Retrofit Cupholders (half finished!)
- Thread starter Wondermike
- Start date
mmm-five, nice one 
Thanks Wondermike & mmm-five. It really was that easy.
Fitted them about 2 weeks ago and a great and simple retrofit. Cost £18.36 +VAT each from the dealer to supply.
The one thing that I have not seen referenced (other than in mmm-fives guide) and is the cause of all the rattles is that the cup holder has to be fastened to the underside of the air vent with a torx screw. Once correctly located and locked in it becomes a single unit.
The screws did not come with the cups and my dealer kindly pointed it out and chucked them in.
Part B65 75 8 235 255
The one thing that I have not seen referenced (other than in mmm-fives guide) and is the cause of all the rattles is that the cup holder has to be fastened to the underside of the air vent with a torx screw. Once correctly located and locked in it becomes a single unit.
The screws did not come with the cups and my dealer kindly pointed it out and chucked them in.
Part B65 75 8 235 255
Liverpool
cj10jeeper said:
I got the screws with mine, in their own little baggie inside the box.
When I originally fitted them I didn't put the screw in, as it was just a trial fit. However after a few opens & closes it came of it's track at the back and I could no longer open the cupholder. This meant that I had no access to the lower front screw to get the thing out. It took me a good few minutes of fiddling (and messing with the cupholder too
) to get enough grip on the cupholder to 'force' it out.That's when I realised what the 'spare' screws in the box were for
Dont get the complaints about these, I agree with an earlier post that people who say they slop and dont hold things properly arent tightening the bar that moves in and out to the size of the cup they are holding... :wink:
As for being flimsey, i've had 1 litre bottles in there no probs, do u really need bigger? Also mine don't rattle.. (everything else does but thats another thread :evil: )
As for being flimsey, i've had 1 litre bottles in there no probs, do u really need bigger? Also mine don't rattle.. (everything else does but thats another thread :evil: )
I have no probs with mine at all. Great retrofit and hold a typical UK cup just perfect. I think some of the probs come from the West Coast where they drink coke out of buckets just large enough to wash off a car with (I'm just jealous of the climate that justifies that much coke drinking)
Fitted the OEM cupholders on Saturday. Very straight forward, thanks to the instructions on this thread. I don't often have drinks in the car, but at least I'll have somewhere to mount my N95 to use the sat-nav (or at least Google Maps).
£20.49 each +VAT from the main dealer, two day delivery. Strangely, given that I'd asked for two and ordered two cupholders, they managed to order only one Torx bolt. Thankfully it's a standard diameter so I had some Pozidriv (Phillips) self-tapping bolts of the same size on hand and used them instead (I don't know why the OEM item is a Torx, as the screws securing the vent are Pozidriv; surely having them all the same would be easier?).
To elaborate on the directions given earlier in the thread, for the benefit of others: -
- The caps on the upper screws securing the vent assembly are soft, rubberised and flexible. A jewellery (or similar small) flat head screwdriver pops them off easily if you slide it behind from the lower door-side corner. I tried a few methods and this was the best.
- The vent assembly can take a bit of shifting from the dash. This is because there's a retaining sprung clip (IIRC on the inboard side) holding it into the dash against the back of the portal. Due to the lack of study places to grip the vent assembly to overcome the restraint of the clip, I loosened it by prying with a small screwdriver. I slid the screwdriver between the back of the top of the vent and the dash, accessed from the door side (i.e. sliding the screwdriver inboard along the seam between vent and dash visible from above the vent). Take care though because both dash and vent are soft and easily marked.
£20.49 each +VAT from the main dealer, two day delivery. Strangely, given that I'd asked for two and ordered two cupholders, they managed to order only one Torx bolt. Thankfully it's a standard diameter so I had some Pozidriv (Phillips) self-tapping bolts of the same size on hand and used them instead (I don't know why the OEM item is a Torx, as the screws securing the vent are Pozidriv; surely having them all the same would be easier?).
To elaborate on the directions given earlier in the thread, for the benefit of others: -
- The caps on the upper screws securing the vent assembly are soft, rubberised and flexible. A jewellery (or similar small) flat head screwdriver pops them off easily if you slide it behind from the lower door-side corner. I tried a few methods and this was the best.
- The vent assembly can take a bit of shifting from the dash. This is because there's a retaining sprung clip (IIRC on the inboard side) holding it into the dash against the back of the portal. Due to the lack of study places to grip the vent assembly to overcome the restraint of the clip, I loosened it by prying with a small screwdriver. I slid the screwdriver between the back of the top of the vent and the dash, accessed from the door side (i.e. sliding the screwdriver inboard along the seam between vent and dash visible from above the vent). Take care though because both dash and vent are soft and easily marked.
Don't know if this has been mentioned - The upper corner screw has a slightly different head to that of the lower one. To accommodate the rubber cap.
If you screw them in the wrong holes the top one won't tighten up or retain the rubber cap.
I can't imagine how I found that snippet out :roll: :roll: :roll:
If you screw them in the wrong holes the top one won't tighten up or retain the rubber cap.
I can't imagine how I found that snippet out :roll: :roll: :roll:
