Towing Mirrors

It looks like I'm the only one that finds the Milenco Areo's a bit of a pain!  (I've got the smaller ones)  I find the view a bit limited and they are a real pain to adjust to get into the right position.  In fact, I'm seriously thinking of going back to my Suck-it-and-see wing mirrors.  I know there are pros and cons about fitting them to the glass part of the wing mirrors but one plus is that you can adjust them accurately and minutely by using the electronic car wing mirror adjusting system, in order to get the best possible view.

David 

With regard to pros; I must have been using nothing other than “Suck-it-and–see wing mirrors” for the past 17 years, as you say David “you can adjust them accurately and minutely by using the electronic car wing mirror adjusting system, in order to get the best possible view”. I have not had a single problem with them so far, and have not yet had a vehicle that they would not fit.

What have you found to be the cons David?  

But if you move the car mirror in order to adjust the 'suck it and see' mirror, surely your car mirror will then be out of alignment?

I agree that the Milenco can be a bit of a pain to adjust on the move. I now know exactly which bit of the caravan edge needs to be in the middle of the mirror before I set off, in order to get a good view while driving.

Trouble is, if I start off on a hill (like on our drive) or with the car and caravan not perfectly aligned, it doesn't work.

The fitting of Suck it and See mirrors covers the main part of the car mirror, therefore when they are adjusted doesn't make any difference. They are good, but the mirror heads are quite small.

We changed the car and found our Milenco Grand Aeros would not fit safely because of the sharp slope on the edges of the mirror and have had to get strap on ones. My older strap on ones had fairly short rubber straps that would not fit another car, but the new ones have longer straps and work with the larger mirrors so may be the manufacturers are now fitting longer straps.

My feeling is try a dealer and explain your position and see if they will let you try their mirrors on the car to see what works best.

Many thanks to everybody for their useful information and advice. I bought the Milenco Aero 3 mirrors in preference to the much larger Grand Aero 3 because the standard size are noticeably bigger than my previous type (with rubber straps) and have less area and hence less wind force on them and the door mirror housing than the Grand Aero would have. They have proved to be quite acceptable and very steady, much better than expected and much better than my old strap on mirrors.  

The gap between the Yeti door mirror glass and the housing is very small and I was concerned that the Milenco mirror brackets would interfere but the salesperson at the caravan accessories shop assured me that they would fit and fitted them to my Yeti to prove it. When fitted they actually touched the door mirror glass, a very tight fit indeed.

I would endorse the use of the Milenco Aero 3 towing mirrors on the Yeti, but I think it is definitely necessary to try them on your own car to be sure that they will fit correctly. I would not advise trying to adjust the position of the door mirrors themselves once the Milenco mirrors are fitted, make sure they are correctly adjusted beforehand.

Adjusting the Milenco mirrors when fitted is not easy, as with all towing mirrors, so I made a template out of cardboard (which is easily cut) of the shape of the inside of the door mirror housing and made a mark on it of the position of the inner Milenco bracket, after fitting and adjusting correctly. I then used this to make a durable template from wood, which when turned over also fitted the other door mirror. By loosening only the two brackets that clamp onto the door mirror housing it is then possible, using the template, to fit the Milenco mirrors back into the same place and hence require the minimum of adjustment. Hopefully no adjustment will be needed, but in the real world at least it will be minimised.

I hope my experience with the Milenco Aero 3 mirrors proves useful to somebody else, just as other people's experiences have been most valuable to me.

PS. Why does it take so long to say so little?

I have used the Milenco mirrors for years, from about when they first came out, They have never given a moments concern and on my M class they are quite simply the best.

One big advantage of the Milenco's - not yet mentioned, is the spares situation.  When I changed several years ago to an E class Merc I thought that the clearance within the Mirror housing looked a bit tight, so I phoned Milenco for advice. The answer was immediate "We've just introduced new slimmer clamps especially to address that problem" they sent a set of the new clamps to my dealer. Problem solved!

Then when I changed to bigger 4x4's and wanted the "Grand Aero" style mirror heads I found that I could order those separately as well!

To be frank, I cannot visualise any circumstances that would lead me to use any other type of mirrors. Oh! And no, - despite years of use I have never known the mirror clamps damage any of my mirror housings on whatever car I was using.

TF

Sorry JCB, only just spotted this post from ages ago.  

I used Suck-it-and-see for years but changed to the Milenco Aero after reading good reports of them.

The only small problem I had with s-i-a-s was that occasionally they would slip down, especially just after having the car cleaned.  The other thing that one or two (not me) have expressed concern about is the weight put directly on the wing mirror glass itself.

As I have said, I am at the point of moving back to the s-i-a-s mirrors has I have found the Milenco mirrors fussy to adjust.

David 

I use the Reich Control towing mirrors. Not cheap but they are battery operated with a remote control handset, meaning I can set my towing mirrors with precision, from the driving seat, even if I am by myself. 

They clip onto the mirror's outer frame and are solid as a rock with two clips at the top and one underneath.

Just did a quick google search and at nearly £300 a pair, I'll stick with my Milenco grand aero's 

A bit too expensive for me