Changing wing mirrors on nuevo/Lancashire

Has anyone replaced long arm mirrors with short arm on a peugeot boxer? Or do you know how much narrower this will make the vehicle? Is it worth the effort now lost two mirrors in smaller roads with go faster vans going the other way

I’d think it more important to keep the longer armed mirrors to maintain the field of vision they provide. Long arm mirrors are used for a very good reason - to provide the required field of vision - and replacing them could leave you in breach of the law and, in the event of an accident, your insurer could reject a claim if you alter something which may be contrary to the vehicle's type approval.

I have posted about my mirror incidents in the past. If you haven't got any then it is worth investing in mirror guards.

Yes I invested in guards after the first incident and it has saved the whole mirror in the subsequent encounters, but they do seem vulnerable even with the nearside in the hedge some people just want to drive down country lanes at ridiculous speeds and don't seem to notice the mirror. Thinking of a reflective dot as a possible solution

Shove some black and yellow hazard tape on them. If using a reflective product, don't use anything red as red is only legal if facing rearwards. 

I'm afraid mirror knocks go with the territory on motorhomes. We lost the offside mirror on our Sprinter to another Sprinter on Orkney of all places.

Our previous van had ‘short arm ‘ mirrors and I wouldn’t recommend them. However awkward the ‘long ones are they give considerably more vision I think.

Are the longer arms not also useful to the driver as a visual guide to the widest part of the van? Apart from the reduced rearward vision from narrower mirror locations, it would be daft to get the mirrors thro' a narrow gap which damaged the body.
Having driven onto Anglesey a zillion times over the last 40 years over the Menai bridge without thinking about it, I was somewhat alarmed to find that our A-S Stanton was wider than the max indicated on the sign.... too late to turn back, nowhere to go... I reckon we had an inch either side of the mirrors on the first arch but the one on the island was a bit less. Think about that if shorter mirrors had been fitted! 

I have changed mine from long to short, after losing one to a white van, and it's the single best mod I've made to the van. To those of you thinking of doing this but fear a reduced field of vision it depends on the width of your van. Our van is German built and is 2.2mts wide and my field of vision is better, I can now see straight(parallel) down the side of the van, instead of actually looking at it as wide mirrors distort the view, now making tight manoeuvring a breeze. However the best feature is that they sit tight to the front quarter light window and now I have no fear of narrow lanes or tight gateways. I think that coach buiders don't specify the length of the mirrors on supplied chassis and often put long arms on all vans regardless of their widths. For those of you in doubt ask yourself why are they available in 3 lengths. Also as an experienced one time HGV driver I know what I'm talking about and total vehicle width is more important to me than the length behind my vision.
Rich..
Edit...I don't believe in mirror guards.

I don’t recommend it, did it on our Nuevo and wouldn’t do it again, you lose considerable rear view without much other benefit. Do as others and get mirror guards and just be careful at narrow spots.

Thanks for all the comments. Being careful is what I do, but you cannot allow for the on coming traffic which seems to proceed regardless.
My favourite comment was " I thought that was going to be close", well why didn't you slow down? the only consolation ( if it is ) was that his van fared worse with the quarter light and mirror disappearing, but I would prefer not to face the stress of these events.

Remember if you do fit shorter mirrors, it could be the side of your Lancashire next time that gets hit.

Fitting shorter mirrors has given me much more confidence in tight places. In country lanes I can drive closer to the hedge and present a narrower profile to oncoming traffic and I don't have to lower the window to pull the mirror in. Remember with long mirrors you have to drive nearer the centre of the road to avoid clipping the hedge. Now I think when I'm driving down a narrow lane...if DPD can deliver a parcel down here then I can get through. Also my field of vision has not changed because the mirrors are closer to me than they were before. However as I said it does depend on the width of your van. After losing a mirror I started looking at others and some are ridiculously wide sticking out like a pair of antennae adding about 12in to the width of a van. I'm glad I did it and if I buy another van of the same width I will do it again.......but each to their own.
Also I believe mirror guards only protect at low speed, I lost my mirror at a closing speed of approximately 80-100mph and nothing would have survived the impact - I'm just glad the window was closed.
Rich..

RML wrote:.but each to their own.
Also I believe mirror guards only protect at low speed, I lost my mirror at a closing speed of approximately 80-100mph and nothing would have survived the impact - I'm just glad the window was closed.
Rich..

Indeed each to their own but the Iveco breakdown van that wondered across the double white line colliding with our offside mirror, lost it's complete mirror assembly. With our mirror slamming against the cab, it left the glass with a distorted image dangling by it's wires. At first we thought the glass was shattered but was able to simply fit it back in reposition and continue our journey with a legal fully functioning mirror all thanks to the mirror guards. The dash cam recorded the incident sufficient to provide evidence for insurance to claim off  other party's insurance company to the tune of £900. The other driver was subsequently sacked for lying and incurring a third accident in a short space of time. Surprisingly our main Peugeot dealer replaced the entire mirror hence a large proportion of the insurance claim.