rotorhead335

Just now joining the club. Have approximately four and one-half years, 68k miles and...flop, the visor cracked along the top seam and is like a wounded duck in front of my face. Dealer says $157+ for the part, plus labor.

I think that Mazda produced a brilliant car but had to cut corners where they could to offer it at the low list price. A fair trade, says I.

Glockperfection

buy it here for 100 and install it yourself.

http://www.mazdaparts.org/interiorparts3.html

alexanderiv99

yea they probably just loosen that lil black piece and grease it up and then reglue it...at least that what i did to mine but the glue i chose wasnt that best...ehh hem elmers school glue..lol jk naw expoxy but wrong kind and it worked for a while til the florida heat got to it

Tbolt

Sweet, I'm not the only one. Just broke my driver's side today, and the passenger side is not far from breaking too. Regretfully I tried my best fix, I didn't even think about it being covered under warrenty, hopefully my dealer still replaces it.
Have any of you taken one of the visors apart and looked at how it was designed? I'm no engineer nor do I play one on TV, but that seems like a dumb and over-complicated design. The part that is supposed to swing doesn't cleanly swing even with all the grease and small engine oil I could put on it. Frustrating.

GameGuy369

iTrader: (1)

Welcome to the club. It's amazing how such a minor part of the car has the most common problem. Mine broke last year and I used it probably 5 times TOTAL at that point.

Chamberlin

iTrader: (1)

After reading 14 pages, I feel I at least deserve a spot on the broken visor list....
I always heard of the visor breaking, but I never really realized it was the actual visor mounting and the visor splitting... I live in Tucson (HI temps - ALL the time) and I use a Mazda windshield roll up foil shade, so I use my visors EVERY day, up and down 6 times a day to help hold up the shade. Now, after 65,000 miles on an early '05 model the passenger one blew up today. And like another poster who forgot to crack his windows, today I purposely shut my windows and sunroof because we are [ironically!] having covered parking installed at work, and for now, we all had to park in a dusty lot next to our building and I didn't want dust to blow into my sunroof etc. Looks like that extra little bit of temperature increase did the trick. Go F*$^#ing figure, the visor looks like somebody tried to steal it right off the hinge, all mangled inside. WTF. All of this is old hat to most of you, but I just wanted to chime in. I certainly hope the TSB'd visors are worth a crap. Time to talk to my old Mazda dealer buddy - he owes me one (or two).

-C

trist

I guess I can join in on the list =) .. nothing to be happy about but glad to know I'm not the only one lol.

The extended 8yr / 100k miles warranty is for the engine and internals only, right? It wouldn't cover and fix something like this I'm guessin.. after all, mine is 04 w/ 68k+ miles =(

Nopstnz8

iTrader: (6)

I fixed mine by drilling a hole on the edge of each side and then putting a screw and bolt on to hold it in place. I did it on the top of the visor so no one could see. It doesn't look to bad, and is a lot better than spending the money on a new one for the time being.

dezau

iTrader: (3)

me2!

exarkun

Just happened to me. I have an '04 with 47500 miles. I'm assuming no more warranty coverage?

SayNoToPistons

iTrader: (8)

What are some tips for keeping my visors from breaking? Maybe some reinforcement? I am always gentle with things but I cant say the same about my passengers... E.G. "omg i forgot to put my eye shadow on!! *bangs down visors*". -_-

Rhino8487

If you live in a place where it gets extremely hot in the summer, it's going to happen. I don't see anyway around it, ohter than putting nut/bolts in them like the other member. I don't want to drill holes in mine, and will grudginly shell out the $145 for a new one. Mine happened around 45K the drivers side was first and then the passenger side. The dealer replaced them for free. He probably felt sorry for me as I have had this car in the shop for an engine, clutch, and transmission replace all before 60K.

Nopstnz8

iTrader: (6)

Keep you windows, and sunroof, if you have one, cracked open on very hot days. The one day I decided to not do this and it was over 100 degrees mine broke. I went outside on my break from work, and once I pulled down the visor, it snapped. The plastic can't handle the heat I believe, which makes it really cheap quality, but the visor design is nice.

fobjr101

Yeah it just happens. I have an extended warranty and surprisingly it is covered.

SayNoToPistons

iTrader: (8)

Dammit, piece of crap driver side visor split today. I was gentle with it too. The 92 degree weather may have had something to do with it.

kanundra

Ugh, add me to the list... 04 w/ 47k.

rodjonathan

iTrader: (6)

man i hate em someone on here should make a new design one or something

Rhino8487

I keep windows cracked and a sun shade in the windshield, but the out side temp is 115* here in the summers. Your car stays around 96 to 100* easily in the summer months. It's hard on everything inside the car.

voodooray

It's happened to me for the second time since buying the car new in 06, first time was after a couple of thousand miles. It was replaced no questions asked last time and I waited a couple of days for the part to come into stock.

This time I'm at 46k and the stealership apparently ordered the part 3 weeks ago and they are saying they still don't know when it will arrive (they initially said 1 week), I wonder if they're waiting for me to hit 48k and then say I need to buy the part myself as my warranty has expired. Anyway I'm going to take it in this Friday, this way regardless of when the part arrives the problem is reported while still under warranty.

I wouldn't mind but it's caused my entire head unit to shut down, no music, no central locking and keyless entry, no alarm and the trip odometer resets to zero after every shut off. At every start up it revs really high before idle...check engine light is on but I can't get a reading from an ODBII scanner....all for a crappy sunvisor!

Nick

Add me to the list of those who have fixed the damn thing themselves. Mine broke a couple months ago ('04, 55K miles, out of warranty). I was NOT going to pay $120 for a freaking visor without at least giving it a go myself, so I took the thing apart, and started looking at it.

First of all, to even get the stupid thing apart you are breaking all the clips that hold it together. Oh well, that's what super glue was made for right?

I tried the suggestion of popping the metal clip off that holds it so tight, but A) I was worried about it holding it's position up with it off, and B) I couldn't get it off anyway

Since the whole reason it breaks is because the two metal pieces begin to hold tighter together than the force of the plastic shell holding them in, and then pulling down on your visor becomes like a lever pulling the two apart, I just decided to try to reinforce it so that the squarish metal clip would hold in place. I wedged the metal bar and clip back into place, then put a nail running through several pieces of plastic, then through the clip, then through several more pieces of plastic. This won't hold very well itself, but it will at least give it some extra strength to keep from pulling out of place and plying the visor apart from the inside again. This nail is ONLY on the inside and just acts as a peg, it runs the same direction the metal bar does.

After that, I simply ran super glue around each visor clip and any other contact point I could see, and then used about 80 feet of masking tape to tape it together as tight as I could in several directions. I let it sit for 24 hours, and when I took the tape off, the hold was extremely tight, I couldn't tell any weak points without stressing it on purpose. I've put it back in my car, and so far so good, for a couple months.

Hope this can help someone. I wish I'd taken pictures, but I was only about 50% confident it would actually work

2tone

iTrader: (3)

....finally had this happen after 5+ years. it happened while i was driving, and i made the decision that i didn't give a damn about the vanity mirror light, so i yanked the **** down...the wires are still intact, but because i "ripped" it off, the connectors in the visor were bent.

soooo...it is pure coincidence that my CEL came on AND my entire stereo/time display doesn't work???? No ******* way the vanity mirror light is tied to all that other wiring......WTF? any knowledge or advice??? i hate driving without music or a frickin' clock!!

2tone

iTrader: (3)

well i'll be!! blew a fuse...i'm sure this action blew it...but i couldn't tell you why! i think it's fuse 14, the bottom most 15a fuse, but don't quote me, i put my book away. anyway, it's just listed as 'interior lights'...but that same fuse also power the clock/radio display!! replaced that fuse and wha-la, working again. fixing my visor will haven't to wait for a different post

Mazurfer

Ripping **** down is never really a good idea!
Must have caused a momentary short when you did so.
I assume you know there is a TSB for this and some dealers will even take care of it even if you are out of warranty.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...02-07-1734.pdf

Tayninh

Another victim added to this thread. I could not believe it until I read this thread. Must be the training ground for BP executives to have first worked for Mazda. Cheap is all I can say. Cheap plastic but its expensive to replace. I ripped my down and blew a fuse in the process. nice. So its a call to the dealer.

RotaryJeff

They are pretty easy to fix, if you have a little patience and care to spend $15-$20 at Lowes or Home Depot. I fixed mine 3+ years ago after a warranty replacement, and warranty ran out. If I can, I'll post a pic here in the next day or so.