I have one missing also at the front cup receptacle. Do I understand correctly that part # 18 can't be replaced just on it's own ??

Yep, you can just buy the tabs, but I don't think they'll sell you just one as they come in a bag of 8 or so. If you need just one maybe the parts guy if he's nice will give it to you for free. Though now they won't all match if that's important to you. See below. Old on left. New on right.

Thanks Meister,
So if their's been an upgrade in those tabs and if they aren't too expensive that would be the way to go. I mean the dissappointing quality of a lot of the plastic components in our X's (and probably other BMW's) tells me that it's highly likely that one of the other tabs will break sometime down the track, no??

Oh wow, did not know they sold the tabs! Must be a newer design that allows for replacement. Is there a PN?

# 18 CLAMPING PARTS SET 51169111091 $18.19 retail

See what I mean about cost (that's for the whole set and not just one). Two of mine broke and disappeared somewhere. Dealer replaced all of them for me at some point. The old ones can be pulled out easily, the new ones cannot.

Cool, thanks for the info :thumbup:

Always a pleasure:thumbup:

The replacement clips mentioned in the above post work great. The original design of the holder is one big circular ring with clips. After years of use the clips just break. The replacement clips stap in without removing the console and canbe replaced as needed.

So these are are interchangeable w/ the older style tabs w/o removing the console. They press in from the outside?

yes