying that Rennline is the JC Whitney of Porsche parts. Tossing track mats and pedal covers in an otherwise stock Carrera don't make it a race car no more than the guy that put a chrome dress up kit on his Chevy 350.

To quote Dr. Porsche, “Change is easy. Improvement is far more difficult.”

[Gretz]

Agreed on the terribly obvious branding/logos of Carbone and Rennline. They both make some quality stuff but I don't understand who wants a bunch of logos all over their car.

I've not yet purchased anything from AK but I really like what I've seen. I may order a set of the bullet mirrors - $650 is a pretty reasonable price, especially when compared to the aforementioned vendors.

[rswannabe]

For those who want to run chrome flag mirrors, but have holes in their door that the chrome flag base won’t cover, there’s another option as well. There is a chrome flag for old bmw’s (1600’s, 2002’s, e21’s) that looks virtually identical to the Porsche flag, but the base is significantly longer and has wider spaced holes. Worked great on my ‘74.





Here is the BMW flag mirror (top) compared to the Porsche flag mirror (bottom).

[ssupman]

I have the AK mirrors on my car and am happy with the look but must admit that they are a little lacking when it comes to seeing as much as you do with the original flag mirrors. I would buy them again as I've adjusted to how I can best see out of them. Quality product IMO.

[shawn908]

Originally Posted by Showdown

rant/

I’m sorry, but Carbone is gross. Between their ridiculous conspicuous branding that renders their parts ugly and obnoxious (I’m also looking at you Rennline), a design style that’s not quite classic but not modern and ultimately confused, and prices that are comically insulting I really can’t understand the appeal.

I think carbone and rennline, aside from some nice pieces like phone mounts or adjustable pedals and carpet sets scream “I just bought a 911 and am “outlawing” it, woo-hoo!”

In short; boring and obvious.

/rant

This is a technical forum and a churlish comment as quoted above almost belies comment. Rennline is among the early and successful American companies innovating to produce American made parts for what are effectively antique German toys. I use Rennline parts, and seek American innovation. Do one off manufacturers always hit the mark? Who cares. Useless quibble about branding? WTF. Clear branding allows others to gain insight on origin of a part, perhaps leading them to purchase American made products. Rennline demonstrated there is room for creativity and opportunity to make money providing parts for enthusiasts. How many innovators risking capital are on this forum? A good number.

And adding /rant does not obviate the uselessness of the comment nor provide it license in a technical form.

[shamrok]

Originally Posted by Showdown

rant/

I’m sorry, but Carbone is gross. Between their ridiculous conspicuous branding that renders their parts ugly and obnoxious (I’m also looking at you Rennline), a design style that’s not quite classic but not modern and ultimately confused, and prices that are comically insulting I really can’t understand the appeal.

I think carbone and rennline, aside from some nice pieces like phone mounts or adjustable pedals and carpet sets scream “I just bought a 911 and am “outlawing” it, woo-hoo!”

In short; boring and obvious.

/rant

Agree the branding is obnoxious and the "outlaw" thing is tired, but they're also bringing new things to, until recently, a very stodgy purist crowd and I'm glad for it.

[David Inc.]

I like & have rennline's mechanical hood/trunk shocks, and their aluminum pedal board which is a nice, hidden replacement for stock. Not a fan of some of the other stuff that just adds non-period flash.

The mechanical struts are really nice, though, takes out that tendency for the engine lid to twist when closed.

[jrwilson]

Originally Posted by David Inc.

I like & have rennline's mechanical hood/trunk shocks, and their aluminum pedal board which is a nice, hidden replacement for stock.

Yes, I have them as well, plus the pedal boards (hidden by carpet) which are vastly superior to the warped wooden ones. I also have the smuggler's box cover which works better than stock for my CR A/C. I happen to think they look good too.

I think pissing on Rennline is pretty gatekeeping against "the one true Porsche owner".

[David]

Originally Posted by rswannabe

For those who want to run chrome flag mirrors, but have holes in their door that the chrome flag base won’t cover, there’s another option as well. There is a chrome flag for old bmw’s (1600’s, 2002’s, e21’s) that looks virtually identical to the Porsche flag, but the base is significantly longer and has wider spaced holes. Worked great on my ‘74.

Where did you buy them?

[shoooo32]

When guys would rather spend money on dress up parts and speed holes than common maintenance and safety items in the name of "outlaw", than yeah, I guess I'm a gatekeeper. I preach this stuff to help the new guy, not pull the ladder up behind me. Instead of those $2k LED headlights, buy relays and high watt bulbs and spend that money on new fuel lines and brake components. When a guy has fancy pedal covers but frayed 40 year old seat belts, I say something. I love customization and "making the car your own", but new folks seem to hyperfocus on the these cheap and easy mods before really knowing their car's actual needs.

[rswannabe]

Originally Posted by David

Where did you buy them?

Available in lots of places, but our host does not carry the kind I used (BMW flag mirror, not the BMW trapezoidal mirror). I think I got mine off of eBay. Here’s a link to some at Ireland Egineering (good BMW shop).

https://www.iemotorsport.com/product/rear-view-flag-style-side-mirror-2002/

Be aware, they are left side and right side specific.

This eBay store seems to have left and right side (the Ireland link above only has left side).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-2002-1600-320i-323i-STAINLESS-FLAG-mirror-RIGHT-NEW-/122846581718?_ul=IN

[tk32]

^ nice IE motorsports folks are good people with quality parts in my experience

[rswannabe]

Originally Posted by tk32

^ nice IE motorsports folks are good people with quality parts in my experience

Agreed.

[pmax]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Singer or clone ?

[3literpwr]

Here is my $80 solution. Two Raydot replicas at 40 bucks each and a little sheetmetal fab'ed part with two way tape as it's mount.