Has anybody tried other brand than OEM for replacing door handle.

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by cn90

Any long-term report on Febi ($50) vs BMW ($120)...

About 3 years and 12k miles on all 4 DHCs, with Febi, on my 2001 E53. No problems at all with installation, etc. Still going strong. Highly recommended. I replaced the fronts in Feb 2017, and the rears in Oct 2017.

Bought at RM European.com. Getting them in pairs got me above the free shipping threshold, and also as I always am reminded when doing it ... by the time I order the parts, get all the exact right tools out, get all the little tricks figured out (or remembered), etc. the additional effort to do the exact same thing on the other side is not much.

[richardb]

Originally Posted by cn90

Any long-term report on Febi ($50) vs BMW ($120)...

used a cheap Febi one on the driver side, coming up on 5 years ago, in my video:

https://youtu.be/ge7-HJ0DUz0

so far so good. 5 years later, the original passenger side handle failed (180k miles) and I just replaced it with another Febi

[omodos]

Originally Posted by bmw540san

PO had front driver side replaced by dealer, I did the right front using OEM as well. Now the rear driver side just failed and I don't feel like spending $100+ unless necessary.
It seems that most aftermarket solutions are even worse than OEM but I didn't find any reviews for Febi Bilstein. $46 at rmeuropean:
BMW FEBI BILSTEIN Outside Door Handle Carrier 51228243635
I'm thinking of trying it unless somebody had bad experience with it.
Thanks in advance.

Installed yesterday, will have to give it a bit of time, it either dies in a week or lasts the 5 years the oem did, or hopefully more

[omodos]

Originally Posted by oldskewel

About 3 years and 12k miles on all 4 DHCs, with Febi, on my 2001 E53. No problems at all with installation, etc. Still going strong. Highly recommended. I replaced the fronts in Feb 2017, and the rears in Oct 2017.

Bought at RM European.com. Getting them in pairs got me above the free shipping threshold, and also as I always am reminded when doing it ... by the time I order the parts, get all the exact right tools out, get all the little tricks figured out (or remembered), etc. the additional effort to do the exact same thing on the other side is not much.

good to know, i have kept the old oems and will attempt to patch up....i may drill through em an pass a wire through and around the area that failed...rather than a cable tie...see what happens

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by omodos

good to know, i have kept the old oems and will attempt to patch up....i may drill through em an pass a wire through and around the area that failed...rather than a cable tie...see what happens

I used 16ga steel wire on my first fix it came out perfect. It’s 10x easier to use a steel zip tie so that’s my goto fix now. 3/32” bit perfect to make some room for 1/16” wire (16ga) but it was 7-8 /10 difficult to do the wrap as you are fighting the spring pushing it apart the whole time. The steel wire wrap is very strong and a permanent fix. The DHC i fixed that way broke somewhere else a couple years later. I replaced with another repaired (steel zip tie) that is still going.

[80stech]

I have the FEBI on one side and the OEM replacement on the other and both have been working perfectly for a number of years.

[80stech]

So I just ordered a "Dorman" left rear carrier and noticed the inner cable is much bigger and the outer sleeve is much more flexible than the original. The carrier seems to be lubed differently as well, it appears that there is thinner lube in the bearing points and not just a gob of thick lube placed near the bearing point like the others I've seen. I replaced the right rear recently(worn gear mech and stretched cable) with a FEBI and had a fair bit of trouble installing because of the stiff cable so the extra flex on the Dorman is welcome! I wish I had actually measured the diameter of the inner cable on the Febi one though. The Dorman is almost double of the original. At no time after almost 200K km, 7 or 8 winters and replacing all 4 carriers (vehicle has 375k kms) have I ever had a problem caused by the hanging weight thingy. I even installed the oe BMW one with the sticky grease and it is still working perfectly. I'm still curious though as to what that thing is supposed to do

[andrewwynn]

I think the dangle weight is an anti theft device. Best I can tell it's to protect against certain bump attacks.

I referred to it as the "break the hinge" device and always remove them as I've had them stick in cold weather and cause a problem.

I have in the past kept the original cable when changing DHC but more often than not I just refurbished them as the most common break can be repaired with a single steel zip tie for 28¢ (in reality about $5/7 because you can't buy just one).

[80stech]

OK I'm going to retract my endorsement for the Dorman carrier! ;( Yes, it looks well made and the cable is a lot better than the original but there is something fishy with the casting. The lever for the cable doesn't allow the the cable to move enough to properly release the latch. Of course I figured that out after I had installed but at least didn't have the door panel back on. I studied it for a good 20 minutes but not sure exactly what the problem is. It's almost like the gear section is off by 1/2 a tooth but it's not. The original carrier was still in very good shape other than the stretched cable so I did the cable shortening trick (that somebody else on here pointed out) and put the old carrier and cable back in. In hindsight I maybe should have put the Dorman cable in but this way I can still return the Dorman carrier (although I doubt I will). BTW the extra flex in the Dorman cable did not really help with the install like I thought it would. I think the best option is still to remove the latch and re-install the latch and the carrier with the cable hooked on instead of fighting with it. (back doors)

[crystalworks]

I just ordered a Febi this morning after fighting with repairing my left front carrier for 3 hours last night using the steel zip tie. Had it out in 20 minutes.

I applaud your ingenuity and desire to repair things rather than replace Andrew, but you're a better man than I. I had other things planned and should have just removed the old one and moved on to other tasks. For $54 shipped with a lifetime warranty from FCP... definitely the way to go. My "ring" around the spring shaft had completely shattered and was impossible to get tight enough to effectuate a smooth opening motion. Even after putting all the pieces back where they go, though I have no idea how I managed that. Failure wasn't for lack of trying. Lots of scrapes and one really good blood blister courtesy of the needle nose pliers I was using as a lever.