Wobz

[holyc0w]

So many people set their side mirror to see the side of their car “for reference”. I can understand where people come from when they’re learning how to drive but once you set mirrors this way, you get used to it within a week of pointless shoulder checks. As my racing instructor told me, mirrors don’t lie and since when did the side of my car come out to hit me?

I think I'll change my settings. I set my side mirrors so they are right on the side of the car (can't see from the driving position, but a little movement left or right will show the side). There is a bit of time before the the other cars reappear in the side mirror, and a bit of neck movement when changing lanes. Might be interested in the aspheric glass.

[ZHPizza]

I set my side mirrors so as a car beside me leaves my center rearview mirror, it comes into the side mirror. As the vehicle leaves the side mirror it’s already in my peripheral vision. My mirrors hardly duplicate anything behind making them perfectly effective against hitting something solid from a lane change or even turning right where there are pedestrian crosswalks. This allows me to swerve lanes if I ever had to without needing to turn my head the check if the space is clear beside me, saving milliseconds where a crash might occur.

So many people set their side mirror to see the side of their car “for reference”. I can understand where people come from when they’re learning how to drive but once you set mirrors this way, you get used to it within a week of pointless shoulder checks. As my racing instructor told me, mirrors don’t lie and since when did the side of my car come out to hit me?

I think I'll change my settings. I set my side mirrors so they are right on the side of the car (can't see from the driving position, but a little movement left or right will show the side). There is a bit of time before the the other cars reappear in the side mirror, and a bit of neck movement when changing lanes. Might be interested in the aspheric glass.

With the aspherical glass, you get the best of both worlds. You still see your car 'for reference' and the outside edge shows all the way to your peripheral. No blind spots.

[704sw]

I like the spatial awareness, but I absolutely hate backing up with them. I will not be putting Euro glass on my M3 mirrors.

[johnrando]

Sorry about the mirror BP

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[az3579]

I'm not a fan either... And I used to drive trucks for a living. Much harder to judge distance to the object behind you... IDK maybe its the glass I got but the whole mirror seems to make everything smaller...not just the outside portion.

It's different driving a truck versus a car, though. When driving a car, you have a rearview mirror to handle seeing what's behind you in the distance. The side mirrors can then be used for checking to see what's next to your car. If used like this, distance doesn't matter when looking at the sideview because you already looked in the rearview for distance judgement.

I think the common reason people don't like them is because they're not using them the way they're intended to be used. I never have to look at the blind spot section for more than a split second, and that's not enough time to cause a headache. I primarily look at the main area of the mirror, and my peripheral handles looking at the blind spot since it's not that far from where my eyes are focusing. When I'm ready to make a lane change, I look in the rearview first to see who may be in that lane behind me, then I quickly glance at the sideview and make my move. It makes for super fast and safe lane changes. It also helps that I can sometimes see two lanes over in my blind spot!

Being able to see two lanes over actually saved my ass the other day. The lack of magnification on the glass as well as the aspherical section of it allowed me to quickly detect that the person two lanes over was trying to merge into the middle lane at the same time I was, and I was able to pick it up and swerve back over. The stock mirrors have some kind of magnification, so I wouldn't have been able to see that whole scene unfold in the small space of the glass.

I set my side mirrors so as a car beside me leaves my center rearview mirror, it comes into the side mirror. As the vehicle leaves the side mirror it’s already in my peripheral vision.

This is how I set mirrors on cars that don't have aspherical glass, which usually means setting the mirrors all the way out, or almost all the way out, to get the desired effect. This is a problem, however, because...

So many people set their side mirror to see the side of their car “for reference”. I can understand where people come from when they’re learning how to drive but once you set mirrors this way, you get used to it within a week of pointless shoulder checks. As my racing instructor told me, mirrors don’t lie and since when did the side of my car come out to hit me?

Setting your mirrors to have a little bit of the side of your car is immensely useful for all the times you have to park next to a curb. Nobody is going to want to sit there and adjust the mirrors all the way back in again. I'm of those who uses the reverse mirror tilt religiously but want to limit the mirror movements as much as I can to prolong the life of the extremely expensive mirror motor, which is why I have my mirror tilt set to a custom setting halfway between normal and the factory-default of all the way down when I put my car into reverse. The tilt function is an extremely useful tool for not curbing my wheels and use it every time I back into a parking space (to judge where the line is) and when parking next to a curb. With the aspherical glass, I get the best of both worlds; no blind spot and purely an up/down movement from the mirror when reversing instead of having to go back in and down.

You're right; mirrors don't lie, which is why I want as much usable space on the mirror glass as possible! It's like the difference between a high resolution and a lower resolution on the same aspect ratio monitor. It's the same physical real-estate, but the high resolution being a lot more usable.

I like the spatial awareness, but I absolutely hate backing up with them. I will not be putting Euro glass on my M3 mirrors.

Why do you hate backing up with them? Whatever line or curb you're using as a reference should be in the main field of view, not the edges; if it's on the edges, you're probably too far away from the curb.

[nextelbuddy]

I don't have any spare Motors in left unfortunately sorry man. I'm going through an issue right now where I keep blowing driver side Motors. I had four spare driver side Motors and I burn through three of them. I can't figure out what keeps killing them. Always driver side never passenger and my fuses are always good. I can use them no problem for a whole complete day adjusting power fold up and down. The next day I go to use them and they don't work. Starting to get a bit irritating and frustrating now.

[ELCID86]

Good discussion. Sorry for your woes BP. I’m a long time fan of aspherical sides as well.

[Sockethead]

Everybody has their own preferences. Whatever works for you may not work for the next person. I drove vehicles without back windows for so long that I never rely on the rear view mirror plus, my back window is tinted pretty dark.
We have a backup camera in the MDX... the only time I use it is to get the boat on the hitch. I'm just old school when it comes to mirrors and backing up..

[WOLFN8TR]

Hey BP I went out to the shooting range yesterday with a friend of mine that works at BMW, turns out he is the parts guy. Let me know if you want me to find out what he can get the parts for.

[Karl Lazlo]

Hey BP I went out to the shooting range yesterday with a friend of mine that works at BMW, turns out he is the parts guy. Let me know if you want me to find out what he can get the parts for.

Enough of that noise. Where did you go shooting?