Any Regrets Getting Tow Mirrors?

[dhrandy]

No regrets, they work great when towing. I don't know if I could go back to standard mirrors, you just see so much more.

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[Zengineer]

All the pictures that I saw (not many) that showed the view from the driver seat with a truck with the tow mirrors showed that it was just too big for me and blocked a lot of the side vision. I really wanted to like them because for the $250 it is a steal. I just do not tow so I wanted that front lateral vision and can make do with the smaller mirror.

That part of it is a very real consideration. One day soon anything above an XL will just have tiny cameras and no mirrors at all I'm sure.

 

[Kodiak]

That part of it is a very real consideration. One day soon anything above an XL will just have tiny cameras and no mirrors at all I'm sure.

On the Hyundai Sante Fe they utilize the side cameras brilliantly. When you hit the turn signal you get the blind spot camera view and it shows up in the main instrument panel on the side you want to turn. What a wonderful safety feature making full use of the equipment and technology.

Ford should look at this and for truck owners that regularly equip their rigs with gear that can block both back and side vision, having cameras that offer a better view is a huge safety feature IMO.

 

[Roscopcoletrain]

Funny, Honda had the camera turn signal and went away from it.

 

[bigjohnp]

I've had the towing mirrors on my last three f-150s. I tow a small trailer for the four wheelers. I find that with or without the trailer, you get so much of a better view on the road. You can really see what's coming up in your blind spots. I have BLISS on my new pickup but I prefer seeing the actual vehicles coming up compared to seeing a small luminous signal on the mirrors. So, yes, my preference goes with the tow mirrors.

 

[discothan]

Hi, those that have tow mirrors, does the passenger side mirror (top mirror) look almost distorted from the drivers seat? My 21 lariat has these mirrors and while driving looking at the mirror the objects look "weird". Thanks.

Yes, my wife noticed this 'weirdness' as well. The reason is that the top larger mirror on the tow mirrors does NOT have any convex-ing distortion to bring " objects in (the) mirror are closer than they appear ".

The curvature of the bottom smaller/thinner mirror functions to bring a wider horizontal view allowing you see a wider perspective of the road/objects behind you. I use the bottom mirror to look at the sides and wheels/storage doors when driving and especially when turning in forward/reverse as well as tight turns..like right!

 

[780]

Thanks and hope you get it soon. I live an hour from Dearborn but mine was ordered by someone else, built in Kansas City, sat there for 4 months and finally sent to a dealer in Idaho where I found it online 2 days after it landed and the original guy couldn't get financing.

Wouldn't he have had to been approved before the truck was built?

 

[Zengineer]

Wouldn't he have had to been approved before the truck was built?

He ordered 7-8 months ago, I assume something changed. Maybe he just bailed, maybe he went to prison, got divorced (or married), lost his job or something else. The dealer said he "lost" his financing but I swear when I first called he said the guy got tired of waiting. I guess I didn't care...somebody was nice enough to order a truck I liked for me before I even knew I wanted it. The price was reasonable given today's situation and considering price increases that happened between when it was ordered/priced and today. Honestly, I think a more savvy dealer could have and would have had a new sticker printed at current pricing.

It's like in golf when you hit way left off the tee of a par 4, hit a tree trying to get back in the fairway and bounce into a bunker, hit the lip of the bunker trying to get out and then put it in the hole from 175 yards out. Don't complain, don't celebrate, just take your par and walk away quietly.

I haven't taken a ton of car loans but I would think it's like being pre-approved for a mortgage while you look for a house. You have to show at closing that your financial situation is unchanged. Do those who order even do a loan app at that time? I've ordered cars and just said I'm paying cash and didn't have them do even a basic credit check.

 

[Buyer2021]

Wouldn't he have had to been approved before the truck was built?

In a word, "No".

IME no one asks anything about your financial wherewithal or final purchase plans (cash outright, financing, whatever) when you place an order or any time prior to delivery to the dealer.

Unless, of course, they're one of those dealers (to be avoided) who tries to tie the sales price to the financing mechanism (run, Forrest, run!).

A dealer accepting your order assumes you are a responsible adult with a viable plan for closing the deal, and as a fall-back if things go south for whatever reason (at least these days) they have good reason to be confident they can sell your 'defaulted order' at a handsome profit.

 

[dkevox]

I ordered the trailer tow mirrors as I intend to tow occasionally for my business and didn't want any issues with liability or insurance if anything goes wrong. However, I'm admittedly a fan of small mirrors and am slightly concerned about the ginormous size of those mirrors.

I'm not sold by the "you can see everything" argument because I honestly don't always want to see everything (annoying vehicle with brights on behind me), and because you don't need much at all in the way of mirrors to see what you need to see. Most people just have no clue how to properly setup their sideview mirrors (hint, if you can see the side of your vehicle, your mirrors aren't setup properly).

Cause I know some of you will find this crazy, these are my current mirrors on my toy and I have no issues with them (if I could find smaller ones I'd switch lol):

 

[780]

He ordered 7-8 months ago, I assume something changed. Maybe he just bailed, maybe he went to prison, got divorced (or married), lost his job or something else. The dealer said he "lost" his financing but I swear when I first called he said the guy got tired of waiting. I guess I didn't care...somebody was nice enough to order a truck I liked for me before I even knew I wanted it. The price was reasonable given today's situation and considering price increases that happened between when it was ordered/priced and today. Honestly, I think a more savvy dealer could have and would have had a new sticker printed at current pricing.

It's like in golf when you hit way left off the tee of a par 4, hit a tree trying to get back in the fairway and bounce into a bunker, hit the lip of the bunker trying to get out and then put it in the hole from 175 yards out. Don't complain, don't celebrate, just take your par and walk away quietly.

I haven't taken a ton of car loans but I would think it's like being pre-approved for a mortgage while you look for a house. You have to show at closing that your financial situation is unchanged. Do those who order even do a loan app at that time? I've ordered cars and just said I'm paying cash and didn't have them do even a basic credit check.

Okay. I wasn't sure how it worked. This was the first time I've ordered a vehicle.

 

[780]

In a word, "No".

IME no one asks anything about your financial wherewithal or final purchase plans (cash outright, financing, whatever) when you place an order or any time prior to delivery to the dealer.

Unless, of course, they're one of those dealers (to be avoided) who tries to tie the sales price to the financing mechanism (run, Forrest, run!).

A dealer accepting your order assumes you are a responsible adult with a viable plan for closing the deal, and as a fall-back if things go south for whatever reason (at least these days) they have good reason to be confident they can sell your 'defaulted order' at a handsome profit.

Huh. Again, I never ordered a vehicle before so was unfamiliar with the process. But, when I ordered mine, we did the trade value, negotiated, signed the deal, credit check etc etc before the truck was ordered. I think it helped me in the end as they ended up honoring the original deal and I didn't have to fight regarding Fords price increases...

 

[Buyer2021]

Huh. Again, I never ordered a vehicle before so was unfamiliar with the process. But, when I ordered mine, we did the trade value, negotiated, signed the deal, credit check etc etc before the truck was ordered. I think it helped me in the end as they ended up honoring the original deal and I didn't have to fight regarding Fords price increases...

So dealer practices differ, no surprise. As I said IME (in My experience) ordering from Granger Ford there was no credit check or 'prequalification' discussion at all when ordering. I would not have agreed to a 'hard credit check' affecting my credit score being run many months prior to actually exploring financing options at time of delivery.

All of that did finally occur when the truck was available for delivery to 'close the deal' at the price locked on date of the order per Ford's Price Protection Policy. No 'fights' whatsoever, it was all 'routine' with Granger, no mention at all of the fact that the MSRP reflected on the Monroney Sticker at time of delivery had increased by ~$3500. At the time of delivery / closing Granger advised I qualified for 0% financing which was in place at the time of order, a much better rate than available at time of delivery.
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Back to thread topic, I actually do a fair amount of towing and added the Ford trailer tow mirrors to the 2005 F150 seen in my avatar which was purchased from inventory without them (easy back then before BLIS and cams). I optioned the power extend/fold version on my 2022 order. Absolutely no regrets in either case, I use 'em and love 'em. I felt like I was wearing blinders when test driving '21 trucks without them before placing my latest order, YMMV.

 

[Harrisb]

Would anyone want to trade their chrome standard mirrors for the tow mirrors from a platinum? Needs to be the optioned out standard mirrors

 

[SaCho]

Funny, Honda had the camera turn signal and went away from it.

I currently own two newer Honda models. Based on Trim levels in Odyssey, mirror camera functionality is available or not. On the top of the line Touring trim (Elite in US), camera is replaced with sensors that I miss a lot. Other lower trims have a Camera, no sensors. In a mid trim Civic, I have Camera, no sensors. Sensors can’t replace ease, convenience and safety that an actual view provides. May be there isn’t enough room in the mirror housing to accommodate both technologies or just cost cutting measure. Having both at the same time will help making it safe a lot in any automobile

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