Door handle carriers .. any brand recommendations?

[Bottomfeeder]

Hello -

Well, as I was coming to the end of one repair (replacing a cup holder cover, which - not surprisingly with these cars - is an almost comically complicated process) my driver's side door handle carrier gave out. Was wondering if any of you out there have any brand recommendations for replacements?

I'm probably not going to go OEM BMW on this one. Looks like Febi, Bavarian Autosport, and URO are pretty common, good quality brands, all in a similar price range. I'm also seeing Continentals that claim to be made in Germany at a crazy cheap price ... super tempting, but also suspiciously inexpensive.

I'd welcome any advice on which brands to buy (or avoid) from those who have done this repair before me, which seems to be just about everybody. Thanks in advance. :-)

Chris
Lockhart, Texas
2005 X5 3.0 Schwarz Black
2002 X5 3.0 Titansilber

[andrewwynn]

I’ve used chinesium I just swapped over the factory cable. FYI only difference front vs. rear is the cable.

Preemptively add a zip tie and your should never have to deal with the issue again.

Even with oem brand make sure the spring doesn’t come out the back side there’s only 1-2mm clearance to the glass I’ve had to grind down the spring when it was scratching on the glass.


–awr–

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[Bottomfeeder]

Much appreciated! I'll be following your DIY thread with the zip tie fix very closely when I start the repair. Ordered the steel zip ties today. I'm already getting tired of having to roll down the windows to reach in and unlock the door. Truly first world problems. :-)

Chris
Lockhart, Texas
2005 X5 3.0 Schwarz Black
2002 X5 3.0 Titansilber

[andrewwynn]

Tired of it until the lock cylinder self destructs then you’re screwed.

I closed my car with the key inside when my dhc was broken. That was an interesting day.

I was just going to leave it until the next day except I was in Chicago and the alarm wasn’t even set as the driver door was unlocked.

So fortunately I had the replacement dhc with me! And not in the car! While visiting Chicago!

So I figured out exactly where to push on the cable with a thin flat screwdriver to unlatch the door.

I also tried to make a little hook from a thin brass rod but couldn’t pull hard enough. Push with screwdriver got me in.


–awr–

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[Factory6speed]

Generally I would not put febi and uro into the quality brands category. Especially the latter.

The former owner of my X was king of cheap parts, I replaced the driver door carrier that was a broken febi unit from 2021. The genuine tax on them isn't too bad, and it sucks to do so I went with those. Good luck

[wpoll]

As previously posted, I've done four of these darn DHC's over nearly 11 years of ownership (two on each of the front doors).

It doesn't help that I keep buying knock-offs but the OE items are insanely priced here in NZ and don't seem to be much better (other than the fit).

In terms of fit etc., just for the record, the knock-offs I've tried are: -

Autopa - pretty average fit (meaning not good but manageable if you know how these work) - poor lifespan. Poor feel too - feels "broken" and spongy from new.

Frey - great fit (as good as OE) - seems to last well (not replaced it yet, after two years) - feel is not quite OE but close. Recommended.

No-name - this is the most recent replacement - fit is very poor, but I made it work with some tricks I've learnt along the way. Lifespan is unknown (it's lasted over a year so far!) but the feel is pretty good, at least as good as the Frey - it opens the door positively at about 50% of the travel.

The last two I've fitted (the Frey and the No-Name) have been mod-ed with the AWR-Fix and seem to be working well but I have the Continental units on my eBay watchlist for next time...

[X5chemist]

GB Weld the stress points!

[andrewwynn]

The steel band is better. Preloads the stress point. The problem is they are basically pot metal. To make the hinges self cleaning half the metal is missing where the pin goes though so there’s very little cross sectional area.

Then, rather than a pulley to change the direction (pull out = lift up), they chose to use a gear and lever that greatly multiplies the force on that hinge point.

So: reinforcing the brittle metal hinge with tough ductile steel makes it far stronger than new.

JB would actually be stronger than new and possibly be a forever fix but you’ll only get a couple mm² cross section and no preload.

Preload and much of the every use stress still compressing not tension.


–awr–

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[cn90]

- I stick to BMW bc I don't want to do this job twice.

- BMW part should last some 10 years.

- Also, it is not fun when this breaks, you have to enter the car from the other side.

[80stech]

The key is to make sure the DHC is lubed properly, a dab of grease smeared on at the factory expected to work it's way in usually doesn't