Best golf cart mirrors: folding side mirrors and 5-panel rearviews

Buy a pair of folding convex side mirrors that clamp to your front roof struts, and add a 5-panel rearview on the roof edge if you carry passengers behind you. Together they cost about 55 to 120 dollars and cover what most town ordinances and the federal LSV rule ask for. The only thing to get right is the strut size: most carts use a square strut about 1 inch across, and the 1994 to 2013 EZGO TXT uses a 3/4-inch one.

Golf cart mirrors are one part of the lights and street-legal section. If you are working toward a street-legal cart, the street-legal guide has the full checklist; if you are adding signals at the same time, the turn signal page pairs with the LED-signal mirrors below.

What the rules generally ask for

The federal LSV standard requires an exterior mirror on the driver’s side plus either an interior rearview mirror or a second exterior mirror on the passenger side. Most local golf cart ordinances borrow that language or simply say “a rearview mirror”. The practical reading is the same either way: a driver-side mirror at minimum, and a passenger-side or center mirror to go with it.

A pair of side mirrors satisfies the two-exterior version. A single driver-side mirror plus a 5-panel on the roof edge satisfies the driver-plus-interior version. Owners who want to be covered under any reading run all three, which is about 60 dollars of parts. Where a town’s list is specific, read it; this page describes the common pattern, not any one jurisdiction.

Side mirrors: strut-mount or windshield-mount

Strut-mount is the standard. The front roof struts sit beside the windshield at the right height, and a clamp with a ball joint puts the mirror where you want it. Folding arms matter more than they sound: a cart garage, a tight parking space at the clubhouse or a kid walking past takes a fixed arm off within the year.

Windshield-mount is the fallback. Some side mirrors bolt to the windshield frame or the dash, and a center mirror clamps to the top edge of the windshield glass. Use these on a cart without a roof, or when the struts are already carrying a speaker bar, a cooler bracket or an enclosure track.

Strut sizes by make

The clamp is the whole fitment question, and it is simpler than it looks. Nearly every Club Car, EZGO and Yamaha front strut is square aluminum tube about 1 inch across, which is why windshield clips and universal mirror clamps are sold in 3/4, 1 and 1-1/4 inch square sizes. Clamps made for square struts say “not for round bars” for a reason: they will not grip a round tube.

Cart	Front strut	What to buy
Club Car DS	Square, about 1 inch	1-inch square clamp
Club Car Precedent, Onward, Tempo	Square, about 1 inch	1-inch square clamp
EZGO TXT 1994 to 2013	Square, 3/4 inch	3/4-inch clamp or insert
EZGO TXT 2014 on, RXV	Square, about 1 inch	1-inch square clamp
Yamaha G-series, Drive, Drive2	Square, about 1 inch	1-inch square clamp

Aftermarket roofs and extended tops sometimes use their own struts, and a few utility carts use round tube. Measure the strut with a tape before ordering, or buy a mirror that ships with all three clamp sizes. If you are unsure of the model year, the fitment pages for Club Car, EZGO and Yamaha explain how to read the serial plate, and the fitment finder narrows it from make and year.

The 5-panel rearview

A car has a rear window; a cart has a rear seat, a bag well or a flip seat with people in it. The 5-panel mirror is the cart answer: five flat panels angled across a 20 to 24 inch housing give close to a 180 degree view behind and beside the cart in one glance. It mounts to the roof’s front edge above the windshield or to a front strut with a clamp.

It is also the cheapest way to satisfy the interior mirror part of the LSV rule. The downside is that a loaded rear-facing seat blocks the center panels, which is why most owners run it with side mirrors rather than instead of them.

LED signal mirrors

On a cart, the front turn signal lamps sit on the cowl, about knee height to the driver of a pickup behind you. A mirror with an amber LED strip in the housing puts the signal at eye level. They wire in parallel with your existing front signals off the same flasher, so they need a turn signal kit already on the cart. If you are converting to an LSV and want the cart seen in traffic, they are worth the extra 40 dollars over plain mirrors.

Which mirrors for your cart

Situation	Buy
Neighborhood cart, occasional street use	RHOX or budget folding pair
Rear flip seat, passengers behind you	Folding pair plus 5-panel
Street-legal or LSV conversion	Folding pair plus 5-panel, or LED signal mirrors plus 5-panel
No roof	Windshield-clamp center mirror plus dash-bracket side mirrors
Struts already full	Windshield-clamp center mirror

Install: fifteen minutes

Open the clamp, set it on the strut at about shoulder height, fit the insert if the strut needs one, and tighten the screws in turns so the clamp seats evenly. Set the mirror on the ball joint and tighten the joint until it holds against road vibration but still adjusts by hand. Sit in the driver’s seat and set each mirror so the edge of the cart body is just visible at the inside edge of the glass.

For a 5-panel on the roof edge, mark the center, drill two small holes in the roof lip or use the strut clamp, and set it so a tall driver clears it. Signal mirrors add a wire run down the strut to the front signal lamps; tape or sleeve it where it enters the cowl.

What goes with mirrors

Mirrors are the quick item on the street-legal list. The seat belt guide is the slow one, the light kit guide is the expensive one, and the LSV explainer explains what the whole list adds up to.