By acquiring a great pair of towing mirrors for your vehicle, you can give yourself complete peace of mind while towing. With a better view of both the driver side and passenger side blind spots, towing mirrors keep you safe on the road. In this article, we’ll take a look at the best towing mirrors.
What is a Towing Mirror?
Standard mirrors on cars ensure visibility for the length of the vehicle. What about more extended objects like a caravan, though? The best towing mirrors provide an increased field of view and are required by law in Australia to tow anything wider than your vehicle.
Why Buy Towing Mirrors?
Safety: We’re sure we don’t have to tell you, but clear visibility of the road ahead is critical.
So, for safety reasons, it’s necessary to know what’s going on around your vehicle. To protect your family, as well as the caravan itself, you’ll need to increase your field of vision. How? By means of a towing mirror.
Blind Spots: Side mirrors on most vehicles are limited in view, leaving blind spots. Towing mirrors help reduce these blind spots.
Peace of Mind: Towing can be a stressful endeavour. A towing mirror builds your confidence by enabling you to see the whole picture behind your vehicle.
Legal Requirements: For legal and safety reasons, you’re only allowed to tow a big trailer when you have the correct towing mirrors.
Types of Towing Mirrors
There are various types of towing mirrors. Towing mirrors can be classified according to where they’re mounted on your vehicle.
Mirror Mounted Towing Mirrors
You’ll find that the most common towing mirrors are those that clip-on or strap-on. They are portable and simply clamped or strapped onto your vehicle’s existing side mirrors. Once installed quickly and easily, you can adjust them inside your car.
Many mirror-mounted towing mirror models use support arms to prevent folding when faced with high winds or oncoming traffic. These arms attach to your car door through suction cups or a magnetic pad.
Door-Mounted Towing Mirrors
Door-mounted towing mirrors provide more stability than their mirror-mounted counterparts. Therefore, they can often be more expensive and trickier to install. Door-mounted mirrors are bulkier and better suited to larger vehicles.
Bonnet Mounted Towing Mirrors
Bonnet mounted towing mirrors are attached to a drawbar that runs across the hood of your vehicle. While they aren’t adjusted from the driver’s seat and a less popular mirror model, they’re a durable option worth your consideration.
Clearview Mirrors
Clearview Towing Mirrors are permanent installations that replace your vehicle’s existing mirrors.
Are Clearview Mirrors Worth it?
These models offer a more oversized, extendable dual mirror for increased visibility. Some models also feature an electronic adjustment controllable from the driver’s seat and are the perfect option for anyone who tows regularly.
Add a Rear View Camera
Another way to increase your vision while towing is installing a Rear view camera. This camera, attached to the back of your caravan, gives you a clear view of the things behind your caravan. This is, however, an addition and not a replacement for towing mirrors.
What is The Best Mirror to Use When Towing a Caravan?
What is the best towing mirror? Or more specifically, what are the best towing mirrors in Australia?
Before answering these questions, you must ask yourself how often you’ll be towing a caravan. The more frequently you tow, the more permanent the towing mirrors you should consider. Here are some of our picks for the best caravan towing mirrors out there.
Drive Easy Fit Towing Mirrors
Drive Easy Fit Towing Mirrors are a viable option for anyone wanting to tow on a more amateur level.
These towing mirrors are affordable and easy to install. They strap on and stay on! Drive Easy Fit Towing Mirrors are adjustable since the arms slide in and out, depending on your vehicle’s width. Furthermore, these mirrors are easy to remove.
Clear View Extendable Towing Mirrors
Clear View towing mirrors are permanent, and by far the best caravan mirrors out there! They won’t fall off, get blown off by a truck, or get stolen. They’re also extendable and can be controlled from inside your vehicle.
The only downside to these towing mirrors is the price tag. Clear View mirrors may be a wise long-term investment if you’re a regular towing champion.
Total 4×4 also offers the Clear View NextGen towing mirrors for you to consider.
Milenco Aero 3 Towing Mirrors
The Milenco Grand Aero3 is the most popular model because of its high-quality features and aerodynamic design with increased stability at high speeds, as well as super-simple installation.
These mirrors have two clamps which allows you to attach them to pretty much any vehicle. You can also control it with a swivel to rotate to various angles for optimal visibility.
MSA Towing Mirrors
What are the best towing mirrors for Ford Ranger? What are the best towing mirrors for 200 Series Landcruiser? And what about the best towing mirrors for Pajero?
Since these mirrors are tailored to the specifics of individual vehicle models, MSA towing mirrors work on any vehicle. Whether you have a Ford or a Toyota, MSA will have a mirror for you, giving them an advantage over standard universal mirrors.
MSA uses slightly curved convex mirrors for increased vision without distraction, and they’re easy to fit.
Their unique pivot design lets you slide them back to their standard vehicle dimensions when you’re not towing a vehicle. They also have indicators for increased safety.
The only problem with MSA Towing Mirrors is the cost, but all MSA products come with a lifetime guarantee.
Camec Heavy-Duty Door Mirror Ratchet Strap Type Towing Mirrors
The Camec Heavy-Duty Door Mirrors are top-of-the-range and offer the best value for their price. They are easy to install and guarantee an extra-secure fit, fitting most types of vehicles.
They have a broad mirror head, provide excellent visibility and have the ability to extend out up to 470mm.
Camec designs their towing mirrors with rubber mounting pads so that they won’t mark your doors. As the name suggests, they’re sturdy and won’t break easily.
Dometic SMF102 Flat Towing Mirror
While on the other end of the price scale from the MSA Towing Mirrors, these towing mirrors will attract many buyers. Dometic uses flat mirrors, unlike the above-mentioned towing mirrors. Although the mirror head is broad, they offer only partial visibility compared to other mirror types. They also have a universal fit and come with a one-year warranty.
Things to Consider When Buying Caravan Towing Mirrors
Here are some things to keep in mind before adding those towing mirrors to your cart.
What is the Difference Between Convex and Flat Mirrors?
The first point to decide is whether you want a flat or convex mirror. Convex mirrors are more popular for caravan users because they offer an extra field of view. As the name suggests, they’re slightly curved to enhance the driver’s view. The downside of convex mirrors is that they make objects appear farther away than they are.
In contrast, flat mirrors reflect accurate distances over a narrower field of view. These mirrors create a wider blind spot area which is problematic when you tow a trailer. Flat mirrors are much cheaper than convex mirrors.
Attachment Method
Consider whether you want door-mounted mirrors, mirror-mounted mirrors, or to replace your vehicle’s original mirrors permanently.
Durability
Durability means that your towing mirrors won’t break easily.
Stability
Turbulence will affect how well your caravan towing mirrors work. If your mirrors aren’t secure, they will vibrate while you drive, making it near impossible to see anything.
Other Features
Watch out for other features offered, like indicators or a storage bag.
What are the legal requirements for towing mirrors?
How wide should towing mirrors be? How far out should towing mirrors be? Well, to tow a caravan or large trailer, you must be able to see at least four metres wide of the sides of the towed vehicle in the mirror. Furthermore, you must be able to see the four metres beside your car to at least 20 metres behind you.
Need help?
Contact us today for assistance with your towing mirrors and other 4×4 needs!