Weathertech window visors/deflectors

It appears like the clearance in the window channel is just too tight to accommodate the window along with the thickness of the deflector.
I think you are right, that it is a flaw in the design, especially since both deflectors broke identically in the same spot.

Yep. I'm going to buy some sand paper or use a dremel to round out the sharp points where they chipped. I'm going to round off just the tip where it's now pointy at the tips of each semicircular crack. Enough of the lip remained where if I just round out the points they should still work like the driver side was functioning......... very well. If this fix works then when I get the replacements I will put them away and just have spares. If this fix doesn't work, then I will attempt to install the replacements without cracking them one last time before I request a refund. I will keep you all posted.

This mod is very practical and came in handy the first day I drove with them installed. I have been waiting for this mod for too long to just give up on it.
 
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Well, as a matter of fact...it broke exactly like that. I will say that during the second installation I didn't hear any crack when I put the window up several times. I'll see how it goes going forward and update the forum.

Ok, please let us know. Interested to see how it works out for you since we are having a similar issue.
 
I've been kicking around the idea that perhaps using one of the clips provided for the rear deflectors positioned towards the weathertech logo on the front deflectors. I think it may push the deflector out enough to avoid any contact with the window. I'm going to call weathertech sometime this week and see if this is something anyone has looked at doing. I don't want to screw around with removing the rear and testing...I'll see if I can get them to send me a couple of clips. Any thoughts on this?
 
I've been kicking around the idea that perhaps using one of the clips provided for the rear deflectors positioned towards the weathertech logo on the front deflectors. I think it may push the deflector out enough to avoid any contact with the window. I'm going to call weathertech sometime this week and see if this is something anyone has looked at doing. I don't want to screw around with removing the rear and testing...I'll see if I can get them to send me a couple of clips. Any thoughts on this?

That's actually a really good idea but I wonder if the front windows weather trim has that lip you pull down with the tool provided by WeatherTech. I will check tomorrow. If it doesn't have that lip, then there wouldn't be anything to hold the rear of the clip in place. If there is a lip I am going to try this out with one of my broken visors and see bow it goes.
 
Ok so today I had a little spare time on my hands and I decided to play with the chipped visors a little to see if I could make them work. I am very happy with the results so I thought I would share. You are looking at pictures of the passenger side visor, I used a 3M sanding block the kind found at Home Depot with the sponge center (it's what I had around). If any one does try this please be careful because the visor material sands down very fast and easily and it seems like you can find yourself sanding down too much very easily. I'm not sure what the grit was on my sanding block because I had it for quite some time but it was the sanding block that is made for smoothing surfaces and is very coarse. All I did was simply sand down the points left by the visor chipping to make the round as opposed to sharp and pointy. I also sanded down spot on the visor where the window first makes contact near the rear of the window. The results were surprising, I honestly didn't expect this to work but I figured since the drivers side visor was functioning fine in this condition, I would give it a shot. The worst that could happen was, it wouldn't work and I would end up using the replacements when they arrive. I installed them after sanding, and they still fit really tight since the top of the lip and bottom of the lip is intact, the semicircular chip is in the middle. Now the passenger window rolls up and down with no issues, so I will see if this works permanently. Sanding the contact point allows the window to pass smoothly when it first makes contact with the rear of the visor. I don't foresee any problems since most problems that have been identified, occur as soon as you try to roll up the window for the first time. My logic is that since they chipped almost identically, the window has already forced the visors into a position where they chipped to fit correctly, so hopefully now they are drama free. Let's see if they hold up permanently. I will update.

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Ok so after a day or so the sanded visors became loose. I removed them and tried installing the replacements. I didn't even get to the drivers side replacement because I did the passenger side first and it cracked as soon as I tried to ease up the window. Soooooo once again I called Weathertech and they sent one final replacement for me to try on the passenger side before calling it quits for a refund. AT THIS POINT I HAVE TO AT THE LEAST GIVE PROPS TO MCNIEL (WEATHERECH) FOR SENDING ME REPLACEMENTS TWICE. Even with the second attempt cracking only the passenger side, they still sent replacements for both fronts.

Soooo now I tried a third time and finally both sides installed without cracking, but not without some ingenuity. What I did was use a blow dryer on high heat to heat up the rear of the weather channel, then the rear of the weather visor. I heated up the machined lip part of the weather visor right where you see the chips on the visors for about five minutes, until it was pretty much a little more than warm. Then I had someone hold the blow dryer on high heat close to the windows rear blowing directly on the weather channel/visor while I slowly inched up the window. I was hoping that heating it up would make it a little more flexible when the window rolled up on it. I don't know if the heat played a part in it but finally the driver side and the passenger side installed without cracking. The passenger side still seemed to fit a little tighter than the driver side, so for now I leave the windows up a day or so and see if I have issues again. If I do have more issues, I can already tell it will be primarily with the passenger side, and McNeil said they will issue a refund. For now I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It'll be a while before I report back to you guys. I'm going to try to keep my windows up for as long as possible before I roll them down in hopes that the longer I keep them up the better the visors will conform to the weather channel and vise-versa.
 
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Thanks for all the updates, we appreciate the feedback.

Hope this install is successful, long term.
 
It maybe for awhile for any conformity since it is cold out now...

So far so good, no issues since this last install. I think it's been long enough now that the weather channels have conformed to the visors. The one observation I will make is that the front windows do make a considerable amount of contact with the front visors when they roll up. So much so that I usually slow the speed of the windows down at the point where it makes contact with the visors. After the initial contact I let them go up the last few inches normally. This may be annoying to some but again the visors have already paid for themselves in practical usage in situations where the windows are fogging rapidly and it's raining or cold out. I'll shoot periodic updates but I've already used them in warm weather conditions, cold conditions and even icy conditions when the windows have been frozen in the up position before defrosting so at this point I think it's finally fair to say that they stand a good chance of lasting the usual life span that these visors offer, whatever that may be.
 
It's been a while since I last posted on this, but other than a slight click as the window makes light contact with the deflector on the way up I've had no issues. I never got around to testing my theory of trying one of the clips used for the rear to try and push the front ones out to avoid contact, but at this point I don't have a reason to bother.
 
I still haven't given up hope on finding functional window vents that look good on our FX's. So here are two links from some I recently came across on ebay. They are both the stick on type, which actually doesn't look bad if you can find a set that blends with your window molding. That being said the first link has an all black set which I'm going to try because I'm doing a chrome delete soon. The second link has a set that actually is made to match our stock chrome molding and if they are crafted as good as they look in the pictures, they actually look pretty good.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JDM-Vent-Wi...r:2009|Model:FX35&hash=item25a4b6c52f&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WellVisors-...r:2009|Model:FX35&hash=item2a4873f528&vxp=mtr
 
bumping this, what's the concensus after this many years ago? any idea with Weathertech fixed the issues? or another brand for in-channel visors that are good for the 2nd gen?
 
I have been using a set of WeatherTech for 6 months without any issue of it coming off. I bought from a member on here awhile ago. The trick for the front pieces not coming off is to make sure the vertical/front part not to be inserted into the channel. It needs to rest on the outer sill of the channel.
 
I have been using a set of WeatherTech for 6 months without any issue of it coming off. I bought from a member on here awhile ago. The trick for the front pieces not coming off is to make sure the vertical/front part not to be inserted into the channel. It needs to rest on the outer sill of the channel.

If you could, can you take a close up picture of how you have your vertical/front part not inserted in the channel. I haven't pulled the trigger yet, but interested in this little addition/mod
 
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