Setting Towing Mirrors

[algilson]

Howdy,

For those of you who remember, I asked about towing mirrors a month ago here. I now have the CIPA mirrors, and everyone was right, they were easy to install and set up, and have very little (or no!) vibration.

Question: what's the best way to set them to see behind. This may be hard to describe, but I'll try. Starting with my standard driver's mirror, I have it set so that it's turned out so I do not see the door handles (plus some) on the truck. The CIPA mirror is set to continue the visibility into the driver's mirror. I.e. if a person were to stand just outside of what the standard driver's mirror would see, they would be visible in the CIPA mirror. I think that one's correct.

The standard passenger mirror is set the same way as the driver's mirror. I can't see the door handles on the truck, and it's turned out a little bit more after that. But the CIPA mirror is a giant magnifying glass on the passenger side. What am I trying to see here? I can't set it the same way as the driver's side CIPA mirror because the magnification is radically different then the driver's side. I can tell you the year on license plate renewal sticker of the car 3 trailer lengths behind me, but I can't tell you what's beside the trailer as it's not in the mirror. Is this right? What am I trying to see with that mirror?

Thanks,

- Al

[flyrotor]

When you are pulling, set your truck mirrors to see wide, so you can see what is to the side of your trailer, set the CIPA mirrors to see distance as they reach around the back of the trailer better, now set your rear view mirror (the one on your windshield) to look over your right shoulder, normally your blind spot. Try this while sitting in a parking lot like walmart, and see what you think of the set-up, not saying this is the best and only way, but it works well for me.