SNAKEBITE

I hear about the 05 having serious blind spots but I have to admit I have no concerns about this. I ONLY use my mirrors for lane changes, and it's been at least 10 years since I performed a shoulder check. There are two reasons I do not shoulder check, the first is a race car driver filled me in on proper placement of the mirrors eliminates the need to perform a shoulder check. The second is witnessing a chap perform the shoulder check heading in downtown Calgary and failing to notice traffic had stopped all of a sudden. You can guess what happened. I have witnessed many close calls over the years to boot. Just wanted peoples opinion on the shoulder check.

MustangJay

in my car I don't so much.. as you are low and if your mirrors are adjusted right you can see without having a blind spot..

I have the quarter panel slightly in my view.. so between the side mirrors and the rear mirror, they all fill in the missing spots..



However, In the Work Van.. I do tend to look over to just make sure there isn't a bike sneaking up or hiding on me..

( when I had my lifted truck, I had to look all the time, if there was car beside me, you wouldn't see it ! )

G-ForceJunkie

I shoulder check on driver side most of the time, sometimes it's not necessary too (change in speed, etc.) Pass side I just flick my eyes to the right for a millisecond (while checking mirror) to make sure they aren't any motorcycles there.

I find most people my age (17) WAAAYYY over due the shoulder check thing and actually look behind the pilar beside the seat.

SNAKEBITE

That's probably because of drivers ed with the young folk I mean. I used to do it as that's how I was taught.

Scones

iTrader: (2)

I shoulder check every time for a couple of reasons. First, it's become a habit that was initially instilled in me by my driving instructer. It is a very quick and easy thing to do and I have never lost sight of what was happening in front of me by doing it. If you drive into someone because of doing a shoulder check you were driving to damn close to them to begin with. The second reason I do them is because I've been riding motorcyles since I was 16 and tooooo many time have morons almost plowed into me because they've failed to perform a check. I will never make that a possibility for a fellow rider.

As far as the 05s are concerned I just read an article in MM&FF about the 05 convertible....they claim this car is one of the best, if not the best convertible they've driven in regards to blind spots. If that is true I can't imagine the coupes being all that bad.

Bubba_Lane

i sometime shoulder check and sometimes not. i dunno.

SNAKEBITE

What about the theory of proper MIRROR placement dictates no need for a shoulder check With my mirrors properly placed I can see ALL motorist quite easily. I know that road racers do not perform shoulder checks and the accidents usually occur in the braking zone not on a straight away. Just my thoughts

fast Ed

iTrader: (1)

I'm a (former) racer, and agree with Paul on the lack of need for shoulder checks, if the mirrors are adjusted properly. Kind of tough to do one anyway, when you're wearing a helmet, and are strapped in with a 5 or 6 point harness. So it really sucked for me when the inside rear-view mirror fell off the windshield of my friend's Mustang about 10 minutes after the start of the race, many years back.

This past Friday I finally drove an 05 GT coupe, and had no trouble setting up the mirrors to my liking. Don't see it being an issue in these cars, unless your physique or seating position cause a problem.


cheers
Ed N.

cobracory

I did the BMW Driver Training Level 1 course last fall and one main thing I got out of it was the mirror placement. It is true that the way most people are taught to position the mirrors (so you see the side of the car) makes blind spots and causes many overlap spots.
And we are all taught from drivers ed, so use shoulder checks - I'd only assume to compensate for the blind spots you are making.

Pushing the mirrors out slightly (away from the car) allows those blind spots and overlap to disappear. Now the rearview mirror, gives you just that, the rear - the side mirrors give you the side. They had a nifty little slideshow demostration.

I wouldnt really recommend going and trying this unless someone shows you. But I personally found it really helpful. Took me about a week of every day driving to get totally comfortable with the new angle and trust what I am seeing is what is there. A little while longer on the smaller mirrors on the Cobra.

As for shoulder checks... I find with my daily driver, that the panels between the front and rear doors (umm... forget which pillars they are) cause a blind spot for me. I know it is all from seat positioning.

Moving the mirrors out have saved me many times. One time a sport bike was beside me in my "blind spot" and even when I did a shoulder check, to the right, I still couldn't see him. He was in a total blind spot from my car - especially cuz he was much lower down. The mirror saw him without a problem.

91mgt

this is easy to solve - get an 05 Drop Top j/k