I just went on onlinecomponents.com as per prior link & it seemed to allow me to order 2 of these @ $4.22 USD each. surcharge of $6.56 so thats a pair of spare switches for $15 !!!

I didn't buy them but this indicates there is flexibility to order lower total numbers of switches........ i.e. to purchase 1 or more.

Have I missed something obvious or am I possibly on to something ???


Interested to see a pic of this item as other link in this thread had a microswitch but I could not see the small attached metal rocker lever.

My reason for interest is I just fixed my offside mirror - brief summary dislodged and bent metal lever to switch......Reshaped & refitted.

It would be good if we can find a source to buy these from. The surcharge is a non issue compared to dealer price for a new housing.



For those of you in USA these maybe worth a group buy..........I would arrange same but I am in the UK & thus shipping & customs costs to me would make it far more expensive for others.

If anybody in USA manages to get some I would be delighted to buy a couple to keep as spares.

Paypal payment from me would obviously have to be adequate to cover costs of parts & delivery.

Of course I may have missed something obvious but every indication seems that these can be bought for sensible money.

I am of course assuming from info via others that this is the correct part !

Thoughts.....

AW8, which site did you order through, and did the order ship without issue?

Thanks sir!

J

No - I emailed supplier & they said it would not go through.

I am however in communication with a UK supplier I have told him I am a member on here as well as an admin on xdrivers.co.uk He is considering ordering 400 of these depending on potential interest.

His site does not have online capability for orders from overseas, however, he will process overseas orders on an individual basis.

Early days & ideally I would want to see a sample as well as looking into best wiring options to fit ,however this is provisionally good news.

I will update as soon as I get more info.

If the offer from onlinecomponents.com still stands..... (they'll buy 400 switches and stock 250 of them, if we give them a minimum order of 150 switches) ....we could team up and split the order/payment and instruct onlinecomponents.com on two shipping addresses, and pay for our different shipping charges individually.

Of the 150 switches needed to process the order, I'm willing to buy 76 switches (38 pairs) and you could buy 74 switches (37 pairs), or some variation like that. If you wanted more, I'd go less. This way, the U.K. and U.S. E53 guys would both have sources (us) to buy the correct part in a quantity of 2 for their X5's.

Your thoughts?

............Thanks for response. My thoughts follow...

Whilst both sites will have dormant &/or non E53 owning members xoutpost.com has 42,156 members & our far smaller site, (very much in relative infancy), has a mere 644 users....That's over 65 times our membership.

The UK enthusiast forum community for the BMW X series models is far smaller than stateside. I fully appreciate xoutpost.com is far more established and has a large & global membership including u.k. members.

I have posted on this thread as well as on xdrivers.co.uk in order to gauge interest but have not been overwhelmed by responses to date.

I am sure many would be happy for us to buy & split a bulk order, with the peace of mind that they could buy from us in event of a later failure rather than buying beforehand. Others might later source another housing or simply live with the defective item.

I suspect that if switches so purchased that you, & I could end up with non recoverable outlay for two bags of switches sat on opposite side of the water.

There could be a market for the switches but only if pushed, say on ebay , as part of an E53 folding mirror housing microswitch repair & replacement kit together with instructions & suitable connectors. That could be a nightmare to manage.

It's not about making money but I am sure we can both think of easier ways to earn the equivalent money to make up for any shortfall from unsold items.

I am happy to help others but not at a loss. I thus presently feel the way forward is to find a retailer happy to sell in smaller quantities & priced sensibly.

Annoying but I think I am being realistic (& in absence of seeing further significant interest on either forum).

No, realistic is good. :thumbup: Shame there's not more apparent demand for the parts though. Would be nice to hear more from the OCD crowd that takes pride in "everything" being in working order. Then again, maybe the lack of demand is one of those, "if you build it, they will come" scenarios. Risk? Yes. A lot of financial risk? Not imho.

Totally agree on research to find a low-quantity vendor though. I'll let you know, I have exhausted my searching. If you come up empty handed as well, I will likely just break down and purchase 150 pieces from onlinecomponents.com. Like you said, we won't make millions off this, it's more for the owners.

Really, I just want to acquire the parts to repair my own mirrors! :x

All noted.

Will keep you updated.

Bank Holiday weekend here in UK so not expecting much development on this for now.

I wont go to sleep on it & will follow my enquiries through, even if my concluded report back is unfavourable.

Hehe, I would help you out and take 2 and one spare :-)

any news? I would also take 2 and a spare:)

bump!