2000 C230 Mercedes Blindspot
 

I posted about this before but just wanted to check back in. I love the car, a great car, but the blind spot is something else. A school bus could pretty much hide in the blind spot. I cannot imagine why they would design it that way unless they figure people smashing up their car and the car's of others is good for the economy. I have the stick on mirror and it is partially effective. I have not applied one to the passenger side mirror because I figure it will be too small to see anything.

I would like to get the European mirrors. Is that possible or is it still illegal?

Which side are you talking about? Are your mirrors adjusted properly? I crank both side mirrors out to the stops and have (knock on wood) never had a problem with missing cars in the blind spots. By the time they leave the mirrors I can see them out of my peripheral vision on both sides of the car.

It is on the driverside, I believe I have them adjusted properly. There have been a large number of complaints about the mirrors/blindspots. I imagine that there may be a very exact perfect position a person could be sitting and the mirrrors adjusted just so and then have no blind spot. I don think that is a realistic expectation for most drivers.

You are not supposed to just rely on your mirrors.

I am not with this car. I am looking over my shoulder to check the blind spot 100 times a day. This takes my eyes off the road in front of me though

speaking of blindspots - I never understood why the driver mirror on US cars is a plane mirror, its useless IMO.

Whats wrong with convex mirrors on both sides?

I could not agree more, its complete nonsense to use the plane mirror. The "good for the economy" theory is sounding more plausible to me.

Currently, I have a plane mirror with a stick on convex mirror blocking 25% of the area. . The stock mirror is so small that when you put the stick on mirror on it, much of it is blocked out by the trim of the stick on mirror.

The only soution I can think of is to have a mirror custom made, apply adhesive to the back and smoosh it on top of the stock plane mirror. That should look nice. I heard that you have to use the plane mirror in the US though, any other kind is illegal. More nonsense.

On my 1999 C280 I installed the aspheric side mirrors to replace the stock. Wish all my cars had them.

Would you have a model number or could you please post a photo here of your mirrors? I need a better option than I have now and your mirrors sound interesting. Thanks

I purchased them from eBay and I see that they are still in business:

Mercedes Benz W202 w 210 W140 Aspherical Blind Spot Mirrors Mirror Glass Pair | eBay

I am used to aspherical mirrors on cars since I can began to drive, its only the US that makes me angry when I cannot actually see a car in the left lane if its half way the length of my car.

The other stupid bit is that the passenger mirror says objects in the mirror are closer than they appear, NO chit sherlock, we know that - its obvious unless someone with the IQ of a gerbil is driving.

An adjustment technique
 

Who has familiarity with the following mirror adjusting technique:

For drivers side. After properly adjusting the seat for pedal and steering wheel reach, and adjusting the rear-view mirror to where without straining you get a complete and un-obstructed view out of the rear window. To adjust driver side mirror, lean your head over till it just touches the drivers side window ( window in the up position, obviously ). Then adjust the mirror till you can just view the door handles in the inner most section of the side view mirror ( your just getting a small portion of the drivers side body panels in your sight as your head rest against the window.
As for the tilt of the mirror up and down, just make sure your getting the door handles somewhere in the center inward portion. Obviously too much sky or roadway is not optimal.
As for the passenger side mirror everything is reversed but you lean to the right until your head is at the mid-point of the cabin and adjust the mirror outward till you just get the door handles into view.

Thank you for sending that ebay item, that looks perfect! About time they made those. I cant wait to try them.

Yes, the US has lots of interesting laws, no question about it. Then when a sensible law is passed finally, it isnt enforced. What do you do.

Thanks again for the ebay link.

[QUOTE]Who has familiarity with the following mirror adjusting technique:/QUOTE]

That method is recommended by most insurance companies and taught in driving schools. That is the method I have been using for over 30 years and it works very well.

This is how I have my mirrors adjusted. Basically, there shouldn't be any overlap between the field of view of the side mirrors and the center mirror.

For whatever reason, using this set-up when I look left at my driver's mirror, basically any car that is too far forward to be in my side mirror I can see directly next to me through the window. Any car that is too far back for me to directly see through the side window is visible in my side mirror. Same for the R side.

As far as I can tell, I don't have a blind spot. Maybe it has something to do with my seat position, I'm 5'9" and my seat is adjusted pretty far forward, so I have to physically turn my head to look at the side mirrors. I can see how if I was taller and my seating position was further back, I wouldn't have to turn my head as much and so I would lose some field of view out the window when checking the side mirrors.