Becareful with your HVAC vent adjusters..

[mojtro]

i got my e90 last september and i didn't notice that all adjusters were broken i learn how to live without them. i wonder how much it cost

[Ludey]

Originally Posted by Beemdog

Ulcers, are you kidding??? I went through that phase when I was 13. These days I generate so much stomach acid that I have these tubes hooked-up feeding five-gallon collection jugs I sell off to Dupont Chemical. Righteous bucks, dude! We're talking professional grade stress-monger here.

Just kiddn' ya, it's all good...

HAHA

I hear you though, sometimes reading the forum is rough - you get the extreme ends of the spectrum - guys turning 600+ at the wheels without so much as a hiccup. And then the guys who keep theirs bone stock in a heated garage that plays soothing music who grenade theirs the first time over 3k RPMs. In general the odds are in your favor though

[///mawana]

It happened to me as well, bothe the drivers' side and the middle vents broke a week of each other.

Apparently they are easy to disassemble and fix back. I remember, all I did was pushing in a lot of small tabs using a small screwdriver and plastic trim removal tools to release various parts before accessing the rotary. I then used superglue to tightly secure the rotaries back in place before reassembling. I proceeded to doing all the front vents and all has been fine since. Once you open them up, it's very easy to see and follow what needs to be done.

[dj_dub]

This happened to me too...all 4 broke off at the same damn time! lol Mind you, I moved them lightly and with very little force. Brought the car to the dealer and had them all replaced for free.

[Killerfish2012]

This just happened to me yesterday on the right one on my center console. Reached over to pull it back to center gently, after I noticed a passenger moved it prior. The whole thing popped, and came apart in my hand. I was driving at the time, so I had to wait till I got to my destination. Luckily, I was able to recover all the parts, so none fell into the vents. I put everything back together and it's slightly loose, but on there fine. Couldn't figure out where that little metal thing went, which is obviously why everything isn't fit perfect. The plastic holder slides into the rear of the adjuster, and snaps in. You have to sort of put the holder back in, slide in the adjuster, then sort of apply force from the rear to snap the holder back in place. That's the trickiest part, but I did it with a pen cover. A flat head screw driver should work well also. Just have to remember now to leave all of these in place, and not mess with them at all. I sure as heck wasn't about to fork over serious $ at the stealer for this crap, so I stubbornly DIY. Just a heads up to everyone, you can do it! Just make sure you carefully gather up all the parts so none fall into the vent. If yours hasn't broken, ignore all the idiotic internet jokes on this thread, and take head, and leave your vents in place!

[ubiquitous360]

Hi, my name is Sam and I am the owner of venttabs.com. I wanted to let everyone here know that after several requests from BMW owners, I am now offering vent tabs for BMW at my site. They can be installed in about 30 seconds, require no tools, and won't break like OEM. Some folks have a hard time at first believing a fix this simple exists, but I assure you they work as well as or better than OEM. If you'd like to see an installation video, you can find it here.

Keep in mind the only tabs I offer at the moment are 3D printed and all black (no chrome strip). If demand is sufficient, I will eventually offer tabs which are identical to OEM. If you are interested the OEM style tabs, feel free to join my notification list here and I'll email you when they become available.

Lastly, if you'd like to get your vents fixed now, but upgrade to OEM style later, no worries. If/when I launch the OEM style tabs I will offer a discount to previous customers and the upgrade is simple...just pry the top lip of the tab up slightly with a sharp edge and pull away from the vent.

If you'd like more information or have any questions, feel free to email me at support@venttabs.com. Thanks, Sam

[GVIFlyer]

My M3 has less than 10,000 miles on the odometer and all of my vent knobs have been replaced at least once.

[STooK]

This happened in my e93 and I got it replaced under warranty. Very strange.

[twinpuller]

How much are oem replacements?

[Three Pedal Steve]

The temperature must have been really cold. For both vents to fail simultaneously there must have been some external influence. Maybe a solvent based cleaning solution weakened the plastic and lower temps made all shrink and bind.

[burtonsbs5114]

I have fallen victim to this as well. I haven't fixed mine yet, but venttabs.com seem like a real viable option!

[Rbembas_M3]

Originally Posted by C-M2

This morning I was in shock when I went to adjust my driver side vents and they fell apart.... Curious I went to adjust the passenger side and the same exact thing happened....

I can't believe all 4 front adjusters failed with literally no force at all. As you can see one of the backings had also fallen out. The remaining 3 are still stuck in the HVAC vents.

I've had the same problem all 4 of mine and one in my X5
where were these made China?

[Jeffman]

Originally Posted by ubiquitous360

Hi, my name is Sam and I am the owner of venttabs.com. I wanted to let everyone here know that after several requests from BMW owners, I am now offering vent tabs for BMW at my site. They can be installed in about 30 seconds, require no tools, and won't break like OEM. Some folks have a hard time at first believing a fix this simple exists, but I assure you they work as well as or better than OEM. If you'd like to see an installation video, you can find it here.

Keep in mind the only tabs I offer at the moment are 3D printed and all black (no chrome strip). If demand is sufficient, I will eventually offer tabs which are identical to OEM. If you are interested the OEM style tabs, feel free to join my notification list here and I'll email you when they become available.

Lastly, if you'd like to get your vents fixed now, but upgrade to OEM style later, no worries. If/when I launch the OEM style tabs I will offer a discount to previous customers and the upgrade is simple...just pry the top lip of the tab up slightly with a sharp edge and pull away from the vent.

If you'd like more information or have any questions, feel free to email me at support@venttabs.com. Thanks, Sam

THANKS SAM!
I've been living broken vent tab hell for four years. Car detailer probably hit them with the vacuum. I couldn't take it any more and google searched how to fix and found this webpage. Your solution and design is SWEEEET! I just ordered two. Thanks!

[anerbe]

LOL - about to order this for a vent, then messaged my friends and each of them broke a tab within the past week.

Ordered a few!

[CurbBender'90]

I've had mines fall off the a few times after I adjusted them. I was able to get them to stick in one position so they wouldn't fall again. Damn cup holder is jammed n not springy anymore ??

[dean87]

thanks for bumping this thread.
Just ordered

[SoCalRPM]

I was accelerating onto the freeway on ramp just yesterday and the left center air vent tab flew off at me with literally no physical contact from anything.

I'll see if I can get the parts out with tweezers.

Anyone seen a DIY guide to install the OEM? Haven't taken my dash apart before. Maybe I'll just try the Vent Tabs retailer

[4130]

Originally Posted by SoCalRPM

I was accelerating onto the freeway on ramp just yesterday and the left center air vent tab flew off at me with literally no physical contact from anything.

I'll see if I can get the parts out with tweezers.

Anyone seen a DIY guide to install the OEM? Haven't taken my dash apart before. Maybe I'll just try the Vent Tabs retailer

I tried taking the vent apart and gave up. I ordered a venttab.com replacement and it was a super easy fix that looks OEM. Save yourself the aggravation and get the venttab.

[Scrippy]

Originally Posted by VMcV3y

Sounds familiar:

Not on a BMW, but I had a Mercury Mistake... I mean, Mystique, that was possessed by the Demon of [COLOR="Red"]Perpetual Car Snafus[/COLOR]. One of the twenty-one (really) warranty-serviceable failures was the horizontal center-mounted air conditioning vents. I hardly ever moved them, and one day just touched it to point it a different direction .... the entire assembly fell apart like they were dominoes. I vividly remember all the little plastic blades cascading down to the center console.

What a POS that car was...


.

[Megabrode]

Venttabs.com is the way to go. $10 (or thereabouts). Dead simple to install. As opposed to $75 for the whole unit.

[spazzyfry123]

My vents in the center stack were frozen up and would not respond to any input from me. Ended up having to replace both vents late last year.