Renault Mirrors
In a right-hand-drive car the left mirror is the passenger one, and it sits on the kerb side — which is the side that meets gate posts, boundary walls, parking pillars and the odd taxi. That is why we break far more left mirrors than right ones, and why the left is the harder one to find. Colour code and whether it folds, heats or carries an indicator all narrow it further.
- Trade counter at 89 Chris Hani Road, Briardene
- Collect from the counter, or courier with the carriage in the quote
- Price, condition and fitment settled on a written quote
Mirrors, explained
South Africa drives on the left, so in your Renault the left mirror is the passenger mirror and it sits on the kerb side of the car. That is the side that meets gate posts, boundary walls, parking garage pillars and wing mirrors coming the other way in a narrow street. It is why we break far more left mirrors than right ones, and why the left is consistently the harder one to find second-hand.
The bigger trap is trim level, and Renault SA's own brochures lay it out clearly enough to be alarming. On the MY22 Kiger, the equipment grid gives you three different mirrors across three trims: Life has electric mirrors with manual fold and no indicator; Zen adds LED indicators on the mirrors; Intens moves up to power-folding mirrors with the indicators. Three variants of what looks like one part.
The Kwid does something similar and adds a detail that catches people out. The MY23 brochure lists a side mirror indicator as something the Zen adds over the Life — and then the Climber, above the Zen, gets a white side indicator lens on the mirror rather than the clear one. Two mirrors that fit and function identically, one of which looks wrong on your car.
Further up the range it goes further. On the 2025 Duster, the Intens grade adds blind-spot detection and auto-folding mirrors, which means its mirror and door assembly is not interchangeable with a Zen's at all.
So when you enquire, four things settle it quickly: which side, the colour code, whether it folds electrically, and whether there is an indicator in the housing. On heated mirrors specifically we could not find a South African source either way for this range, so we check the car rather than assume.
How you know mirrors are on the way out
Recognise any of that? Tell us the model and year and we will go and check what we can get hold of for you.
Mirrors for a Renault — read this before you order
- What you are really deciding
- Which country your particular car was built in, and whether it is pre- or post-facelift.
- Where Renault differs
- These cars came from three different places. The Triber is Indian-made, the Sandero and the second-generation Duster came from Romania, and cars.co.za records that the Captur sold here was sourced from Renault's Valladolid factory in Spain. It shows in the metal too — on the first-generation Duster, which switched from India to Romania mid-life, the Romanian cars appear to have had better rust-proofing and paint.
- Where the car was built
Renault does not build its South African range in one place, and that decides which supply chain a part comes down. The Triber is Indian-made, on a modified CMF-A platform, and the Kwid and Kiger come off the same Indian industrial base. The Sandero was imported from Romania, and every SA-spec second-generation Duster was built at Dacia's Mioveni plant there. The first-generation Captur sold here came from Renault's Valladolid factory in Spain.
It can show up in the metal, too: the first-generation Duster switched from Indian to Romanian production partway through its life, and cars.co.za observed that the Romanian-built cars appear to have benefitted from better rust-proofing and paint quality.
- What to send us
- The paint code from the door shut, the year, and which side. With that in front of us we can normally settle the right mirrors without a back-and-forth.
Further reading on mirrors
Independent sources, not ours. Worth a look if you want the background before you enquire.
Mirrors — what customers usually ask
How much does it cost to replace a side mirror in South Africa?
We quote per enquiry, and the biggest factor is one you can check yourself in thirty seconds: do you need the whole assembly or just the glass? If the housing and the motor survived and only the mirror glass is broken, that is a much smaller purchase. If the whole unit was torn off, it is a complete assembly and the specification — folding, indicator, colour — decides the rest. Tell us which and send a photograph if you can.
Why is the left mirror always the one that breaks?
Because in a right-hand-drive country it is the kerb-side mirror, and the kerb is where the obstacles are. Gate posts, walls, pillars and street furniture all live on that side, and the driver has the worst view of it. It is also the mirror most exposed to passing traffic on a narrow road. The practical consequence for you is that left mirrors are in higher demand and shorter supply than right ones, so it is worth enquiring early rather than driving around without one.
Will a mirror from another Renault of the same model fit?
Only if the trim matches, and on this range that is a real constraint rather than a technicality. Renault's own Kiger brochure shows three different mirror specifications across Life, Zen and Intens — manual-fold without an indicator, manual-fold with one, and power-fold with one. A power-folding mirror needs wiring the base car does not have. Send us the derivative, not just the model.
Can I replace just the mirror glass?
Very often, yes, and it is much cheaper than a full assembly. Most of these mirrors have glass that clips onto a backing plate and comes off with careful leverage. The two things to check are whether yours is heated — in which case there are wires to transfer — and whether the backing plate itself survived the impact. If the plate is cracked, glass alone will not hold.
Can I replace a side mirror myself?
On most of these cars it is within reach: the door card usually has to come off to reach the mounting nuts and the connector, and it goes back with clips rather than special tools. Take your time with the door card clips, disconnect the battery before unplugging anything electrical, and check the colour code matches before you start rather than afterwards.
Does the colour code matter?
It matters if you would rather not have a differently-coloured mirror, and it costs nothing to get right. The paint code is on a plate in the door shut or under the bonnet. Send it with your enquiry. If we cannot match it, an unpainted or mismatched housing can be sprayed by any panel shop for a modest amount, and we will say so rather than quietly send you the wrong colour.