[MJE60]

I picked up what I think is a useful article on adjusting your side mirrors correctly to avoid blind spots. Neither my last car (X1) of my new X3 have/had blind spot monitoring and I know a number of forum members have commented on how useful the feature is and/or why is it not a standard safety feature on all BMW’s. I know some of your are also using wide angle stick-ons but the recommended ones are a crazy price posted outside US.

Now, here is a confession - I have been adjusting my side mirrors incorrectly all my driving life (4 decades of looking down the side of the car) and whilst I have never had an accident pulling out/over into another car (touch wood), I recall a couple of near misses.

Here is the link.....

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...d-blind-spots/

What do you think? - worth a try? Or have you been doing it right all along.

[wcs2229]

Originally Posted by MJE60

Here is the link.....

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...d-blind-spots/

What do you think? - worth a try? Or have you been doing it right all along.

I have my side mirrors adjusted similar to the Car and Driver photo, but also low enough to check lines on the road and the lower sections of the adjacent cars. Moving my head a bit allows me to broaden the fields of vision.

I only started doing this after >45 years of driving.

[Bill_P]

Originally Posted by MJE60

I picked up what I think is a useful article on adjusting your side mirrors correctly to avoid blind spots. Neither my last car (X1) of my new X3 have/had blind spot monitoring and I know a number of forum members have commented on how useful the feature is and/or why is it not a standard safety feature on all BMW’s. I know some of your are also using wide angle stick-ons but the recommended ones are a crazy price posted outside US.

Now, here is a confession - I have been adjusting my side mirrors incorrectly all my driving life (4 decades of looking down the side of the car) and whilst I have never had an accident pulling out/over into another car (touch wood), I recall a couple of near misses.

Here is the link.....

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...d-blind-spots/

What do you think? - worth a try? Or have you been doing it right all along.

Guilty as charged - 45 years - although never had an accident (maybe should not have written that). Have to decide if I am brave enough to try it ..

[SpeedBuggy]

Started driving with my mirrors adjusted as suggested in a similar article some years ago. It did take a bit of time to get used to the mirrors set in these positions, but I do find it much better for avoiding the blind spots. I do admit that I still look over my shoulder before changing lanes as there's always that one idiot bouncing in and out of lanes.

None of my vehicles have blind spot detection, don't want 'em. Too many people driving these vehicles and depending on the technology and are forgetting how to really drive. Just because there is no light in the mirror doesn't mean you can change lanes.

[trnguyen]

I was taught this method like 15 years ago when I got an half day of sport driving session by Saab on a track. I tried it for bit more than a month then I switched back.

I found it useful when I was driving on a highway. But for driving in the city I prefer the usual way. The main reason is I rely on my mirror for parallel parking, so I prefer to be able to see sidewalk.

Me too I don't depend on technology for blind spot. I have it on the Audi Q3 and never rely it. Most of the time, I am already aware of a car before the light comes up. However, I don't know why, but I want to have BSD on my X2.

It just feel not right. The car has all the sensors around and can even do parallel parking by itself, but BSD is missing. I don't understand BMW on this one.

[MJE60]

Valid point it does make parallel parking more difficult. Do you have the reversing camera which mostly solves this, it can be retrofitted.

[trnguyen]

I did not try it again since reversing camera are available on cars. I don't feel the need to use this method anymore. Even though along with the camera, there is also the park assist for parallel parking and the only time that I tried it was at the dealer when I picked up the car.

The other thing that can help too is the passenger mirror tilt when in reverse. On BMW, it seems only by the tilt percentage. I don't recall if it was on a Audi or an Acura, but I was able to set the mirror position as I want when in reverse.

[MJE60]

Originally Posted by trnguyen

I did not try it again since reversing camera are available on cars. I don't feel the need to use this method anymore. Even though along with the camera, there is also the park assist for parallel parking and the only time that I tried it was at the dealer when I picked up the car.

The other thing that can help too is the passenger mirror tilt when in reverse. On BMW, it seems only by the tilt percentage. I don't recall if it was on a Audi or an Acura, but I was able to set the mirror position as I want when in reverse.

Hi
Yes, it is irritating that the mirror tilt angle (when reversing) cannot be set in iDrive. It can be manually adjusted but that is not saved and has to be adjusted back once you return to normal drive gear. You can permanently adjust it using an app called Bimmercode, so if you know someone with the app they could adjust the angle to suit you. Unfortunately the app is not free and requires a connection to your car obd port (the app offers recommendations on devices such including some using Bluetooth).

[trnguyen]

Originally Posted by MJE60

Hi
Yes, it is irritating that the mirror tilt angle (when reversing) cannot be set in iDrive. It can be manually adjusted but that is not saved and has to be adjusted back once you return to normal drive gear. You can permanently adjust it using an app called Bimmercode, so if you know someone with the app they could adjust the angle to suit you. Unfortunately the app is not free and requires a connection to your car obd port (the app offers recommendations on devices such including some using Bluetooth).

Thank you for the info. I have BimmerCode. I haven't really paid attention if I need to change the tilt angle yet. I am good with the default so far.

What I meant is with some other cars, we can change the left/right angle too, not just the tilt. So with the mirror method you mentioned, it would help to position the mirror correctly in reverse.