Recently posted on a Yahoo group was a suggestion that tall drivers to turn the mirror up-side-down. At 6-foot-2, I think this is one of the best tips I've read! Not only does the morror coverage more closely match the rear window shape, it also improves visibility through the front and better positions the auto-dim sensor above the rear window cross bar! YMMV
I've heard this tip many times in the last two years. I did it once ( i'm 5'11) and it didn't work for me. I have a greater chance of light hitting the mirror right side up right now. When i turned it upside down, it did help.. but not as often. only if they put a "one way mirror" sensor right in the middle.. where it matters.
Yep, I flipped mine upside down a couple of months ago. I did it to get the auto-dimming sensor above the bar. I also put a piece of blue masking tape over the front auto-dimming sensor (on the back of the mirror) to increase the sensitivity of the mirror. At times it still doesn't dim as much as I'd like, but it's better, although I get a bit of a green tint sometimes during the day, particularly on rainy days or at dusk.
This is a good idea, one I hadn't seen before. I don't have an auto-dim feature, so that part might be confusing to other drivers (my wife), but otherwise this is really helpful, and I'm not even that tall (5'10" or so, 178cm). But the mirror was definitely blocking my forward vision, at the point where cars entering from the right at an intersection were sometimes hard to see. I had already lifted the arm as far as it would go, which helped, but didn't realize that simply rotating the mirror around would help like that. After reading this suggestion yesterday at lunch I immediately went out and flipped my mirror upside down. Then on the drive home, I didn't even remember I had done that until half-way home when I realized (at an intersection) that I was seeing the road easier. Now if we could do something about the thick front posts. But I guess the side airbags are in there. I do like the visibility when backing up, definitely safer than an SUV. nerfer
I tried inverting my mirror and didn't like the effect. For one thing, the anti-glare lever is too hard to reach when it's on top of the mirror. The inverting trick might work better with auto dimming mirrors and no need to flip a lever. Also, the mirror filled in the gap between the visors and made the whole windshield upper edge appear lower. The improvement in forward visibility was only marginal. I'm over 6ft and use a shallow pillow under my butt for thigh support, so in effect, I'm about 6ft 3in. Bob
"Recently posted?!?!" It should be in the Priuschat FAQ - we talked about that trick a year and a half ago. It's a real good tip for those with the auto-dimming mirror regardless of how tall you are since it gets the light sensor out of the shadow of the rear spoiler.
Whoah... good thread. *Now* mine is upsidedown. Being 6'2", I really like it. The autodimming does seem to work better too. Thanks Brasche! Dave
