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I’ve run into the same issue and not willing to spend about $2K to have it fixed. How do I go about trying your clips? What is your feedback on them after a year?
I bought a set from flyboyusa over a year ago and they are still holding up fine. It's a fairly simple job, just be careful and take your time. I open my roof every once in a while, I don't use it as much as I used too. I recommend his clips, he came up with a solution that works.
there’s no irony to be entertained there, it’s just common sense. Your logic is akin to complaining your $4800 aluminum wheels cracked over a pothole, so you want to try the largely untested $250 replica wheel over the same potholes instead. Good luck finding a lawyer to take on your flying sunroof glass case when you tell him the $30 clips didn’t work as well as they should. Hopefully they aren’t able to find this thread where you stated you don’t care about anyone’s safety because your European car costs too much to repair
fwiw I have yet to have any of my sunroof repair jobs come back with issues, using the oem parts and factory repair guidelines. We have a few tricks we use to ensure proper installation and to avoid having to do the job twice. I’m not sure the issue is the plastic clips as much as hasty assembly, and misalignment of the guide rails from the factory. The plastic clips appear to me to be a purposefully weak point in the assembly to avoid glass shattering instances for example. Before leaving Mercedes I was responsible for inspecting the new cars that came in to the dealership. Most often the issues were found on the cars out of the Alabama plant, where most of our w205’s come from
In my opinion the entire array of pano roof cars should have a service campaign to have the sunroof rails and plastic clips inspected for proper alignment and integrity. I also own a 2005 w211 Mercedes that only recently in the last couple of years had a recall for “sunroof glass may fly off the car”. The recall process involved yanking on the sunroof glass, if the glass doesn’t come off then the car is considered good to go. Quite a crude way to test someone’s 15 year old sunroof, but the name of the game is to maximize profits and reduce losses. It seems they’ve decided the pano roof issues are not worth issuing a real recall unfortunately. One of the many reasons I decided to leave Mercedes
it's uncanny that you can't see the irony in anything you're saying. you left mercedes for many reasons, including a poor recall process on a part that took 15 years to be recalled. by your own admission, there already existed a design flaw that could've resulted in a sunroof flying off from the factory (although, there aren't any stories of mercedes sunroofs flying off into minivans). mercedes delivered a broken and cheap product, so complaining about people using aftermarket alternatives is pointless. mercedes didn't do it right the first time, so they haven't earned our trust to do it right the second time. you're telling people to put the same exact broken parts from mercedes back on the car to fail again. it's great that your repairs haven't failed thus far, but you also mentioned some largely untested "tricks" that you recently incorporated. so it's okay to trust your new tricks? how come mercedes didn't use these tricks when they made the car? the job is being done twice. first by mercedes, second by you!
and the mention of price tags is also irrelevant, considering bosch makes a part for $5, sells it to mercedes for $20, who then sells it to consumers for $1000. stamping a logo on a part doesn't necessarily mean it's quality. the $250 replica rims could turn out to be made of superior materials and last longer than the $4800 wheels. we as americans are groomed to frown upon products that aren't expensive, when they're all made in china for pennies.
it's uncanny that you can't see the irony in anything you're saying. you left mercedes for many reasons, including a poor recall process on a part that took 15 years to be recalled. by your own admission, there already existed a design flaw that could've resulted in a sunroof flying off from the factory (although, there aren't any stories of mercedes sunroofs flying off into minivans). mercedes delivered a broken and cheap product, so complaining about people using aftermarket alternatives is pointless. mercedes didn't do it right the first time, so they haven't earned our trust to do it right the second time. you're telling people to put the same exact broken parts from mercedes back on the car to fail again. it's great that your repairs haven't failed thus far, but you also mentioned some largely untested "tricks" that you recently incorporated. so it's okay to trust your new tricks? how come mercedes didn't use these tricks when they made the car? the job is being done twice. first by mercedes, second by you!
and the mention of price tags is also irrelevant, considering bosch makes a part for $5, sells it to mercedes for $20, who then sells it to consumers for $1000. stamping a logo on a part doesn't necessarily mean it's quality. the $250 replica rims could turn out to be made of superior materials and last longer than the $4800 wheels. we as americans are groomed to frown upon products that aren't expensive, when they're all made in china for pennies.
a lot of words to just say you are too cheap to fix your Mercedes properly
a lot of words to just say you are too cheap to fix your Mercedes properly
yes, gaslighting, the last resort for someone whose argument holds no water
by that logic, anyone who doesn't go to the dealer is too cheap to fix their mercedes properly
meanwhile, you're an independent technician marketing yourself as a cheaper option than the only proper channel (the dealer), while using "tricks" and untested methods
yes, gaslighting, the last resort for someone whose argument holds no water
by that logic, anyone who doesn't go to the dealer is too cheap to fix their mercedes properly
meanwhile, you're an independent technician marketing yourself as a cheaper option than the only proper channel (the dealer), while using "tricks" and untested methods
I am not sure if this would solve the problem I am having, please take a look at this video and if anyone has had the same issue and this fix has worked for them I'll give it a shot, thanks folks.
I am among you all having sunroof issues. We had the car in for maintenance and I asked the shop (not a dealer) to look at the sunroof. Yes, I heard something like plastic break and now, only one side of the roof lifts up and it makes me nervous that the glass could break. The shop wanted a ridiculous amount of money to replace the whole setup. Are the symptoms for this similar to what we are experiencing? One side coming up and not the other? Our roof is closed now but I'm worried about trying it again. We are not very handy and wanted to know if this was something an idiot could do (replacing these clips)
I am among you all having sunroof issues. We had the car in for maintenance and I asked the shop (not a dealer) to look at the sunroof. Yes, I heard something like plastic break and now, only one side of the roof lifts up and it makes me nervous that the glass could break. The shop wanted a ridiculous amount of money to replace the whole setup. Are the symptoms for this similar to what we are experiencing? One side coming up and not the other? Our roof is closed now but I'm worried about trying it again. We are not very handy and wanted to know if this was something an idiot could do (replacing these clips)
It is a ridiculous amount of money to replace because it is a ridiculous amount of labor. Those plastic clips that break are not able to be replaced with the sunroof in position. To do any of the repairs properly requires the sunroof rails to be taken out. That requires the entire headliner to be taken out. The whole thing is likely in the range of 4-6 hours. Most shops will not disassemble the sunroof rail assembly and replace that plastic part and put it back together. It opens up a can of worms potentially. So, they will only want to replace the entire sunroof rail assembly, which is roughly a $400 part. Most of the dealers will recommend that you replace the other rail that works, because it's really not that much more labor (20 minutes?) to replace the other one while the headliner is out.
If you go up this thread further, you will see that I had the same problem and ordered a 3D printed part from a guy in France who charged about $80 with shipping. The part allowed you to fix the problem with the sunroof in place - genius! It's far from an approved Mercedes repair, but I thought it was worth taking a chance on a $80 part, seeing that I am pretty handy. If you are not handy, unfortunately you will be looking at between $2,000 and $3,500 to replace one or both of the sunroof rail assemblies. Now, if someone says you need an entire new sunroof...that is likely not necessary. The glass can be mounted/recycled on the new rails.
This type of frustrating break happens on all cars out there. It's not a common break, but it does happen. And it's not unique to Mercedes-Benz.
Last edited by Jetfuture; Feb 7, 2024 at 05:06 PM.
Thanks for sharing! Can you share the file so those of us with 3D printers can try them out?
Im sure mine will break in time. kinda afraid to open the roof to grease things without having a fix ready on hand. how does the PLA hold up with heat?
Went to Clean rails for 1st time, and both just fell apart with just a little pressure on them. Extremely brittle. Hoping he has replacements for purchase for a 2014 W222 Scalss.
Will these work on a W222 SClass S550? Is it the same mechanism??
It’s not really the mechanism that needs to be the same, as much as the plastic part that breaks in two. Is it a triangular piece of plastic? The replacement 3-D part the guy in France sold me (see above post/links) is squarish and shaped more like a U. You literally put the piece in your track and twist it 90 degrees and it clicks in the rail. Even an idiot could do that part. It gets a little trickier setting the sunroof attachment into the plastic part and sliding the included pin to lock the whole thing together. The whole process took me no more than 5 minutes.
His replacement part is such that the glass sat perhaps 2mm higher on that corner. So, I unscrewed the torx mounting screws and adjusted the glass so it would sit lower and perfectly flush. I opened and closed the sunroof fully two times and will never operate it again (by choice). It worked just like new. But, the part seems to be of a lot more strong plastic. It almost seems like it is carbon fiber (although likely not). I’m actually worried about the other side failing.
Anyway, send an email to the seller and see if it would fit your S-class rails.
Are you still offering the 3d printed clips for the sunroof repair? I have a 2015 MB C300. The clips on both sides have broken and I can't see spending $1Kplus to get this fixed. Are they easy to install - I'm only moderately mechanically inclined.Thanks.
Dear lord, this is a lifesaver! Are you still selling these? Just went down the rabbit hole trying to figure out our issue and learned the daunting cost of a dealer fix with removing the headliner. Please tell me you are still selling these!
Hi is there another way to send you funds for the CIO’s as I needs both sides and am located in the UK
Thank you
Rob
Originally Posted by flyboyusa
****** UDPATE 6/20/22 ********
I've updated the material to a stronger carbon filled material that seems to be holding up quite well. I'm using a set on my personal vehicle and also have positive feedback from a number of other testers with some age on theirs installs.
I have a large qty. printed now (after some downtime on my 3D printer). Pricing is $30 per pair of clips (per vehicle side).
Venmo me @davet797 and include your shipping address.
I'm also attaching an install instruction sheet to this post for reference.
Hi all....I recently started to do a DIY lube maintenance on the panoramic sunroof on my C400 and realized that one of the plastic v-shaped guide clips was broken.
After researching this problem, I realized that this is a pretty widespread issue with this OEM sunroof design and many people have reported a similar issue. This ultimately causes road noise and binding during opening/closing.
The published repair involves removing the entire headliner in the vehicle to gain access to the end of the guiderails in order to slide in the replacement clips (a lot of work).
I decided to design a repair-in-place clip to solve this issue. I printed them on my 3D printer out of PLA and installed on my car and it has been in service for about 2 months now without any issue. They are working amazingly well!
The clips will install on the guiderail, then the sunroof yoke will slip down into the grooves, then the retainer inserts will get a dab of superglue and be pressed into place to lock it all in place. Allow the glue to cure for 4 hours before using sunroof.
I was a bit leery that super glue would have enough "guts" to hold up....but it turns out the super glue is actually stronger than the PLA plastic.
Attached are a few pics showing the design.
I'm looking for anyone else who has the broken clip issue and would like to try out my clips? I want some additional feedback on how well they'll hold up with use.
Anyone?
Spent like 30minutes reading this whole thread. Very interesting evolution over the last few years.
One dude realizes how messed up the fix is -> goes on and makes his own fix -> thinks its miniscule -> other people value it -> he starts selling his home made fix -> dude in France some how enters the discussion, either because he copied the 3D design or independently thought of it too -> now you have an aftermarket fix for this issue -> I come on here and spend $140CAD for one of these pieces including shipping and tax hoping this will work for my CLA250 2014
Kudos to FlyBoyUSA and the french hustler who stole the thread LOL
I wish the two threads had been kept separate as you never know in some brief posts by readers which design they are referring to.
I believe the French solution is a different design as it does not require gluing each piece together but instead uses some twist and click method.
I may not have described the differences accurately as I did not feel like reading the entire thread all over again.
I also reported this issue with Transport Canada (canadian NHTSA) hoping they do a recall or smth because clearly very bs and its a potential safety concern
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