At 09:50 AM 11/23/2004, you wrote:
>many of the Vanagons I see on the road show this same situation; left mirror
>OK, right-side mirror obviously out of kilter.
>
>I've always wondered if there is some physical explaination (e.g.,
>precession induced by a rotating load

My theory on the Flopped Right Mirror phenomenon is that the right hand
mirror is more likely to be bumped out of kilter in parking lots by the
driver getting into his car parked to your right. The left mirror is less
likely to get bumped because the person parked on your left doesn't
necessarily have a passenger, but the car on your right will ALWAYS have a
driver. Since the right mirror get whacked more often, the ball joint wears
faster than on the left. As the vehicle ages, it gets worse. Also, some of
the right mirrors you see out of kilter might have been "freshly bumped"
and the driver just hasn't been able to adjust it yet. Ugh. I think I've
thought about this one too much.

John Bange
'90 Vanagon "Geldsauger"