Manually folding power folding mirrors

I went to the car wash today and the guy folded in my mirror before I could press the button, everything seems to be fine, it made a pop when I pressed the button the first time afterwards since I'm thinking I probably should have manually unfolded it rather than pressing the button. Just wondering if this is something they are designed to handle or if it could harm them. Also curious if they can also bend forward if you push them forward. Also curious if anyone else has noticed that one mirror closes and opens faster than they other, for me my driver mirror takes longer.

 

The pop you heard was just the motor reengaging. It should be perfectly fine. On previously vehicles I’ve had that situation happen multiple times without issue.

When I had power folding tow mirrors on the tundra, one always opened/closed faster than the other. I had wired myself though, so always thought that could have been the cause of that.

 

They are made so that they can be manually moved (folded) backward and forward from the center detent as a "breakaway" function in case they're caught on a garage door frame or you bump them in passing. I've even had a couple occasions were when unfolding them, one can overshoot the detent (probably ice) and over extend. You just have to mess with them manually and they eventually sort themselves out. And mine don't move at the same speed either.

 

On the tow mirrors, they sit at different angles (to adjust for the fact the driver is not in the center of the vehicle) and so even if the motor moves at the same speed, one would close sooner than the other.

makes me wonder if the standard mirrors also sit at slightly different angles and we just don’t notice it as much because they are smaller...

 

You're worried about a carwash attendant folding your mirrors, when what you should be worried about is @War Machine having a heart attack when he finds out you put your truck through a commercial car wash.


In all seriousness, as stated by others, you should be fine. The mirrors are designed to fold up with a break away in the event of a tree, garage, mailbox, etc. being a bit too close. @RainMan_PNW is also correct about the different angles being the reason for one mirror finishing it's movement first. One simply has farther to go than the other.

 

Hahaha trust me, i normally wash, compound, polish, and wax in my driveway but with it getting dark so early I was pressed for time and decided to chance it just because I wanted to get the salt off from the random snow we had in October. I do still planned to clean it myself this week though.

 

Thanks for saving me in asking this question as the EXACT same scenario just happened to me today. I do wonder if it would have been better to manually pull the mirrors out to regular position instead of hitting the button. Might have saved that loud 'popping' sound that couldn't have been good on the plastic gears.