This past weekend I repaired a small but annoying issue on my 2002 BMW M5. The rear corner sunshade on the driver side had cracked and lost all tension, leaving the shade flopping loose.
Not the most serious of issues that could crop up on this car by a long shot. But it looked sloppy and seemed like a prime DIY candidate.
As usual I was greatly assisted by a discussion thread on M5Board, with owners discussing how to do this job. I caught a break in it just being the corner shade. If it had been the full window shade that slides into the door, the repair would have required taking the door apart.
Sun shade removed
By patiently working a small screwdriver into an opening at the top of the screen, the entire assembly comes right off. My sunshade had a small crack on the outside of the column, and on the inside a small piece of plastic had broken off, leaving nothing to secure the bottom of the spindle.
Broken piece inside
So it was a simple thing to crazy glue the piece back into place, twisting the bar with a needle nose pliers a few turns first to restore tension to the screen. I reinforced the glue with some epoxy, and once dry the shade snaps easily back into place.
Repair spot
A new shade would have been around $180, plus probably an hour of labor to install. So that’s $300 versus an hour on a Saturday morning.
It was another small yet satisfying DIY victory on the long-term BMW ownership journey.