It’s likely that at some point in your car ownership lifetime you’ll come back to find your wing mirror has been damaged. It’s a frustrating experience, not least if the person who did it has simply driven away.
Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to fix and in many cases you’ll be able to do this yourself.
The legal position
It’s a legal requirement to drive with at least two functioning mirrors.
This can be two side mirrors, or one rear view and one offside (driver’s side) mirror. If your driver side mirror has been damaged, you must get it replaced. It is only legal to drive your car with a damaged driver side mirror in transit to be fixed.
Pro tip: If you’re parking on a street where your car might be vulnerable to having hte wing mirror clipped, always fold it in either manually or electronically.
The anatomy of a car side mirror
There are 3 main parts to a car wing mirror:
- The mirror glass.
- The housing backing plate (usually the same colour as the body of your car).
- The main mirror housing that bolts to the car.
Replacing the glass on a car wing mirror
The mirror glass is the most likely piece to break or shatter. Luckily, this is also the easiest and cheapest piece to replace.
Mirror glass comes in a range of standard sizes and is usually available from motor stores such as Halfords. Because wing mirror glass comes in various sizes so you’ll need your car make / model to make sure you get the right fit for your vehicle.
First you’ll need to remove the broken piece if it’s still in the housing attached to the car. You should be able to lever the unit out with something broad and flat such as a ruler. Needless to say: take care not to cut yourself!
Most modern wing mirrors are heated and you’ll see entry points for the two wires in the back that heat the glass. Connect the wires to the two connection points on the back of the wing mirror glass. It shouldn’t matter which wire goes where, but if it’s colour-coded, match the colours.
If you have an older car with a non-heated wing mirror, you won’t need this step.
Once the wires are connected, line the mirror unit up the right way and push firmly with the palm of your hand until you hear it click into place. Congratulations! You’ve fixed your broken wing mirror.
Replacing the housing backing plate
The back part of the wing mirror housing can often be knocked off in a collision or minor impact. This is usually the same colour as the bodywork of your car.
The backing plate is the least important part of a car wing mirror and the unit will function perfectly well without it. It’s 100% cosmetic.
The backing plate for a side mirror is also readily available and car supplies stores such as Euro Car Parts.
They usually come in a base colour such as white or grey for respraying or plain black plastic. You’ll rarely see a replacement wing mirror backing plate sold in a particular colour. It can cost around £60 to have a mirror backing plate sprayed to the colour of your car.
Again, fitting a wing mirror backing plate is an easy job. It’s simply a case of lining it up and clicking it on.
Complete car wing mirror replacement
The most expensive wing mirror repair is when the whole housing is damaged and has come away from the car completely.
The housing unit for your particular car is usually only available from the manufacturer. They can be quite expensive, especially on wing mirrors that fold automatically. Folding mirrors have complex motors and sensors. We’ve seen a mirror housing for a premium German car that cost many hundreds of pounds for a replacement.
This is the one fix that you’ll need to have done at a garage. Fitting a new wing mirror housing requires removing the door interior trim to access the mechanism.
If this happens to you, it’s really good idea to retrieve all the pieces from the area and bring them to the garage with you. Best case scenario, the pieces may have just popped off and can be refitted rather than replaced.
Wing mirror repair and replacement
If your car has been dinged and your side mirror has been broken, we can help. Gather up all the bits and bring them down to our Leicester garage. We’ll see what we can do!
If you’d like to have a chat, get in touch using our contact form or give us a call on either of these numbers: 0116 3190 118 or mobile 07850 881 911.
