RE: Falling sunvisors

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

> Someone wrote in yesterday about their sunvisors falling down all the
> time. Was this ever resolved? I have the same problem on mine. It
> appears that the bracket that screws that attaches the sunvisor to the
> roof is cracked (because its plastic of course). The visors 
> have lighted
> vanity mirrors in them so naturally theres going to be some 
> wiring going
> through them. Is there a SIMPLE way to replace that plastic bracket
> without dismantling/dismembering the visor???

... this is a subject that has been discussed ... but it has been some time.
Since it seems as though noone else has responded yet, let me take a shot at
it.  

This problem is a common one for the visors in the type 44 ... I had it
develop on my '88 5kCSQ Avant a few years back.  Using Buchholz' law (which
reads "Once its broken I'm not going to break it any more trying to fix it")
I disassembled the one for the driver's side.  What I found is that the pin
that is mounted to the car has a couple of flat spots in it, and there is a
spring steel clip in the visor that is supposed to index on the flats for
the fully extended or fully retracted position.  The clip breaks, making the
visor so that it will not stay in any position ... other than perhaps
vertically downward ...

What I did with some success was to put a nut & screw with a couple of large
diameter washers through the area where the clip is and pinch it all
together.  This is not the most aesthetically pleasing solution however.  

I am of the opinion that if you could fabricate some replacement clips, with
some careful surgery one could rebuild the visors in a way where it would be
difficult to see the repair.  Given how much these things go for even at the
wrecking yards it might not be a bad solution to pursue ...

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)

... with bigger problems than falling visors on the car right now ... :(