Convex Side Mirror
Aftermarket mirrors look cool but don't always work the way you need.
Factory Mirrors
Mirrors are made with flat glass on the driver's side, and by law are convex on the passenger side. We've all the seen the words "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear". The convex shape helps you see cars that might be hovering in your blind spot, which is an all-too common problem.
Unfortunately, most aftermarket mirrors lack the convex shape. They're typically designed as a universal fit to work on either side of the car, so the glass is always flat. Most people don't notice, or even care.
I love the way my mirrors look but the lack of a wide-angle view bugs me, so (as usual) I came up with a cheap & easy solution.
The mirrors I'm using are pretty basic and were pretty inexpensive. I like them because they look period correct, plus they came black which matches the color style of my car, but as I mentioned above, they lack the "wide angle" convex lens on the passenger side. After a little searching I found the perfect solution.
This photo shows how much more you can see with the convex version. I think it looks great and works much better than stock, and took far less time than expected.
Of course, all this depends on the type of mirrors you have. The glass I bought was slightly larger than my aftermarket mirrors but the same proportions. There are a lot of different sizes online so you can probably buy one that's pretty close to what you need.
Here's what I bought from Amazon.
It's intended as an add-on for large mirrors, such as on a truck or camper, and comes with an adhesive backing for an easy application. At just $6.41 is was damn cheap.
I ended up buying a second one because a friend who was helping broke the first one. In retrospect I should have bought two at the beginning just in case that happened. Refunds are easy with Amazon and the return shipping is free.
To make the mirror fit, I bought a glass-sanding pad on eBay with a diamond-impregnated surface which worked pretty well.
It took about an hour of sanding and testing before it fit.
The initial plan was to glue it to the original mirror but decided it would look better if I could recess it a little further.
As it turned out, the original mirror was really hard to break. I started by tapping it with a hammer. Nothing. Then I held it while a friend tried a hammer and chisel. Fail. I even smacked it pretty hard against a jagged hunk of steel. Barely scratched the surface. The solution was using a very tiny screwdriver to pry between the glass and the frame. Be careful not to damage the frame itself. Make sure you wear gloves and eye protection while doing that because the glass suddenly broke and scattered sharp pieces all around. I cleaned out the remaining shards and removed the adhesive that had held in the glass in place. I ran a small bead of black RTV sealant around the inside of the frame and firmly pressed the new glass into it. I doubt it'll ever come loose. There was just enough sealant that it oozed between the frame and the glass and made the mirror look like it came that way from the factory. Because of the convex shape of the glass, there was a very small gap at the top and bottom but a little more RTV filled it up.