Any ideas on how to prevent glare in side mirrors?

bmninada

Contributor
:
2016 CX-5 AWD GT+iActive Soul Red
I have a small problem with light glare. The driver side mirror reflect back into my eyes a lot of headlight glare. This is NOT car's fault or design or anything like that but wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to cut down the glare? Is there any after-market film or something which can prevent the glare reflection? I am very happy with the internal rear view mirror and if at least I can achieve 50% of the glare cut it'd be awesome.
 
I would second the recommendation for tinting the front windows. 20% will match the rears perfectly. If you are unwilling to tint the windows I'd still suggest you reach out to some tint shops in your area, they may have some "clear" tint with anti glare coatings that you could apply to the windows and or the rear view mirrors. You could also look into those films for laptops and tablets that reduce glare but I don't know how much that is going to cut down on headlights shining in the mirrors.

Also, you may not have your side mirrors adjusted properly if you are getting a lot of headlights at you. Your side mirrors should be adjusted so that you can not see any of the side of your car. Its an old habit to set the side mirrors so that you can see behind you and see some of your car in the side mirrors as well. Here is a link that describes the proper way to adjust your side mirrors:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots
Hope that helps some.
 
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I have a small problem with light glare. The driver side mirror reflect back into my eyes a lot of headlight glare. This is NOT car's fault or design or anything like that but wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to cut down the glare? Is there any after-market film or something which can prevent the glare reflection? I am very happy with the internal rear view mirror and if at least I can achieve 50% of the glare cut it'd be awesome.
You'll find "blue-tinted" outside rear view mirrors on many high-end cars such as our BMW 528i. They effectively reduce glare just like you wanted. I've seen people are selling those blue-tinted mirrors on eBay or AliExpress but not sure if there is one for our CX-5.
 
I would second the recommendation for tinting the front windows. 20% will match the rears perfectly. If you are unwilling to tint the windows I'd still suggest you reach out to some tint shops in your area, they may have some "clear" tint with anti glare coatings that you could apply to the windows and or the rear view mirrors. You could also look into those films for laptops and tablets that reduce glare but I don't know how much that is going to cut down on headlights shining in the mirrors.

Also, you may not have your side mirrors adjusted properly if you are getting a lot of headlights at you. Your side mirrors should be adjusted so that you can not see any of the side of your car. Its an old habit to set the side mirrors so that you can see behind you and see some of your car in the side mirrors as well. Here is a link that describes the proper way to adjust your side mirrors:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots
Hope that helps some.

Excellent but the issue I have is two fold. 1: I have a severe migraine problem and bright lights or on off flashes of bright light hit me bad. About adjustments yes: I tried that. But, I have a horrible parking location which requires me to see the side of the car. Very difficult to explain. I can't remember every darn time to re-adjust the mirrors before moving out of the parking lot. However, I'll try to see what can be done.
 
You'll find "blue-tinted" outside rear view mirrors on many high-end cars such as our BMW 528i. They effectively reduce glare just like you wanted. I've seen people are selling those blue-tinted mirrors on eBay or AliExpress but not sure if there is one for our CX-5.

Thank you! I'll definitely look into it or at least if some tinting can be added directly into the mirrors.
 
Unfortunately I can't add ANY tints to front windows, NJ law prohibits tinting front windows.

is it an offense that will they can pull you over for or just one that they could tack on if they felt like after getting you for something else? In WI they can't pull you over for it. My cousin who is sheriffs department detective told me to go ahead with it, he does to all his cars and at 33 years old I'm unlikely to be given any trouble for it. I didn't go extremely dark, just matched the rear windows.

Sucks to hear about your migraine issues, I can't imagine how that has to suck. Like I said, I would try to contact a tint shop and see what they say, they could even maybe use something like 50% tint or lighter on the mirrors themselves to help take the sting out of the on coming lights.
 
You might want to be careful applying the tint to the mirrors. I don't know if you have the heated mirrors but I don't know if the tint will effect the heated mirrors at all.
 
You might want to be careful applying the tint to the mirrors. I don't know if you have the heated mirrors but I don't know if the tint will effect the heated mirrors at all.
bmninada's CX-5 GT definitely has heated outside mirrors. I found the heated mirrors are not very effective anyway, almost couldn't feel the warmth and the ice didn't melt for a long time during a couple of times I was using them. Besides, rear window heating elements seem to be working well with those tint films.
 
"I have a horrible parking location which requires me to see the side of the car."

Get a pair of those small round blind spot mirrors for the outside mirrors. You can see the sides of the car, parking space lines, and the curb.
 
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