Brian_I.

As some of you know, I went to Vegas this weekend and I pull into the Excalibur's Valet line and all is fine and dandy. Then 4 hours later I come back out to pick up my car and I could see as the guy was pulling it up that something was definitely wrong. Upon closer inspection I see that one side of the shade is completely broken off and the other side is just hanging there.

Brian_I.

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Brian_I.

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DMXtremeZ

is it snapped off? please tell me they're gonna pay for it

Brian_I.

Well, the good thing is is that I was able to somewhat fix it once I got home. But because it was in that position for so long while parked in the valet, it is now stretched out of shape on the right side.
The security came and I filed a report with them. They gave me the number of the department that handles these sorts of claims so I will try calling them tomorrow and see what they'll offer me.
I really don't know how this happened but I do know that it was perfectly fine when I dropped it off. I don't really know if I even want anything from them but I'm curious to see what they'll offer.

Brian_I.

Here's a pic of an accident on the I-15 that I snapped as I was driving along. Yeah, traffic was so bad that actually pulled out my camera, turned it on and stuck my hand outside to take a blind shot of the scene. A car had somehow crashed into the center channel. The car was pretty smashed up and I think there were people still stuck in it. I didn't take it too close because there were a lot of people that had pulled over to help the victims and I didn't want to seem too insensitive.

brianhn1

i always thought that the mechanism for the rear shade was rather flimsy

I notice that sometimes I open the rear shade it jams on one side and i would have to pull the downed side to get it in the right position again

mmgrad

sorry about your poor luck... but yeah, i don't think the sunshade is made too well

why don't you just get your windows tinted, your car won't get as hot, and no need for that flimsy ***** going up & down

Brian_I.

Actually, I have 8% tint all the way around. I prefer the "blacker" look of 5% but too risky when it comes to getting fix-it tickets.

nellee

The valet probably couldn't seen through the shade when parking it and thought it was a manual shade and tried to take it off.

Did you at least win some cash or did you donate to a worthy cause?

mmgrad

uh... i don't know about you, but based on the pictures you showed, it doesn't look like there is any tint on there at all...

when i had 5% tint, it was dark as hell... your glass looks factory clear...???

mmgrad

great explanation... that is very possible.... good going sherlock...

Mach430

That rear sunshade is actually pretty dangerous. I raised mine once to find it flying towards the front of the car!

mmgrad

thats not a very soothing thought....

hey Ben, do you know why when I post URL picture references, it appears as a URL string (look at my post above) instead of the actual picture....

Brian_I.

Well hot-diggity-dog, you're a genius. That is probably what happened. I couldn't figure it out but that totally does make sense.

I did win a little money playing Blackjack and Paigow but what my wife threw away at the slot machines pretty much evened us out.

The difference between 8% and 5% is pretty big. And you have to remember that I am taking the pic from inside the car and right about noon when the Las Vegas sun is at it's brightest.

mmgrad

3% light does make a difference, but I didn't think it would make that BIG of a difference.

the visiblity is pretty good for a 8% tint... i'll have to check mine out one day without the use of the rear view mirror (the auto dim distorts the image)

when i had my 5% tint in my last car, i was backing up blind... couldn't see anything... thats why i decided to go with 20% in the back of the CLK this time around... better to be safe with this baby

Brian_I.

5%, so I was told, was considered limo tint. That is what I had on the front windows in my Expo when I got my ticket. Those were dark as hell but I loved the way it looked. At night you could not see in at all and during the day you could only make out the shadows of the people inside.
As far as being safe, 8% is not too dark. I can still see pretty well through my rear window when backing up at night and it's just light enough to where cops can still see inside the car so they are less likely to pull me over.

heeman

That sunshade looks decidely screwed-up.
The little roller wheels at the leading edge of my sun shade have marked the rear windscreen and the marks don't seem to be able to come off.
I have the glass tinted all round, and stopped using the sunshade for fear that it will damage the tinting film.

Mr. Big

You've got to watch those Las Vegas valets. I got my car back once and it looked like someone used it to party... the radio was switched to a different channel and there was the contents of a woman's purse dumped on the floor next to the passenger's seat. Don't even want to think about what was going on in the back seat.

Mach430

I have no idea, try emailing webmaster@mbworld.org for help.

Brian_I.

I called the Excalibur's customer relations center yesterday and she tells me I need to send them an estimate on how much it will cost to replace it. I don't know if I want to go through the hassle of getting estimates. I put it back together but the actual screen is messed up on one side still.
Hey Ben, is it possible just to replace the screen only or does it all come as one unit? Also, can evosport order this and replace it for me?

clkal

anybody know if tinkering with the stereo, like having it pulled out can have any effect on the rear sunshade? cuz i brought my car into the car stereo shop for some warranty work, and the only thing i saw the installer do was pull out the pioneer dvd player and check some wires....when i was driving home, my sunshade stopped working. any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
AL

mmgrad

it is possible that when they pulled the stereo stuff out, they may have accidently pulled & diconnected the wires for the sunshade...

pull apart the wood panel near the shifter and check if everything is connected properly. if not, i guess it you can check with the dealer... if you are outside your warranty period... then its time for you to go back to the stereo place and open up a can of whoop as$