I’m getting prepared to pick up CAB in a few weeks. So far I order a windscreen from Ev, bought a rear seat electric blanket for my daughter, and spent about $100 on car care products. I have my first mod all set to go with a clear bra and window tint install . Below are some decisions I still haven’t figured out.

I’m still wrestling whether to go Multivex or other side mirror view enhancement. At $80, they seem way to proud of their mirrors. I guess I ‘m looking to exhaust all other options before going this route.

I’ve got all but two programming choices set. First whether to turn on the driving daytime headlight feature. I have order the Xenons and was wondering if this takes life off the lights? How much to replace bulbs? Has anyone kept this off, but instead wired there driving/fog lights on?

The second is whether to turn on the Speed Dependent Windshield Wipers. Anyone use this? Sounds like a great option in theory, but just wondering what you all who have it think.

Lastly, with respect to roof care, is there anything I need to do going into the winter? Here in CO they use magchloride on the roads. It’s nasty stuff on a car. But reading from you folks that you don’t wash the roof, only rinse it, I’m not sure if that will be enough to get mag chloride off. So is the factory protectant enough to get me through the winter? Will all the road crap rinse off, or will I need to do something different.

 

See comments above

 

I ordered the mutivex mirrors for my car. They are well engineered and they are easy to install. They also do what the manufacturer claims and give you a LOT of visibility.

However, there is a little more to the story. You do eliminate blind spots and can see an amazing amount of what is around you. But you may find that you can't really judge where the object that you can see is in relation to the car. I tried them for a month and that was the complaint that I had.

The manufacturer gives very good instructions about how to actually look at these mirrors. If you do what they say, then you get a good picture, but if you try to look at them the same way that you would a conventional mirror, you may have some vision issues.

My daughter didn't get where she could see in them at all and my son-in-law would actually have eye problems when he looked in them.

Sooo, yes there are blind spots, but they aren't too bad and the "cure" may be worse than the problem depending on how you view things.

Still, what is better than having the top down and road going by?

 

You really only need the passenger side multivex. Thats where the worst blind spot is. I have found that if you can see the car in the multivex and at the same time see a piece of the same car[rear quarter or more] in your rearview mirror it is safe to change lanes. The multivex is very useful when backing out of parkinf spaces too.

 

See follow up comments above. Thanks zinvestor

 

I think the Multivex Mirrors are the most thing I added to my Cabrio. I find that there can be a car next to me on the driver's side that I don't see without the mirrors (I'm short 5'4" and this may limit my ability to see over the top folde up in the back). I have complete confidence with these mirrors and have never felt so confident about what was around me in any car. It does take a little practice to figure out exactly how close a car is to you.

 

I don't believe your height is much of a factor. I'm about 6' and the visibility sucks. One of the first things I noticed during my test drives was that the rear visibility is blocked by the roll bars/rear headrests even when the top is down. Maybe once I own this beast, I'll be able to adjust the seat height to minimize this impact. I'm less concerned about the rear view visibility than the side view, especially passenger side when the top is up.

About 10 years ago I had a similar type of mirror on the passenger side of my accord. It was just a cheap round convex mirror I picked up at Checker. I liked the added visiblity it provided, but when it eventually fell off I never replaced it. I assume that the Multvex is functionally identical, but cut to size and overpriced. I guess I'll wait and see how bad the visiblity is and if I can deal with it, but I'm anticipating needing something. Anyone ever seen a rearview mirror enhancement which provided side visibility? Seems like this would be a good solution.

 

On the speed sensitive wipers, it's more than just slowing the frequency at a stop. I don't know the exact algorithm, but something like one wipe every 8 seconds at a stop, one every 6 seconds up to 30mph, etc. And one every 2-3 seconds above maybe 50 or 60. They work ok. Nothing beats an actual moisture sensor (I had rain sensing wipers on a Peugeot in Europe- fantastic), I think speed sensitive is a good compromise between a single speed and infinitely adjustable interval wipers (which I can never get set right anyhow). I recommend them.

 

I'm pretty much ambivalent about them, they're ok the way they are, but if it was turned off I probably wouldn't care. That's why I didn't make a recommendation.

 

The multivex really is NOT the same animal as those stick on convex mirrors - it has a graduated bend so the half nearest you is flatter, and the outer half is more curved. And it's VERY optically bright/clear glass - much clearer than the OEM mirrors... I know it sounds like a lot of money (and is)... but it's a heckuva mirror - way, way, way different than the auto parts store stick on variety. But yep, they take getting used to. But I'll never be without them in my primary car again - they're that good...

 

Are you saying there is a setting which makes the wipers speed sensitive so they slow down as your speed decreases and speed up as it increases? I believe I'm talking about something a little different. In the literature I read, this is a setting which lowers the speed of the wipers one level when the car comes to a stop.....or so I thought. I wasn't aware there was either a setting or an option for speed sensitive wipers. Only the rain sensitive you mentioned.


Ok, so with them being that much brighter and with the wider range do you find any problems from headlights at night? Do you use/recommend them on both sides?

 

No problems at night - the added "brightness" really appears as "higher resolution" - hard to understand until you see it in person. I've driven many thousand miles at night and headlights in the Mulitvexes have never bothered me.

I started with one only on the passenger side, and with one of the funky interior autobahn mirrors on the driver's side. I switched to a driver's side multivex also and like it much better. Some folks don't like what it does to their depth perception. Me, I love it. Yeah, you can set your mirror out to see a lot - but with the multivex, I can see all the way from the back of the car around the side, and NEVER need to look over my shoulder... which is handy in traffic...

 

Good information Blimey, thanks.