Should I Preemptively Change Window Regulators?

[andrewwynn]

You will likely find only the clip broken. Beefing up the clip as described and lubricating the tracks will prempt breaking in the first place. You will likely see what I'm saying. Get a couple batches of clips and keep in the trunk for a quick repair as needed. No bag over the window.

There is a far more elegant solution than a garbage bag called "crash wrap" FYI. It's basically very big tape. Clear and sticky designed to keep weather out of a crashed car to limit damage to a reparable car.

[weiln12]

Thanks for that info!

[Quicksilver]

Originally Posted by wpoll

There's a saying that applies here I think.

If it ain't broke...

100%

[weiln12]

Did this repair on Monday afternoon. In my case, the clip was not broken, instead the regulator anchor piece shattered and the cables had unwound. I replaced the clip anyway, since the one that was in there crumbled a bit.

All in all, not a bad repair job. I'm sure it helps that I'm in AZ and it was about 115* or something so taking the vapor barrier off was super easy. Took me about an hour to get it replaced. The hardest part was that stupid bolt in the clip, I kept dropping it.

Considering how easy this was, I would definitely recommend replacing them pro-actively and just getting them out of the way.

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by weiln12

Did this repair on Monday afternoon. In my case, the clip was not broken, instead the regulator anchor piece shattered and the cables had unwound...

Thanks for following up with the answer.

Can you be more specific on the part that failed, "regulator anchor piece"? I once had a failure of the plastic collar with a spring around it that attaches the cable end to the thing that holds the motor. The result of that breaking was that the cable had way more slop that it was supposed to. The failure was due to cheap, weak, brittle plastic on that China brand regulator. Was that the part that failed for you?

Also, was the regulator BMW-brand? Original?

[weiln12]

Sorry, my answer was very confusing. I am not sure if the part I replaced was original or not, but I replaced it with a VDO regulator from BAVAuto. Hopefully this picture works, but on the bottom left is the "anchor" piece for the cable ends that slides up and down in the regulator. This is the piece that broke and released the cable which you can see in the picture.

Sorry, all my pics are on Dropbox, so the link is below.

2001 X5 Left Rear Regulator, Broken

[twinspool]

i havent read all the posts here however from my experience while driving on the highway doing over 80mph and rolling up your window for it to then decide to fall off track... i would have to say yes, do it!

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by weiln12

Sorry, my answer was very confusing. I am not sure if the part I replaced was original or not, but I replaced it with a VDO regulator from BAVAuto. Hopefully this picture works, but on the bottom left is the "anchor" piece for the cable ends that slides up and down in the regulator. This is the piece that broke and released the cable which you can see in the picture.

Sorry, all my pics are on Dropbox, so the link is below.

2001 X5 Left Rear Regulator, Broken

If it's the piece that goes up and down, attached to the ends of both cables, that is what is commonly called the "regulator clip" or "slider" or "slider clip." That is the most common thing that causes people to get new regulators.

What I've found is that yes those break, but the rest of the Original BMW regulator components are good, and typically better than Chinese replicas.

If you wanted to pre-emptively repair those (I'd say only worth doing this on BMW parts, since like I mentioned earlier, I had a different part fail on a Chinese replica), you could inspect those slider clips (2 on each window for the front, 1 on each window for the rear windows, different part numbers for front vs. back) for cracks. If cracked, replace the slider clips and reinforce with zip ties and/or JB Weld to strengthen things. If not cracked, do those steps to reinforce the ones already in there. I think that when the cable pulls on the slider, sometimes it gets cocked out of alignment, which means instead of a straight pull, it gets some torquing action in there, which eventually leads to the cracking.

By using zip ties and JB Weld (or your favorite, but lesser epoxy), you can keep things aligned and hopefully not have this failure get you. Window clips that attach the slider clip to the window do break as well, so any time you're in there, those should be replaced. They just get brittle and crack.

Finally, in terms of pre-emptive steps, I sometimes find that the rubber guide channel that the front edge of the window slides up and down in gets out of its steel channel. This means it has a much tighter fit on the window than it should have, causing a lot more stress on all the regulator parts. By popping it back in its channel where it should be, the clearance is what it should be - guiding, but not impeding the window as it goes up and down. A little grease in there and on the sliding surfaces on the regulator will help too.

EDIT - and on dropping that bolt that goes into the slider clip, yes that's an issue. I've used a little piece of masking tape in there to hold the bolt in the socket until it gets screwed in, then the masking tape lets go.

[270_BMW]

I just had two fail within a week of each other on the passenger side

[audiophool]

The driver front window on our '04 has been struggling/slow for the last 4 years and shows no other signs of doom. I may get around to doing a lube on it at some point.


As to replacing the other 3 proactively, no.