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ultimatehandyman
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 9740
Location: Darwen, Lancashire
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 Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:53 pm Post subject: Cheap van Mirrors |
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Here is a moneysaving tip for Cheap van Mirrors or even car mirrors.
To replace a mirror on my van it costs about £25 just for the mirror glass itself. If a van gets too close to mine and just clips the mirror it shatters into pieces and is rendered useless, but here is a good maney saving tip-
Mirrored Perspex is available or mirrored acrylic, it is sold by most acrylic wholesalers. You can buy it in sheets that are roughly 4mm thick and they can be bought in any size. I had a piece in the garage that was roughly a meter square and this would be large enough for a lifetimes worth of van mirrors.
Here is my broken old mirror-
This is the mirror perspex sheet
Here the mirror is placed on top of the mirror perspex and the masking.
It is then drawn around and cut out using a jigsaw and wearing saftey glasses.
You then have a perspex van mirror, glue this to the existing van mirror using mirror mate silicone, let it cure and then replace the mirror onto the vehicle.
This will save a fortune in the long run and the beautly is that if it gets a slight knock again it will not break, like the glass mirror would.
There are plenty of places that stock this, just do a google for mirror perspex 
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peter c
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Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Posts: 333
Location: Suffolk
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:23 am Post subject: |
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UHM I wish I had known about that. The door mirror on my car cost £275 + VAT for the glass alone. I now drive down country lanes with the mirrors folded in! 
Peter C
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handyman
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Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 2863
Location: Alderley Edge, Cheshire
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:30 am Post subject: |
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presuming its ok to pass the mot, you would think it would be cheaper to produce in that stuff instead of glass, so why dont they so this?
FFS peter, £300 for a bit of mirror 
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peter c
Senior Member
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Posts: 333
Location: Suffolk
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:35 am Post subject: |
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Handy I should have said the car has self dipping mirrors and unfortunately (for me) it is an expensive German car with a three pronged star. Next time I will definitely buy a Ford, spares are a lot cheaper. 
Peter C
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ultimatehandyman
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 9740
Location: Darwen, Lancashire
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:35 am Post subject: |
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| handyman wrote: |
presuming its ok to pass the mot, you would think it would be cheaper to produce in that stuff instead of glass, so why dont they so this?
FFS peter, £300 for a bit of mirror |
You can hardly tell the difference between real mirror glass and perspex mirror. You can even buy some really thin mirror plastic in some car accessory shops that you cut to shape with scissors and then stick over your existing mirror using sticky pads, but it is really thin and distorts and so it is like being in the house of fun at Blackpool pleasure beach. The mirror perspex is ideal and does not distort. I'll take a picture when I get time
The Mot does not test such things, they do not even test to see if your speedo is working or if your seat is fastened to the floor.
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Hoovie
Devon DIYer
Joined: 27 Jul 2007
Posts: 8036
Location: East Devon
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:31 am Post subject: |
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| ultimatehandyman wrote: |
| handyman wrote: |
presuming its ok to pass the mot, you would think it would be cheaper to produce in that stuff instead of glass, so why dont they so this?
FFS peter, £300 for a bit of mirror |
You can hardly tell the difference between real mirror glass and perspex mirror. You can even buy some really thin mirror plastic in some car accessory shops that you cut to shape with scissors and then stick over your existing mirror using sticky pads, but it is really thin and distorts and so it is like being in the house of fun at Blackpool pleasure beach. The mirror perspex is ideal and does not distort. I'll take a picture when I get time
The Mot does not test such things, they do not even test to see if your speedo is working or if your seat is fastened to the floor. |
I would guess that the Perspex mirror material would tend to scratch slighly over time compared to glass, so glass would be the better material, but at that price difference, the perspex would do me
I bought a Renault 12 with a collapsed drivers seat frame and it passed the MOT no problem 
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ultimatehandyman
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 9740
Location: Darwen, Lancashire
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:39 am Post subject: |
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| peter c wrote: |
Handy I should have said the car has self dipping mirrors and unfortunately (for me) it is an expensive German car with a three pronged star. Next time I will definitely buy a Ford, spares are a lot cheaper.
Peter C |
I used to have one of those, but I think it was only the interior mirror that dimmed, but to replace the M3 mirrors on the doors would of been very expensive.
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Foggy
Senior Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2007
Posts: 1249
Location: Lincoln
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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didnt think van drivers used mirrors 
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ultimatehandyman
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 9740
Location: Darwen, Lancashire
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Foggy wrote: |
| didnt think van drivers used mirrors |
They are handy for seeing what you hit a few seconds earlier
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Foggy
Senior Member
Joined: 13 Oct 2007
Posts: 1249
Location: Lincoln
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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Button will win F1 championship 2009
(might not be with Honda though) |
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lockie
Senior Member
Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 229
Location: dan sarf
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| My van mirrors are heated any idea on how to do those on the cheap ? |
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Hoovie
Devon DIYer
Joined: 27 Jul 2007
Posts: 8036
Location: East Devon
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| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:23 am Post subject: |
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It is worth keeping an eye on ebay for door mirrors - blokes breaking vans, etc.
I spotted a pair of door mirrors for my Honda a few years ago at £20 each (Dealer price £150).
Bought them just in case. When I sold the car, I stuck 'em back on eBay and made good money on them
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I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?"
She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose. |
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ultimatehandyman
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 9740
Location: Darwen, Lancashire
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| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:33 am Post subject: |
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| lockie wrote: |
| My van mirrors are heated any idea on how to do those on the cheap ? |
I think the ones that are for my van are heated mirrors, but the van does not have the required electrics installed. You can only buy the mirror Glass with the heating element installed for my van.
I'd just stick mirror perspex on, it is rarely cold enough to freeze severely anymore over here
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Hoovie
Devon DIYer
Joined: 27 Jul 2007
Posts: 8036
Location: East Devon
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| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:16 am Post subject: |
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| ultimatehandyman wrote: |
| I think the ones that are for my van are heated mirrors, but the van does not have the required electrics installed. |
You could always add the wiring (fitted electric heated seat elements to my RAV4 couple of months ago ready for the winter - toasty  )
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I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?"
She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose. |
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