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Door mirrors - flat or convex?


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After a lot of procrastination, I've decided to go with the Tex bullet style mirrors. There are two options for the glass mirror portion, flat and convex.

 

Any suggestions as to which is best?

 

Gavin

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I was put off bullet style and went for Tex flat ones as TR6 original I think.

Having driven a car with bullet style, it was one of my better decisions.

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Depends on your driving style.

 

Flat glass offers the traditional "can't see nowt behind me" narrow view of the world, and therefore necessitates driving quickly to obviate being overtaken by an unseen vehicle.

 

Convex glass allows a clearer rear view and allows for a more leisurely pace.

 

 

Alan

:)

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Convex glass gives a better field of view but can distort the distance from an object.

 

I have flat glass bullet mirrors on my 6, fitted by PO and find them pretty useless. I will get around to replacing them with the original flat style ones on day

 

 

Brian

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Take care when fitting the passenger side mirror as bad positioning can mean you cannot adjust the view sufficiently to see down the cars body line. I did not know this and utilised one of the existing holes (drilling a second), only to find the best view I can get is of the hedge wizzing past!!! I have flat glass and should probably try convex. You can also get bullet mirrors with substantially better adjustment than others. I know this now. Mike

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I have the convex bullet mirrors but as previous owner mounted the mirrors to far to the rear I struggle to see anything so have plans to move the mirrors as far forward on the door as possible. This means I have to fill and paint the old holes, had plans to dot that this winter so well see, what puts me off it the difficult of matching the paint.

 

Will assume the mirrors then will be much more usable even if the original style mirrors is even better, but imagine flat bullet must be rather useless as the surface is much smaller.

 

 

Magnus

Edited by TRseks
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Hi Gavin, Bullet Mirrors look period and Racey , but that's about it...

Pretty useless for seeing what's behind you, and presumably that's why you are fitting mirrors.

Just an opinion,

Cheers,

Conrad.

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Harry, Mal, Alan, Brian, Mike, Magnus & Conrad

 

Thanks everyone for your comments. I get the distinct impression that no one likes the bullet mirrors so I'll back off that style and look for something a little larger. The 'Ital' style mirror seems to fit the bill without being too bulky which has been a criticism of the large British Leyland style previously (and which was my original choice).

 

Mike C

 

Funnily enough I've been driving a D-Max for several years now and had no idea the mirrors were convex (just checked with a straight edge to be sure). For this reason I'll be quite happy using this type on the car.

 

Regards to all

Gavin

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Gavin, realise I'm a bit late to comment, but just to add to views already i can confirm that the bullet style mirrors that were on my car when i got it were little more than useless!! A swap to standard style Tex mirrors was a vast improvement. ..

Cheers J.

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Hi Gavin, realise I'm a bit late to comment, but just to add to views already i can confirm that the bullet style mirrors that were on my car when i got it were little more than useless!! A swap to standard style Tex mirrors was a vast improvement. ..

Cheers J.

 

Thanks James. I've ordered a set of Ital style convex mirrors which appear to fit somewhere between the bullet and standard mirrors. This will be the second set I've purchased, the first (as suggested by Stuart) looked great on the supplier's website but the finish was pretty disappointing - the mirror glass a very poor fit in its housing and the gasket being a hard black plastic moulding and a lot larger than the the mirror base. They will find their way onto our local auction site in due course ;)

 

Cheers

Gavin

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Thanks James. I've ordered a set of Ital style convex mirrors which appear to fit somewhere between the bullet and standard mirrors. This will be the second set I've purchased, the first (as suggested by Stuart) looked great on the supplier's website but the finish was pretty disappointing - the mirror glass a very poor fit in its housing and the gasket being a hard black plastic moulding and a lot larger than the the mirror base. They will find their way onto our local auction site in due course ;)

 

Cheers

Gavin

Sorry you were disappointed with my suggestion, the quality must have gone down hill since I bought mine as they are much better than that.

Stuart.

post-3753-0-76193000-1518353804_thumb.jpg

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Sorry you were disappointed with my suggestion, the quality must have gone down hill since I bought mine as they are much better than that.

Stuart.

 

 

No apology necessary Stuart, these things happen and your suggestions are always very helpful.

 

Alf

 

Yes, these were from Car Builder Solutions and the issues mentioned can be seen in the pics attached. Otherwise, they would have been ideal as Stuart said.

 

post-14246-0-62918000-1518376681_thumb.jpgpost-14246-0-24937600-1518376695_thumb.jpg

 

Regards

Gavin

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Hi Mike and Alf.

 

Coincidentally my latest purchase arrived from the UK this morning, a pair of Omnico 316 Italian-style (part # OM-316) from Halcyon in Hertford for the princely sum of 16.16 quid each (plus freight to NZ). They actually look quite well made, the gasket fits nicely and is a soft rubber material. My only concern is that the mounts are fairly short so they may not be a hell of a lot better than the bullet style other than the mirror itself is 20mm larger in diameter.

 

post-14246-0-57647800-1518389181_thumb.jpgpost-14246-0-49262800-1518389195_thumb.jpg

 

I'll let you know how they work out in due course.

 

Cheers

Gavin

 

 

 

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Thanks Gavin.

 

The mounting arrangement also looks like my existing bullet mirrors and I don't know about the single allen headed bolt to fix it in place.

 

I'll be interested to see how they perform in use , I want to replace my existing bullets but only with something better.

 

Regards,

 

Mike C

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A nice option is the typical & specific TR5 door mirror (TR5 badge shape, or TR250 badge up side down) .. as per my experience a big improvement vs the bullet one and, as per my point of view, a nice look w/ the TR6.

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-622352

 

Regards

Edited by Marc R
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Hi Marc

 

I didn't realise there were so many mirror options! The one you suggest actually looks pretty good and only a single hole required.. I haven't drilled the doors yet so still time to change my mind :)

 

You don't by any chance have photo's of these installed ?

 

Regards

Gavin

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Hi Marc

 

I didn't realise there were so many mirror options! The one you suggest actually looks pretty good and only a single hole required.. I haven't drilled the doors yet so still time to change my mind :)

 

You don't by any chance have photo's of these installed ?

 

Regards

Gavin

Few exemples:

On a TR5: http://int.search.myway.com/search/AJimage.jhtml?&searchfor=TRiumph+TR5+Door+mirror&n=783A607F&p2=%5EBXM%5Exdm115%5ETTAB02%5Efr&ptb=F8D376F9-173E-4F16-AC1F-60640138BB06&qs=&si=&ss=sub&st=tab&trs=wtt&tpr=sbt&ts=1518597772666&imgs=1p&filter=on&imgDetail=true

On a TR6: https://classicmotorsports.com/articles/tech-tips-triumph-tr6/

 

Nevertheless take care, the hole required is a large one (vs the two for most of the other mirror).

 

Best regards.

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The advantage of the single hole fixing is you do get a greater range of movement rather than having to swivel the mirror to its maximum which is often the case with the two hole fixed type. Moss do a repro which is showing as in stock unlike Rimmers.

https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/door-mirror-flat-chrome-622352.html

Stuart.

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