Heated Extension Towing Mirrors in a Standard Duty Specification

Extension mirrors: heated glass for winter towing, which is the one condition in which a towing mirror is most needed and least usable.

Towing is the one thing you can buy for a car where the wrong part is not merely disappointing. Every towbar listing here states the type approval number, the D value, the maximum noseweight and whether the bumper has to be cut, because those four facts decide whether a bar is legal on your vehicle and whether it will pull what you want to pull. Every electrical listing says plainly whether it is a dedicated loom or a universal one with a bypass relay, and what each will and will not do. We would rather lose a sale to a cheaper part than sell you one that does not fit.

Specification

• Fits: most door mirrors up to 200mm across. Send us the vehicle and we will confirm, because a few modern mirrors have shapes that nothing clamps to neatly
• Approval: E marked to UNECE R46, which is the standard a road legal mirror has to meet. An unmarked mirror is not legal equipment
• Rating: rated to motorway speeds on the clamp on models. The strap on versions are legal at any speed and will buzz above about sixty, which we would rather say than not
• D value: not applicable, this is an accessory rather than a load bearing towing part
• Noseweight: not applicable
• Ball height: not applicable
• Electrics: a 12 volt feed for the heated glass
• Fitting time: two minutes a side once you have done it once, and about ten the first time
• Bumper: not applicable
• Materials: the standard specification, which covers the great majority of cars and caravans on UK roads
• Weight: approximately 3.6 kilograms the pair
• Guarantee: two years
• The law: If the caravan or trailer is wider than the towing vehicle, the law requires you to have an adequate view along both sides, and in practice that means extension mirrors. The requirement is a view of a four metre strip beside the trailer at twenty metres behind the driver's eye, under the Road Vehicles Construction and Use Regulations. It is enforced, and the fine and the points are real.
• Field of view: set so you can see four metres out from the side of the caravan at twenty metres behind you. There is a setting guide in the box with a diagram
• Remove them: towing mirrors must come off when you are not towing, because a mirror that projects beyond the legal width without a trailer behind it is itself an offence
• Vibration: straps will hum above sixty. It is the trade off for the price and it is not a fault

What arrives

• a pair of mirrors
• the straps or clamps
• a setting guide with a field of view diagram
• a carry case where included

Fitting

Two minutes a side. Set them with the caravan actually attached, standing where you sit, and use the diagram in the box: the target is a view four metres out from the caravan's side at twenty metres behind you. Take them off when you unhitch.

Before you order

If the caravan or trailer is wider than the towing vehicle, the law requires you to have an adequate view along both sides, and in practice that means extension mirrors. The requirement is a view of a four metre strip beside the trailer at twenty metres behind the driver's eye, under the Road Vehicles Construction and Use Regulations. It is enforced, and the fine and the points are real. Given that, the decision is straps or clamps. Straps are forty pounds and hum on a motorway. Clamps are twice that, fit in half the time and are noticeably steadier. If you tow more than twice a year, buy the clamps.