Part three in our series of Five Dollar Five Minute mods, and possibly the first one that could actually be 5 minutes!
The goal here is to pin down the wind deflector over the sunroof, to increase the wind-in-your-air joy that having a sunroof is for. But also, we don't want it to be permanent, so that we can still open the sunroof when it's cold out. After a playing with clips, latches, and magnets, I found something that works perfectly, but is surprisingly simple: a hook:
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Materials: 3' of rigid single-strand wire
Tools: Drill, pliers, file (optional), screwdriver
Start by removing the deflecting-beam itself. There are two screws at either end you'll need to undo:
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Then drill a hole in the center of the beam, only slightly wider than your wire, and deep enough to go into but not through the hollow beam.
Feed your wire into this hole until it comes out one of the ends of the beam. Using pliers, tie a knot / ball in the end of the wire - this will prevent it from pulling out of your hole. Pull the wire back out your hole until the knot stops it from coming any further.
At this point, you should reattach the beam and screw it back in. Now for the hardest part: fold a hook into the wire. You want the hook to be long enough that there is some room for flex so that the springs in the deflector will allow it to latch and unlatch, but short enough that it keeps the deflector out of the wind-stream.
The final step is optional: I found it helped a little to file a small nick for the hook to grab on to, but you may not need to.
Bam. Done. We might have made it in under the five minute mark - but don't rush. I've been using the hook in the picture for two years now with zero problems. It even latches automatically every time I open the sunroof.
The goal here is to pin down the wind deflector over the sunroof, to increase the wind-in-your-air joy that having a sunroof is for. But also, we don't want it to be permanent, so that we can still open the sunroof when it's cold out. After a playing with clips, latches, and magnets, I found something that works perfectly, but is surprisingly simple: a hook:
Materials: 3' of rigid single-strand wire
Tools: Drill, pliers, file (optional), screwdriver
Start by removing the deflecting-beam itself. There are two screws at either end you'll need to undo:
Then drill a hole in the center of the beam, only slightly wider than your wire, and deep enough to go into but not through the hollow beam.
Feed your wire into this hole until it comes out one of the ends of the beam. Using pliers, tie a knot / ball in the end of the wire - this will prevent it from pulling out of your hole. Pull the wire back out your hole until the knot stops it from coming any further.
At this point, you should reattach the beam and screw it back in. Now for the hardest part: fold a hook into the wire. You want the hook to be long enough that there is some room for flex so that the springs in the deflector will allow it to latch and unlatch, but short enough that it keeps the deflector out of the wind-stream.
The final step is optional: I found it helped a little to file a small nick for the hook to grab on to, but you may not need to.
Bam. Done. We might have made it in under the five minute mark - but don't rush. I've been using the hook in the picture for two years now with zero problems. It even latches automatically every time I open the sunroof.