MAINTENANCE TIPS Kerala

Motorly Editorial · 06 Jul 2026 · 1 views

Nearly every driver adjusts their side mirrors the same way, angling them so they can see a sliver of their own car's body along the inside edge, and nearly every driver's doing it in a way that guarantees a blind spot. It feels reassuring, like a reference point — but that reference point is exactly what costs visibility where it actually matters. Your interior rearview mirror already covers the area directly behind you. The traditional side-mirror setup angles the side mirrors to overlap that same central field, meaning all three mirrors show overlapping coverage of the same zone, while the actual blind spot — just behind and to the side, exactly where a bike sits in Kerala's mixed traffic, or where a car is mid-overtake on the NH — gets covered by nothing at all. That's the gap where you check your mirrors, see nothing, and still nearly hit something changing lanes. The fix, sometimes called the no-overlap setup, feels wrong for the first week before it clicks: sit in your normal driving position, lean your head to touch the driver's window, and adjust that side mirror outward until you can just barely see the side of your own car from that leaned position. Sit back up straight — your car should now be almost invisible in that mirror. Repeat on the passenger side, leaning toward the centre console this time. What this does: each side mirror now covers exactly where the rearview's coverage ends rather than overlapping it, giving a continuous handoff as a vehicle passes, instead of a dead zone where it vanishes from every mirror right as it's alongside you. It genuinely feels strange the first few drives, and it's tempting to nudge back toward the familiar setup — push through that. The real test: next time a bike overtakes on a two-lane Kerala road, watch whether it stays visible through your side mirror right up until you see it directly out the side window. If there's a gap where it vanishes from every mirror, the angle still needs adjusting outward a touch more. Two more things worth doing at the same time: angle the interior rearview to frame just the rear windscreen, since the side mirrors now handle the sides, and actually use the anti-glare flip tab at night — Kerala's inconsistent highway lighting makes unfiltered following-vehicle glare a genuinely needless strain the flip exists specifically to solve.

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