By law, are you required to have your mirror out ( versus folded back )

[COcyclist]

Cd, in my case I removed the passenger side mirror and often drive with the driver side mirror folded in on lightly trafficked 2 lane roads. I added a small rectangular “blind spot” mirror glued on at roughly 90 degrees to the driver’s side mirror so I have a view to the rear even with the mirror folded. I have a passenger “blind spot” mirror on the inside.

I did get pulled over one Sunday morning by a bored? police officer. She never mentioned the mirrors but after checking license and registration, let me go. For the record, I did have the inside rear view mirror and an outside mirror, if smaller than stock. Also, if I am on the Interstate I will often unfold the stock mirror to its original position. There are some speedy drivers out there even if you are at the posted limit and I want full visibility to the driver’s side.

[67-ls1]

Is a folded in mirror as aerodynamic as it is in its design position? You may be reducing frontal area and creating additional drag

[aerohead]

In 2014, 'folding' the mirrors on Spirit lowered the overall drag, and not allowing for reduced frontal area indicated a change, from Cd 0.267, to Cd 0.255.
Removing the mirrors indicated Cd 0.244, when not normalized to actual frontal area. There again though, overall drag was reduced.
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And we'd probably want to avoid generalizations, limiting discussion to vehicle-specific observations.

[COcyclist]

Originally Posted by Cd

What kind of a ticket am I looking at, and what all is involved after you get a ticket ? I'm assuming a fine, but also you have to appear in court in the town that you were stopped in, even if it is a thousand miles away ?

In my experience, your vehicle needs to be legal in the state it is registered in. I was living in New England with a car registered legally to my father in another state. The inspection sticker expired before I got home to renew it. I was ticketed for driving with an expired inspection sticker but soon got a notice in the mail to ignore the ticket because the local officer did not have jurisdiction over my vehicle. Now I own a car with Colorado registration that my daughter drives in the “rust belt” state where she lives. She has been pulled over but never ticketed when they find that the car is legally registered to me in Colorado.

Texas is a big state but hopefully not “thousands” of miles.