Dreaded Fiat coachbuilt mirrors (1 Viewer)

Nov 18, 2011
91
89
cheshire
Funster No
18,934
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
since 2001
Its happened again white van man absolouteley wrecked my left hand mirror big time, whilst driving down nr Saumar looking for a chateau aire stopover, he did stop, I think he thought he had taken the side of my van out, which was inches away, he did pick the pieces up for me,whats knock for knock in French.Had to drive the rest of the way to the new Marjal site in Spain by myself with no offside mirror probably illegal, I had to adjust the rear view camera to give me a chance of survival.After my first smashed mirror on this van, I suppose I have come to accept the stupid design of this mirror at £300 a go its no joke,in its way, as bad as the reversing problems they had in the early days.
At each major place on the way down I tried to find a Fiat dealer, helped by an old Medion sat nav, not the £400 snooper which is useless, unless you want to use it for a tv,due to Medion not being updated by myself the dealers were still there are they had shut down, are typical of my breed there was a language problem, my fault entirely, in fact the only words I know in French or Spanish are do you speak English, this only breeds intolerance in the person you are talking to, and rightly so, I think I would react the same.Anyway got to Marjal, still no mirror,after 3 days my neighbour a Dutchman was visited by a trader, obviously attending to his motorhome,I managed to collar him, he was a young German lad who spoke enough English , which I didnt enquire of, Im learning,told him of my problem, he said he would do what he could, he rung me back 3 days laterto say it would be possible for him to source a mirror, although I know he had terrible trouble between Fiat and Dethleffs in finding the correct info.
Within the week he came one morning with the mirror fitted in 30 mins,and charged me less than the one I had to replace and fit myself 12 months previous,his garage is in Benijofar"Dannys Garage" 966 715 321 a job well done.Sorry for going on so long. Ronboyracer:ROFLMAO:
 
Jun 15, 2010
183
45
glasgow
Funster No
12,104
MH
banger autotrail
Exp
1979
Its happened again white van man absolouteley wrecked my left hand mirror big time, whilst driving down nr Saumar looking for a chateau aire stopover, he did stop, I think he thought he had taken the side of my van out, which was inches away, he did pick the pieces up for me,whats knock for knock in French.Had to drive the rest of the way to the new Marjal site in Spain by myself with no offside mirror probably illegal, I had to adjust the rear view camera to give me a chance of survival.After my first smashed mirror on this van, I suppose I have come to accept the stupid design of this mirror at £300 a go its no joke,in its way, as bad as the reversing problems they had in the early days.
At each major place on the way down I tried to find a Fiat dealer, helped by an old Medion sat nav, not the £400 snooper which is useless, unless you want to use it for a tv,due to Medion not being updated by myself the dealers were still there are they had shut down, are typical of my breed there was a language problem, my fault entirely, in fact the only words I know in French or Spanish are do you speak English, this only breeds intolerance in the person you are talking to, and rightly so, I think I would react the same.Anyway got to Marjal, still no mirror,after 3 days my neighbour a Dutchman was visited by a trader, obviously attending to his motorhome,I managed to collar him, he was a young German lad who spoke enough English , which I didnt enquire of, Im learning,told him of my problem, he said he would do what he could, he rung me back 3 days laterto say it would be possible for him to source a mirror, although I know he had terrible trouble between Fiat and Dethleffs in finding the correct info.
Within the week he came one morning with the mirror fitted in 30 mins,and charged me less than the one I had to replace and fit myself 12 months previous,his garage is in Benijofar"Dannys Garage" 966 715 321 a job well done.Sorry for going on so long. Ronboyracer:ROFLMAO:
must be the worst design of a mirror ever. more suitable for towing a caravan
 
OP
OP
R
Nov 18, 2011
91
89
cheshire
Funster No
18,934
MH
coachbuilt
Exp
since 2001
More money

Hi u 2, Ive seen them, I tell you they will have to be bloody good to protect an impact, the only difference I can see is paying out £400 instead £300 sorry. Ronboyracer.:ROFLMAO:
 

stcyr

Free Member
Apr 11, 2011
1,765
1,160
Normandie
Funster No
16,005
MH
A class
Exp
On & off, since 1966 - fulltime since 2005
Sorry to hear about the misadventure! Just a thought, I know a coachbuilt's body swells out behind the cab but do the mirrors really have to jut out so far? Just wondered if the standard van (shorter arms) would actually give good enough vision - has anyone actually tried? They're a lot cheaper although it's only the arms which are shorter...?

(We lost a mirror some years back in Italy and had to cobble together a small car mirror. It worked fine and stayed on till we sold her on a couple of years later.)

:RollEyes:
 
Feb 27, 2011
14,671
74,885
UK
Funster No
15,452
MH
Self Build
Exp
Since 2005
I bought mine off ebay. Less than £100. They do standard ducato and long arm ones. Not sure if you have got non fiat ones on your Motorhome or not?

I fitted them myself, very straight forward job if you have the long allen keys to get the door interior off. 3 bolts and 2 plugs if memory serves.

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steveclecy

Free Member
Jun 10, 2009
880
580
Wirral
Funster No
7,066
MH
C Class
Exp
Since June 2009
Just Googling "Coach Mirrors" eventually came across this site.

No idea of the quality but prices seem sensible. Would these fit, I wonder?

Steve
 

peter marshall

Free Member
Mar 5, 2009
2,466
1,704
Cleveleys,Lancashire
Funster No
5,822
MH
Low Line
Exp
9 Years
I'm definately going to invest in a set of these:
http://www.mirrorguard.co.uk/
Geoff.

Hi Geoff
I have just fitted them to my van , they look good and should give a bit more protection, my right hand mirror was damaged the covers also hide that, a bit dear but worth it, I would have had the silver ones but he only had white or black at the time I ordered them before we went to Spain. Pete :thumb::thumb:
 

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