Upgraded side mirrors to OEM Large

[jrm223]

So, I bought used large side mirrors separately off Ebay to upgrade my original small ones. I have a windowless cargo van and the small mirrors were only okay. It's one of the first upgrades I decided on when I bought the van, but it took me 4+ years & 106K+ miles to get around to it, haha. Mostly because they were so expensive still when I bought the van. Even now, I have $240 in the pair ($100 on driver, $140 on passenger, separate junkyards/sellers). If you use Car-Part, get pictures before buying! Most that I saw on there - if they had pics at all - were advertised as large, but the pics of the parts van were small mirrors, so buyer beware.

 

Someone here posted a how-to on removing the door panel. I only remember seeing it say there are screws behind the door-pull/shut handle and the door-open/release handle, but I also just skimmed over it because I thought I would wait for the 2nd mirror to arrive before putting them on - but nope, I now have 1 small & 1 large for the next week or so (ordered the passenger side yesterday). Anyhow, I found that there were 2 more screws - one along the bottom edge of the door and one along the back edge hidden by a little cover, just a few inches below the door armrest. Maybe I missed those in the how-to, though.

 

Here's a comparison shot to see what the difference is really like. I tried to take them from the same spot, but it's probably off just a bit. Still close enough to help out anybody that wishes their side mirrors were better, though.

 

 

 

Also, here's a shot from in front of and directly parallel to the van, so y'all can get a regular view of what's behind/along the van. In the large mirror pic, the corner of the blind spot mirror shows the corner of the motorhome bumper, pretty nice wide view.

 

 

For anyone that might be wondering about the Anderson connector, I have 20ft 2awg jumper cables that plug into that. I get asked about diesel block heater or "electric vehicle" a lot, lol. Nope, just a 2.5L 4-banger. 

[Fifty150]

The larger mirror is a better mirror.  Those mirrors should come on all trucks and vans.   But as with everything which is better, they want you to pay more for it.  Otherwise, you get something else, which isn't as good.

[Beta Don]

Thanks for posting the pictures!

 

I agree that the larger mirrors are very nice and I was contemplating getting myself a pair, but I actually prefer the blind spot mirrors on the smaller ones to the ones on the larger set.  I don't care for the location at the bottom and the vertical height just looks a little 'squished' to me  -  I can see what's happening better (with regard to the blind spot) with the smaller OEM mirrors . . . . and the blind spot feature is the most important thing to me

 

I think you just saved me $250!  -  Thanks!!!

 

Don

[jrm223]

Yea, that's one thing I already noticed on my way into work this morning. With the small mirrors, I actually used the blind spot mirrors more than the flat glass while driving. But the flat glass was generally better for backing up on the small ones. With these, I actually use the flat glass while driving and both for backing up, with a much better view of the ground behind me on the large blind spot mirror. 

[jrm223]

1 hour ago, Beta Don said:

I don't care for the location at the bottom and the vertical height just looks a little 'squished' to me 

 

That little bit of red grill you can see in front of the large mirror is one of my F350's, so I actually like that the large mirror is the same format as the F350 mirrors, with wide spot mirror on bottom and large flat glass on top. 

[Fifty150]

My pickup did not come with the towing mirrors either.  So I stuck some blind spot mirrors on, and I've been driving it like that for over a decade.  Still want them.  Just don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a set of mirrors.  The mirrors price out at more than a cold air intake, an exhaust system, underdrive pulleys, electric fans.......you get the picture.  Performance mods cost less than a set of mirrors.  Even the frame mounted tow hitch receiver was less than $100.  

[jrm223]

Well, the passenger side already arrived today. Apparently it must have been dropped off at work before I left because I closed/locked the gate behind me, but FedEx system didn't email me until 7pm CST. Went back and found it & installed it right then, took about 10 minutes this time.

 

I noticed quite a bit of vibrations on the driver side earlier today, going over regular road bumps and cracks. I'm wondering if I didn't tighten the mirror bolts quite enough, so I'll have to pull that door panel back again this weekend to check. Otherwise, it might have some small internal damage? I'll check the bolts this weekend, but beyond that it's really not a big deal. Passenger side looked fine while I drove home after putting it on, so it's not just a "bigger mirror" problem.

[Fifty150]

You could always use a little epoxy.  It's on the inside.  Nobody will see or know.  Only you.  It won't be a problem until you have to replace it again - which may be never.

[mdarren]

Thanks for the pics. The large mirror looks better and is more useful.