Side Mirror Paint Matching: Finding Your Colour Code
By Duber, The Car Mirror Man · Car Mirrors Australia · Updated August 2026 · 13 min read
Short answer: your paint code is on the compliance or build plate, usually in the driver's door jamb. Photograph it and send it with your mirror photo. A colour-matched cover is $150 to $300 fitted. On metallic and pearl finishes, insist on a proper match — a mirror cover is the hardest place on a car to hide a near-miss.
In Melbourne? We can match the cover to your paint code at your home or work, anywhere across the metro — see our full Melbourne mirror service.
Of all the parts of a mirror job, the cover is the one where people are least prepared for the questions. Glass is glass. A motor is a motor. A cover has a colour, and the colour has a code, and the code decides whether the finished job looks factory or looks repaired. It is worth five minutes of understanding before anyone orders a part.
Where the paint code lives
Almost always in one of four places, and it takes under a minute to find.
Open the door and look at the pillar or the door edge. A printed or riveted plate. This is the usual spot.
On the strut tower, the slam panel or the firewall on many makes.
Under the mat or on the spare wheel well on some European cars.
Occasionally recorded on the service page.
The code itself is short — typically two to four characters, sometimes with a prefix. It may be labelled COLOUR, PAINT, C/TR, EXT or simply sit alone under a heading you do not recognise. Photograph the whole plate rather than trying to work out which line matters.
What the code looks like on common makes
Not exhaustive, but enough to recognise what you are looking at.
| Make | Typical location | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Toyota | Driver's door jamb plate | 3-character code after ‘C/TR’ |
| Ford | Driver's door jamb sticker | 2-character code, sometimes with a name |
| Mazda | Driver's door jamb plate | 3-character alphanumeric |
| Hyundai and Kia | Driver's door jamb sticker | 2 or 3 characters |
| Volkswagen and Skoda | Boot, spare wheel well or service book | Longer code, often with a colour name |
| BMW | Under bonnet, strut tower | 3-digit number plus a name |
| Mercedes-Benz | Under bonnet or door jamb | 3-digit number |
If you cannot find it, send us a photo of the car and the VIN plate. On most vehicles we can look it up from the build details.
Why a near-match is so obvious on a mirror
This is the part worth understanding, because it explains why we are fussy about it.
A door panel resprayed slightly off can pass unnoticed for years. A mirror cover cannot. It is the single least forgiving painted surface on the vehicle.
Solid, metallic and pearl: three different problems
The difficulty of a match is decided by the finish, not by the colour.
| Finish | Match difficulty | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Solid white, black, red | Straightforward | Painted aftermarket cover is reliable |
| Solid greys and silvers | Straightforward | Painted aftermarket cover is reliable |
| Metallic | Harder | Match to code, and check it in daylight before signing off |
| Pearl or tri-coat | Hardest | Genuine cover where possible. Multi-stage finishes rarely match on a first attempt |
| Matte or satin | Specialist | Uncommon, and worth going genuine |
Metallic and pearl finishes contain flakes or pigment layers whose appearance depends on how they were sprayed as well as what was sprayed. Two panels with the identical code can differ if the application differed, which is why we check the result against the door rather than against a chart.
The unpainted option, and when it is the right call
Not every mirror cover needs paint, and on a large share of the vehicles we work on it never had any.
If your car came with black textured mirrors, do not let anybody talk you into paint. The correct part is the black one, and it is both cheaper and faster.
Fading, and matching to a ten-year-old car
The problem nobody warns you about, and it is real in Australia.
A car that has spent ten Melbourne summers outdoors has faded. Red and dark blue fade the most, clear-coat degradation affects everything. The paint code describes the colour the car left the factory as, not the colour it is now.
A perfectly code-matched new cover on a heavily faded car can look brighter than the surrounding panels. That is not a matching error — it is an accurate match to an inaccurate reference.
What we need from you to get it right
Four things, and they take one message.
The whole plate, in focus. We will pick out the code.
So we can see whether the cover has an integrated repeater or a puddle lamp.
Not in a dark garage. It tells us the actual current condition of the paint.
Driver's or passenger's.
From that we can confirm the exact part, whether it is painted or textured, and give you a fixed price rather than an estimate.
Repeaters, lamps and the bits inside a cover
A cover is not always just a shell, and what is in it changes the job.
If your repeater is in the cover, ask specifically whether the quote includes it working afterwards. It is a common thing to find disconnected after a cheap cover swap.
What it costs
Straightforward, and the finish is the main variable.
| Cover type | Fitted price |
|---|---|
| Black textured | $150–$300 |
| Painted to a common solid colour | $150–$300 |
| Metallic, matched to code | $150–$300 |
| Pearl, tri-coat or chrome | Quoted per vehicle |
Fitting is about thirty minutes at the kerb on most cars, with no call-out fee anywhere across the Melbourne metro. The glass and the motor are never touched on a cover-only job — if the glass went as well, that is a separate from $135 item, fitted in the same visit.
Why a cracked cover is not only cosmetic
Worth stating even in an article about colour, because it changes the urgency.
A crack lets water into a space that contains a motor and a connector.
Where the indicator lives in the cover, a crack alongside it lets moisture into the module.
A cracked cover flexes, flexing loosens the remaining clips, and covers do leave at speed.
A $150 to $300 cover becomes a $350 to $500 powered assembly after a wet winter.
A scuff is a cosmetic decision you can take at your leisure. A crack through the plastic is a deadline.
Painted before delivery, not painted on the car
Worth knowing how a colour-matched cover is actually produced, because it explains the lead time and the quality.
A replacement cover is painted as a separate component before it reaches the car, in a booth, to the code. It is not sprayed in situ on your driveway, and it should never be. Spraying a mirror on the car means masking a door and a window and accepting overspray on both.
If anyone offers to spray a mirror cover while it is on the vehicle, decline. The result is visible on the door within a year.
Two-tone, contrast roofs and other complications
A small but growing category, and it catches people out at ordering time.
The simple safeguard is a daylight photo of the whole car alongside the mirror photo. It removes every one of these ambiguities in one image.
What to check when we fit it
Two minutes, in daylight, before we leave.
Colour matching is judged at the distance people actually look at a car from.
Metallic finishes shift with viewing angle. Straight on and at forty-five degrees.
The door is the adjacent panel and the fairest reference.
If both look right, it is right.
If it is not right, that is the moment to say so rather than a week later. We fit outdoors precisely so that assessment is possible before we pack up.
Why the mirror is often the last thing people fix
A pattern we see constantly, and it is worth naming because it is the wrong instinct.
A scuffed mirror cover reads as minor, so it sits at the bottom of the list behind everything else the car needs. Then the car goes to market, or to an inspection, and it turns out to have been doing disproportionate work on the impression the whole vehicle gives.
Of everything on a tidy-up-before-sale list, a mirror cover has one of the best ratios of cost to impression. It is worth moving up the order rather than down it.
Clips, and the part of a cover nobody thinks about
The colour gets all the attention. The clips are what decide whether the job lasts.
A mirror cover is held on by moulded plastic clips that engage the housing. On a quality part they are the correct thickness, the correct spacing and made of a plastic that keeps its spring. On a cheap part they are the first thing compromised, because they are invisible in a product photograph.
A cover sitting a fraction proud whistles at freeway speed.
Over a speed hump, or on a coarse road surface.
A cover that does not seat properly is not sealing the housing.
The end state, usually on the freeway, usually within a year.
You cannot inspect clips before fitting on someone else's part, which is a good part of why we supply what we fit. It is also why a cover that has been on and off several times is worth replacing rather than re-clipping.
The short version
Four things, and they cover the whole decision.
Send the plate photo, the mirror photo and a daylight shot of the car. From those three we can confirm the exact cover, whether it should be painted or textured, and a fixed price. The whole conversation takes one message and it removes every common cause of a wrong part.
What Melbourne drivers tell us
A colour-matched cover is one of the more satisfying half-hours in this trade.
Every review quoted on this site is a real, verified customer review. We do not write them and we do not edit them.
Getting it checked in daylight
A small thing that we do as standard and that is worth insisting on anywhere.
A colour match assessed under fluorescent workshop light is not an assessment. Metallic flake and pearl pigment behave completely differently in daylight, and the mirror is going to spend its life outdoors.
We fit at your home or work, in the open, which means you see the result in the light it will actually live in before we leave. If it is not right, that is the moment to say so.
Every band above comes from our national price guide, which is the single source of truth for what we charge. If you want the full breakdown by part and by vehicle, read our side mirror replacement cost guide.
Frequently asked questions
Where is my car's paint code?
Usually on a compliance or build plate in the driver's door jamb. Also commonly under the bonnet, and on some European cars in the boot or spare wheel well.
Can you match any colour?
Solid and most metallic colours match reliably from the code. Pearl, tri-coat and matte finishes are harder and we usually recommend a genuine cover for those.
How much is a colour-matched mirror cover?
$150 to $300 fitted for most finishes. Pearl, tri-coat and chrome are quoted per vehicle.
My car is ten years old and faded. Will a new cover match?
It will match the code, which may be brighter than your current paint. On a heavily faded car it is worth discussing before ordering — sometimes a black textured cover looks more deliberate.
Does the indicator come with the cover?
It depends on the car. On many vehicles the repeater is a separate strip that transfers across. Ask specifically whether the quote includes it working afterwards.
Do I need a painted cover at all?
Not if your car came with black textured mirrors, which many utes and base-model hatches did. The correct part is the black one, and it is cheaper and faster.
Is a scratched cover worth replacing?
If it is a scuff and the plastic is intact, that is a cosmetic decision. A crack through the cover is worth dealing with, because water reaching the motor turns a small job into a large one.
How long does a cover swap take?
About thirty minutes at the kerb on most cars. The glass and the motor are not touched.
More on Melbourne mirrors
Based in Melbourne? These cover the rest of it.
Sources
- Consumer guarantees on goods and services, ACCC — www.accc.gov.au/consumers/buying-products-and-services/consumer-guarante
- Maintenance and repairs — your rights, Consumer Affairs Victoria — www.consumer.vic.gov.au/consumers-and-businesses/cars/maintenance-and-re
- Automotive lighting — side repeaters and indicators, Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting
- Wing mirror — history, design and regulation, Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_mirror
- VSI 26 Roadworthiness requirements, full text (PDF) — rear vision mirror clause — cdn-nrspp-s3-aus.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/site
- Australian Design Rule 14/02 — Rear Vision Mirrors, Federal Register of Legislation — www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2006L02663
- Cars — buying, selling and maintaining, Consumer Affairs Victoria — www.consumer.vic.gov.au/consumers-and-businesses/cars
- Motor Vehicle Census, Australia — latest release, Australian Bureau of Statistics — www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/tourism-and-transport/motor-vehicle-c
Prices and information in this article are indicative only and reflect real quoted jobs at the time of publication. Costs vary with vehicle, part availability and features. Send a photo for an exact fixed price.
