Mirrors, small round blind spot, use them?

Rdfish1

New member
Ive never had a vehicle with the small round attachment used to minimize blind spots. Do any of you use them on your 4runner? I like the idea of the new blind spot technology but my new 4runner doesnt have ot so i thought the mirrors might be a good option. Interested in your opinion on these and if there is a shape or brand that you gave found to work, that would be helpful.

Will post pics of the new ride later today
 
Register to hide this ad
I had some regular circle ones you can get from anywhere on a Frontier. I liked them. I think I had them on the top outside corner of the mirror.
 
9920e74c4ee3651efbeddf4e03e62b7c.jpg
 
I have them on both mirrors on both 4runners. The ones I have are more square with one corner rounded. Kind of tacky but it is functional. This is something that should just come standard on every vehicle.
 
I have them on my Tundra and pretty much only use them for backing into a parking spot. The 4R has the backup camera now so i dont think that i would really use them. if the mirrors are adjusted out properly you can see quite a bit to the sides.
 
Perhaps not a popular item. Ive never had a car with them but my father in law swears by them so i thought i would try. I might still pick up a set, they are cheap but maybe i wont be impressed. In part, without blind spot technology, i thought the mirrors might be a decent substitute
 
Try this. It will take a few days to get used to it but when the mirrors are adjusted this way you really have no blind spots. Sitting in your seat normally, move your head sideways until it is just touching the driver side window. Now adjust that side mirror until you can just make out the side of your vehicle in the driver's side mirror. Now move your head roughly over the center of your console and adjust the right side mirror the same way (this is not as critical because of the optics and wider view with the passenger mirror). Then return to your normal seating position. You can now see the areas to the right and left rear with a much wider coverage in the mirrors. If you look while in traffic you will see that a vehicle coming up on your driver's side will roll out of your inside mirror and into the driver's side mirror with a slight overlap. Same for the passenger side. As that vehicle comes up on you to the side it will just start to disappear from your side mirror at the same time it enters your peripheral vision, especially if you just turn your head slightly. You basically have full coverage from 3 - 9 o'clock around your car when taking your peripheral vision into account.

The only vehicles I have not been able to see 100% when adjusted this way have been motorcycles because they are just not long enough, so I just take extra care to keep an eye on them when one comes up behind me.

I will freely admit it makes it more difficult to back the car up with the outside mirrors adjusted this way, but I am willing to move my head to maintain rearward vision in the mirrors, and my old school self is getting more comfortable with the rearview camera.
 
I use them on two trucks I have with bed shells. They work and cost about $2 each. They are so small the image is tiny at any distance at all but in blind spot a vehicle is real close.
 
Ive used them on other vehicles and liked the added view it gave me. I considered them for my 4R, but decided against them as I didn't like the look of the mirrors with them stuck on there. I figured if I really felt the need I could add them , but after driving it awhile I don't think I need them. I have no trouble knowing who and what is around me. The back up cam and sonar fills in my blind spots anyway. The side mirrors as they are do a great job of close side viewing IMO.
 
Try this. It will take a few days to get used to it but when the mirrors are adjusted this way you really have no blind spots. Sitting in your seat normally, move your head sideways until it is just touching the driver side window. Now adjust that side mirror until you can just make out the side of your vehicle in the driver's side mirror. Now move your head roughly over the center of your console and adjust the right side mirror the same way (this is not as critical because of the optics and wider view with the passenger mirror). Then return to your normal seating position. You can now see the areas to the right and left rear with a much wider coverage in the mirrors. If you look while in traffic you will see that a vehicle coming up on your driver's side will roll out of your inside mirror and into the driver's side mirror with a slight overlap. Same for the passenger side. As that vehicle comes up on you to the side it will just start to disappear from your side mirror at the same time it enters your peripheral vision, especially if you just turn your head slightly. You basically have full coverage from 3 - 9 o'clock around your car when taking your peripheral vision into account.

The only vehicles I have not been able to see 100% when adjusted this way have been motorcycles because they are just not long enough, so I just take extra care to keep an eye on them when one comes up behind me.

I will freely admit it makes it more difficult to back the car up with the outside mirrors adjusted this way, but I am willing to move my head to maintain rearward vision in the mirrors, and my old school self is getting more comfortable with the rearview camera.

This is how I have my mirrors adjusted (heard it on a Click & Clack broadcast and was like "hell I'll try that!") and it works great! You move your head slightly (as you would to look to the sides of your vehicle when passing/turning, ect) and you see plenty around you.

I've never had an issue backing vehicles up with this mirror set-up combined with memorizing the four corners of my vehicle. Even works well in Box Trucks (though those are still tricky to back-up.)

With those stupid mini mirrors I always find them too small to be of any use and the distortion annoys me more than helps me. They seem more for uninformed/inexperienced drivers who do not have their mirrors properly adjusted than anything else.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
278,307
Messages
3,554,050
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Trending content

Back
Top