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Got to the metal piece that was bent, and previous posters were right on it, cheap metal. The constant pressure from the pulley on this piece of metal when the window is all the way up simply wears it down over time. This is why I have this on 3 of my windows and had it in the exact same spot on previous '04 A8L, as a few of you have noted also on yours.
Tried to bend it back and the metal simply cracked. Even had we got it back to the original shape Im pretty sure it would've just bent right back given the overwhelming force the cable/pulley puts on the inferior metal.
Found replacement parts on ebay. You can find the entire assembly for around $100 (not positive on quality) but I found a LH front door replacement pieces to install on the metal panel for $46.33, and a front RH door replacements piece for $55. Drill out the rivets and either rivet back in the new ones or bolt them in. Replace, re-tint, and DONE.
That is why I spend almost $300 for a OEM regulator. They last almost forever. I happened to get a noisy one is why I replaced one on my car when I got it. It was the passenger side front window. Those cheap regulators aren't worth the trouble. It is better to get a used OEM one than a cheap new import.
Last edited by richard-tx; 05-27-2017 at 02:42 PM.
Thank you for the info. I'm sure that is exactly what is destroying my tint. I had a feeling bending it back would break it. So you think covering it with something like mole skin, electrical tape, or heat shrink would keep if from scratching the tint if I leave it bent?
Thank you for the info. I'm sure that is exactly what is destroying my tint. I had a feeling bending it back would break it. So you think covering it with something like mole skin, electrical tape, or heat shrink would keep if from scratching the tint if I leave it bent?
I doubt that'll help, at best it would just slow down how quickly it rescratched it.
That is why I spend almost $300 for a OEM regulator. They last almost forever. I happened to get a noisy one is why I replaced one on my car when I got it. It was the passenger side front window. Those cheap regulators aren't worth the trouble. It is better to get a used OEM one than a cheap new import.
Yeah I an hopeful the money saved doesn't bite me in the end, but I dont know how long I'll keep the car so I didnt want to drop $600. I'm a bit confused by your statement on a used OEM one...isnt the one that went bad on my car OEM right? So if that went bad at 90k miles or so (I dont know when it went bad, just got the car last October and I tinted the fronts or wouldnt have noticed the metal piece was bent...unless it kept bending and ended up scratching the glass??) wouldnt it be logical to assume the replacement used one would as well? I would assume the cheap replacement part would at least hold up for a few years? 5 years? 10 years? I guess I figured it would last longer than I'd have the car for.
There are many OEM regulators out there with 200,000 miles and 15 years old that don't have an issue. Once in a while one will go bad, but in general they last a long long time.
hmmm, ok. Im just glad I finally figured it out, was driving me crazy. Exact same thing happened on my last A8L, (2004) and from the posters on here it seems to be a issue that does come up from that metal piece bending. Got the replacement regulators in today so we'll see how they hold up.
hmmm, ok. Im just glad I finally figured it out, was driving me crazy. Exact same thing happened on my last A8L, (2004) and from the posters on here it seems to be a issue that does come up from that metal piece bending. Got the replacement regulators in today so we'll see how they hold up.
I have to put a new regulator in a friend's '06 this week. Were the rivets any problem to install ?
05-27-2017, 11:08 AM
Update
