Malaguti Spidermax - blind spot mirror mod

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The optimal position to install a dead angle mirror


We have some crazy drivers here on the island and after some not so nice encounters I needed to increase my point of view.
The problem is if you stick a blind angle mirror on the main mirror you loose some mirror real estate and after trying several spots on the mirror they all sucked in a certain situation.


So today I had an idea how to make it look nice and do not loose too much of the original mirror surface.
I cut a groove out of the dead angle mirror so it would fit snugly over the rim or the Spidermax mirror. Test driving the mirror showed a perfect extension from the outside corner of the original mirror into the inside corner of the blind spot mirror.

You can see very well in this picture how the mirrors interact. The Peugeot rear leaves the main mirror and the whole area from the driver door to the back is in the dead angle mirror.

Even if the mirrors are tiny, when the object leaves the main mirror it is big enough in the dead angle mirror to spot at a quick glance. And that is all I need to make a split second decision while changing lanes. When the object has half left the dead angle mirror it is next to you and you have it in the peripheral view.





Update 2009.09.13
After gluing the left wide angle mirror with double sided sticky tape onto the main mirror I wondered what would happen if somebody would bump into the little mirror extension what sticked out. Worse case scenario, it would crack the main mirror. So I was looking for an alternative like a easy tear off solution. I remembered fixing dead angle mirrors with foam sticky tape to the main mirror and that it was easy to separate the foam when I want it removed again. In our local 1 Euro store I found some black double sided foam sticky tape.


I glued 3 layers on the thick half of the dead angle mirror.


It is now flush with the rim of the main mirror without the need to remove some material from the dead angle mirror. The 3 layers of foam tape should easily separate if something bumps into the extended mirror.


The "old" design


The finish look

2 years later
A year later the square mirrors became to blind and I tried a bigger round mirror but went back to the square design after the round mirror surface stared to go blind within weeks.
Crappy Chinese quality...
The square mirror is now smaller from the surface but the angle is adjustable. I miss the old design where you could actually see much more, but no matter where I look all shops carry noly the new design.

I finally tried an oval mirror what showed much more but it cost 3 Euro per mirror.
After mounting and the test drive I just could see only the street a couple meters behind me. The new fancy oval mirror seems to be angled to much downwards.
After closer inspection I could press the upper part of the mirror inwards and now it shows everything.

I also removed that part of the Spidermax mirror case what I had to bridge (see above) to now mount the dead angle mirror flush with the Spidermax mirror.

old mirror (did not show enough for my taste)

new mirror with much wider view

new and old compared - you see the huge difference

The new mirror is a bit on the small side, but the glass? is quite good so far,  pretty sharp and clear. It covers very well all of the dead spots, so no need for even a slight turn of the head any more.

After several days riding the verdict is in: Even if they are pretty slim there is no blind spot or moving from the big into the small mirror car passing any more. The mirror covers the normal mirrors area plus the whole blind spot and the passing car leaves the mirror when it is next to you and easy to spot without any head or eye movement.
So far the best working and looking blind spot mirror I had tested in over 4 years.

2014/8/24
... and as we envolve so do our mirrors.
We are now at a car mirror, the same what most driving schools use so the instructor can see everything too.
They are around 5€ each and I drilled 3 holes in the top of the Malaguti Spidermax mirror case and then used 3 screws and some spacers to get the right angle for mounting the dead angle mirror.

 Never need more than glance into the mirrors and use my peripheral vision to know what is around me.
The same setup is also used on my cars as you see a on the Astra TT behind me.
( in case you are wondering... yes, it is a nudist village we are living in at the moment.)

I tried the panorama mirrors I use in the cars but I blocked to much with my own reflection and then there was the sun often reflecting in a not so good way.