Door Handle Carrier (Are Off-Brands ok?)
 

Hi, Gang.

My driver's door handle is in the dreaded "stuck out" position indicating that my carrier is a goner.

ECS wants $100 for an OEM replacement (which I assume is a fair price because ECS basically gives us wholesale prices).

ECS also has an off-brand ("MTC") for under $50. Home Page > Search > 51218243615 > ES#2091846 Door Handle Carrier - Left - 51218243615

I generally NEVER buy non-OEM parts, but since this X5 is my "beater" I figured I could be a bit more lenient so long as the part is of decent quality. What does everyone think? Should I just get the MTC carrier? Anyone had any experience with it?

Thanks in advance.

B E53

Why not? To me it is not worth to pay top dollars for parts, for 10+years car.I never did with my ex x5.lol

I heard the aftermarket door handle carrier was a tough fit. But then again, it's only 100 bucks at the dealer.

When it comes to door carriers, save yourself the trouble and get OE units from the get go. The aftermarket units are plagued with reliability/fitment/feel issues. Tons of info out there on this subject.

^Thanks for that. That's exactly what I wanted to know. Looks like OE is the way to go all the time; even for the beater. :)

Thanks!

Just replaced the windshield washer pump with a non oem pump. Next time when the pump fail, I'm going to replace wit with an OEM, or swap the rear window pump which is still OEM with the windshield. The non OEM pump does not produce the same kind of water pressure that the OEM pump did.

Had the same problem with wheel sensor. The non OEM sensor didn't plug correctly into the car harness, end up buying an OEM wheel sensor to fix the trinity of lights on the dash.

I was skeptical but ordered the aftermarket carrier on eBay for like $50.. I was pleasently surprised to find to very comparable to the OEM broken handle with regard to fit and finish.. You wouldn't know it was not OEM when holding in your hand.. it was that well made... I installed it no problem and its been on the car for over a year or so now no problems.. I would not hesitate to order the china ebay version and save yourself some cash...

Rob

while you have the door card off have a look at the lower end of the actuator cable, i found that the cable had streched and was requiring that the outer door handle be yanked up to the extent of its travel to unlatch the door.

when you look at the cable i slightly bent the outer cable fixing point up, in so doing it took some of the slack out of the inner cable.

doing this i now find my drivers door handle unlatches the door at around half travel like the other doors do

its worth a look.

My eBay door handle carrier has been fine for the last 3 yrs.

its hit or miss with these carriers, I bought a mid brand from ECS (around 80 bucks) and its been fine, however I do notice a difference when opening that door compared to the other 3, you have to be sure you do a solid "pull" of the handle, not forceful, just make sure you do a complete pull, for that handle to open the door.