Date:         Wed, 28 Jul 2004 02:59:47 EDT
Reply-To:     Oxroad@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeff Oxroad <Oxroad@AOL.COM>
Subject:      convex pass. mirror pros+cons
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I recently installed a convex outside mirror on the passenger side of my bus.
This is the "OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR" style mirror
that is on all modern cars. (The mirror I installed in a genune VW outside
mirror off a wreck.) I think they also came standard on the later model busses.

I thought installing the mirror would make my life easier in some way. But
I'm not convinced. I still had to adhere a little convex mirror to the big VW
convex mirror to see in the blind spot. On the original flat mirror I had the
little convex mirror as well. I thought with the factory convex mirror I would
have eliminated the blind spot.

Pro: I can see the passenger side rear wheel when I parallel park against a
curb allowing me to park perfectly every time. (Here in the poorly designed
town of LA if you're more than 1 inch from the curb you're car is going to get
side-swipped. They haven't quite figured out how wide a street has to be to
allow two cars to pass in opposite directions without one sideswipping every
parked vehicle.)

Con: While backing up the convex mirror has a very limited sight distance.
So, while objects are "closer than they appear" it's hard to tell how far the
side of the house is from the the back corner of the bus when backing into the
driveway.

What's the deal? Who likes the convex mirror and what about it am I missing
that would allow me to like it too? What do you think of the convex mirror?

Best
Jeff
83.5 Westfalia
LA,CA