Sunglasses holder won't stay closed? Don't buy a new one!

At least until you try to fix it yourself.

I've been putting off getting a new sunglass holder for a couple of months now because the replacements are $25 for a gray one and it looks like ~$50 for the dark gray/black piece I've got.

So I after learning that removal is a cinch I figured that I'd try to fix my existing sunglasses holder or break it trying.

Since the fix is so easy I'll leave the pictures up to your imagination.
Edit: Since DIY's without pictures are

no fun

Click to expand...

and I'm all for fun, I scoured the internet for pictures rather than do this over. As such some details are missing. But there are pictures!



Step 1: Remove holder. There are two clips securing it along its upper rear (think towards the back of the car) face. You can see where the clips are located by looking inside of the holder. Use a trim tool, plastic knife, jaws of life or whatever you deem appropriate for the mission at hand. Once these are released its easy to get out.

Step 2: On the interior side there is a small panel held on by some external plastic tabs. Gently pry this piece out.

Step 3: Contained within you will find 2, count 'em, 2 separate pieces. A spring and a plastic 'foot'. The spring presses against the foot which presses against the portion of the latch that opens out. Without the spring/foot assembly in place the button to open the latch doesn't function. Essentially the latch relatches too quickly. The spring gives it a little push, allowing it to open. However, in my case the spring was either too strong or the foot too long (or some combination of the two), resulting in a latch that wouldn't stay shut.
Remove the foot and sand a small portion off of the bottom. I ended up removing about 2mm of material using something like 100grit sandpaper. About 30 seconds of light sanding. Your needs may vary.

Step 4: Replace the foot, spring, and plastic panel. The panel slides in from the front, compressing the spring as it clips in.

Step 5: Test to see if it works, repeat steps 3 and 4 as needed.

Step 6: Putting it back in is awkward but not hard, the back goes in first and the front is brought up to clip into the ceiling.


I've found that the holder is sometimes a bit more reluctant to open, requiring say a double tap to open, but it stays shut better and still opens.

Now if I only could find something useful to put in it....

Usual disclaimers apply. Do at own risk, you might break your car, set your house on fire etc. However, as these things go I'm not particularly talented. Anyone should be able to do this.

Edit: fixed various stupidly worded things...

Mine was playing up for ages. Sometimes it would stay closed and other times refuse to. For me it depended on the heat in the car.iono. I was actually going to put a drop of glue and just close it for good as it fits nothing in there anyway but when I re-wrapped my roof interior obviously I had to take the whole thing appart. After re-installing its been perfect again. Clip holds tight, doesn't drop when I hit a bump and heat doesn't seem to make any difference.
I've found this with a few things. No need to replace just remove and re-assemble and that normally fixes the issue in hand.

When I took out the piece all I had to do was give it a hard look and it'd pop open. I'm fairly sure that no amount of putting it back in would have resolved the issue. That said, its good to know that reseating it can solve the problem too.

Thanks for the how to, my sunglass holder just started doing this, figured it was the spring mechanism being to forceful on the two tiny hooks that keep the thing closed, will try this mod amd see what happens!

Weirdly enough, my oversized mellonglasses fit in there haha

Just an update, tried a couple things, first tried to shorten the spring in the tab that pushes the holder open, didn't work, the door still Popped open, so I investigated more, turns out that the fingers that lock the door shut barely latch in their respective openings.

I fixed this by uncliping the button that you push to open the door, and shaved a little off the locking tabs, these tabs appear to limit how far out the button comes, which also effects the fingers that lock the door closed, doing so allowed the fingers to wrap down more into their respective openings. So far the problem is solved.