Are mirror guards effective please?

[carolyn]

we have a new van( it is currently back at IH but that's a whole other story) and were wondering about them. They sound like a good idea but the originals are £120 now, mind you I may let Nick drive it occasionally and he has little(NO) spatial awareness so if effective that sounds like a bargain. Thanks everyone.

 

[scousebird]

We've bought them cos Alan's dad once had one of his mirrors smashed and it cost a fortune to replace because of the indicator and they are heated

 

[Ninovan]

Definitely! saved my nearside mirror in a 30+ mph coming together with an un-noticed sticking out branch. The new ones have got extra foam padding inside. (Mirrorguard).

 

[hilldweller]

They are just like a crash helmet, have the right accident you win.

But in the Gorges du Verdon when a big Merc 4x4 came round a corner at warp speed nine and hit ours nothing would have saved it. If the guards are heavy then there is that much more weight slammed into your door and more damage will be done to the door.

Standard FIAT mirrors are pretty cheap on ebay.

 

[Jim]

These will offer you some protection. http://www.mirrorguard.co.uk/ All the others I've seen look like cosmetic copies offering no protection whatsoever.

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[StefAndDi]

These will offer you some protection. http://www.mirrorguard.co.uk/ All the others I've seen look like cosmetic copies offering no protection whatsoever.

+1

 

[injebreck99]

They don't offer protection against tractors!

 

[Old Soldier]

My thoughts are that manufacturers should stop manufacturing these costly and vulnerable mirrors. What idiot ever thought of adding indicators and heating elements to something that sticks out and is a obvious potential danger point on a large vehicle?
Mirrors are what they are, an aid to seeing what is happening behind, that's all. Why have repeater indicators mounted on them?, can't those on the side of the wing be seen just as well?. Never had heating elements on mine, never needed them in this part of Europe so why have them. My basic Fiat mirrors do the job and can be replaced for less than the cost of these mirror guards, let alone the extortionate cost of modern mirrors.

 

[eddie]

These will offer you some protection. http://www.mirrorguard.co.uk/ All the others I've seen look like cosmetic copies offering no protection whatsoever.

I agree, like most things in life, the original is thought through designed and manufactured with the product and the performance the prime factor. So often the cheaper copy is just that a cheap copy.

Sadly there are many companies that have a copy of many products in their portfolio, all facsimiles of the original.

 

[Welsh girl]

We had someone hit ours which broke the mirror guard ands also the mirror.
We took it back to the fella that sold it to us with a lifetime guarantee. He's since taken off that claim. He stuck the mirror guard together with glue, it hid the broken mirror casing, we traded it in like that and it passed an mot.

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[Cal54]

Less of an issue on PVC's as these are nearly always 'short' arms as opposed to the long arms on coachbuilt. Thought about them but decided against as my current MH is a PVC.

 

[injebreck99]

Less of an issue on PVC's as these are nearly always 'short' arms as opposed to the long arms on coachbuilt. Thought about them but decided against as my current MH is a PVC.

I have fitted a short arm version to my drivers side after the tractor incident, but with a slight-loss of vision.
Why manufacturers do not offer electrically fold in mirrors is a nuisance, my X Trail had them and my wife's i20 has them, very useful, and I used them often.

 

[TerryL]

Although I've managed to avoid hitting, or being hit since I fitted them, the white mirrorguards make the van look wider from the front and it's been obvious that oncoming vehicles tend to give us a wider berth.

 

[Dave K]

After getting my wing mirror smashed by a lorry in a small Cornish village recently I'm definitely getting some, £150 for a replacement wing mirror and they're very vulnerable

 

[carolyn]

Thank you everyone, I think I will get on and order a set.

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[glenm]

Definitely a good buy I caught a thick tree branch on nearside cracked the mirror guard but no damage to the mirror thank goodness bought a single replacement guard

 

[DomingoDeSantaClara]

As an HGV driver for most of my life I can safely say they have saved many very expensive mirrors. Wagons I've driven without them didn't stand a chance against a branch or oncoming HGV. Personally I would just buy cheap knockoffs,they do the job and sacrifice themselves first.