E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

General conversations about BMW E28s and the people who own them.
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irl-mn
Posts: 133
Joined: Mar 05, 2012 8:08 AM
Location: Twin Cities, MN

E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by irl-mn »

Hello, it's been a long time since I've been on here...I have an '86 M535i that hasn't seen a lot of use in recent years. Hoping to be able to make time to use the car more regularly going forward. I'm currently in the process of refreshing suspension and brakes in addition to addressing some leaks from sitting. Next up will be sorting some interior items. One such item is related to the rear sun-blinds installed in this car. I've gathered that this is quite an uncommon option on the E28 and as a result I have not been able to find out much information or background on the parts involved. Issue #1 is with the little triangular blinds on the door quarter windows. The car was missing one of these when I purchased it and the other side is missing a clip and does not retract. Issue #2 is with the one of the main rectangular door window blinds, which no longer retracts. I will soon be taking the doors apart to resolve slow power window issues, but before diving in... has anybody any experience with the installation/removal/repair of these blinds? Part numbers would be helpful as I have not had any success finding a breakdown to see what, if any parts might still be available. I suspect everything is NLA, but worth a shot :D Any help or guidance would be appreciated.
stuartinmn
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Location: Minneapolis

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by stuartinmn »

Long time no see. :) I think your car is the only one I've ever seen (in person or online) that has the side window sun shades. They must show up on realoem or one of the other online parts databases, the trick will be finding them...often, parts will be listed in a subfolder that isn't obvious. Hopefully someone will see this who has knowledge of them.
JohnH
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Joined: Jan 24, 2007 9:55 AM
Location: Surrey,UK

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by JohnH »

Not sure if this will help (or work!) but this is an edited copy of the eba https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JNNnZT ... sp=sharing

The brochure in Swedish;

Image

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John in VA
Posts: 5278
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Leesburg, VA

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by John in VA »

See if Ivo has access to parts/info - https://www.e28.nl/
Dale3783
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Location: Miami, FL

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by Dale3783 »

Whoa. The want is very powerful.
Mike W.
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Location: California Whine Country

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by Mike W. »

Wow, I'd never heard of them before on an E28. I was wondering if the OP had something that had been adapted from an E39 or something, but it appears to be a very rare option. I wonder how many of them they sold new, let alone any parts that might still be remaining, either new or used.
vinceg101
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Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by vinceg101 »

Mike W. wrote:Wow, I'd never heard of them before on an E28. I was wondering if the OP had something that had been adapted from an E39 or something, but it appears to be a very rare option. I wonder how many of them they sold new, let alone any parts that might still be remaining, either new or used.
Ditto. I'm in for more info :popcorn:
Dale3783
Posts: 439
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Location: Miami, FL

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by Dale3783 »

vinceg101 wrote:
Mike W. wrote:Wow, I'd never heard of them before on an E28. I was wondering if the OP had something that had been adapted from an E39 or something, but it appears to be a very rare option. I wonder how many of them they sold new, let alone any parts that might still be remaining, either new or used.
Ditto. I'm in for more info :popcorn:

I just got a set for my wife's 3 series wagon and I love them. Be really interested to have some for my e28.
vinceg101
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Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by vinceg101 »

I have the whole set for the E39 I have yet to install including the rear door panels and rear window electric shade.
(I guess I just figured out what my next sequestration project is...)
Mike W.
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Location: California Whine Country

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by Mike W. »

vinceg101 wrote:I have the whole set for the E39 I have yet to install including the rear door panels and rear window electric shade.
(I guess I just figured out what my next sequestration project is...)
I transferred them from one E39 touring to another. Had them both in the driveway, and it wasn't especially easy. Curiously removing them from one color door panel, then mounting on another left no visible signs of damage, although the donor panels weren't quite as well secured as they could have been. Seemed very odd in that they were attached to both the door and the door panel, which made removal more of a challenge. No rear hatch shade though, I'm not sure if that was an option on the wagon.
vinceg101
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Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by vinceg101 »

Mike W. wrote:
vinceg101 wrote:I have the whole set for the E39 I have yet to install including the rear door panels and rear window electric shade.
(I guess I just figured out what my next sequestration project is...)
I transferred them from one E39 touring to another. Had them both in the driveway, and it wasn't especially easy. Curiously removing them from one color door panel, then mounting on another left no visible signs of damage, although the donor panels weren't quite as well secured as they could have been. Seemed very odd in that they were attached to both the door and the door panel, which made removal more of a challenge. No rear hatch shade though, I'm not sure if that was an option on the wagon.
The really challenging thing will be pulling wire from the rear parcel tray to the console and the switch there for it. I was hoping since all this generation control switches are sort of plug-n-play and snap into modules (e.g. the switches mount into box with a wire harness plug into the back of that box, inside this box is electronic board), that there was some universal type wiring harness/bus inside the car. Naively I assumed that all I needed was the switch and the dash panel and the shade; from what I saw when I took the console apart that is not the case as there are only the wires in that bus harness that go to my existing switches.
So now I have to run a pair of wires from the rear parcel into that bus connector and pray I don't blow up my car (or at least massively short-circuit it). This is primarily why all this stuff has been siting in a box and on a shelf.
But yes, it really doesn't look like an "easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy" operation; especially dealing with old used parts, all those tabs on the door shades are fragile, the shade guides for the rear window shade are notorious for breaking, etc. It's funny that for the E39 sedans, the rear window shade option was only a $500 option for all of them from the factory; parts alone from BMW if you bought them later was over $2,000, and that doesn't even factor in the hours of labor needed to get these into a car.

But regardless I really would like to get a set of these for the E28 rear doors (I've got to take the rear door panels apart anyway to get at the chrome trim and reset the windows correctly).
irl-mn
Posts: 133
Joined: Mar 05, 2012 8:08 AM
Location: Twin Cities, MN

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by irl-mn »

stuartinmn wrote:Long time no see. :) I think your car is the only one I've ever seen (in person or online) that has the side window sun shades. They must show up on realoem or one of the other online parts databases, the trick will be finding them...often, parts will be listed in a subfolder that isn't obvious. Hopefully someone will see this who has knowledge of them.
Hey Stuart, it has certainly been a while! Just read your update thread... so sorry to hear of your health issues, but congrats on the retirement! Hopefully we'll be able to get together at some point over the summer.

Regarding RealOEM, I have trawled through all of the sections and came up empty. The rear window shade is in there, but no mention of the rear door windows.
irl-mn
Posts: 133
Joined: Mar 05, 2012 8:08 AM
Location: Twin Cities, MN

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by irl-mn »

JohnH wrote:Not sure if this will help (or work!) but this is an edited copy of the eba https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JNNnZT ... sp=sharing

The brochure in Swedish;

Image

Image
Great info, thanks for sharing :D
irl-mn
Posts: 133
Joined: Mar 05, 2012 8:08 AM
Location: Twin Cities, MN

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by irl-mn »

John in VA wrote:See if Ivo has access to parts/info - https://www.e28.nl/
Thanks, I'll reach out
irl-mn
Posts: 133
Joined: Mar 05, 2012 8:08 AM
Location: Twin Cities, MN

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by irl-mn »

Here are a couple quick pics I snapped of my car for those that are interested. These aren't referenced on the car's order sheet from the selling dealer in Germany, so I assume they were added at some point afterwards. The little quarter window shade was missing from the driver side when I purchased the car. I'd really like to complete the set.

Image

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JohnH
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Location: Surrey,UK

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by JohnH »

They are certainly a very neat installation and are much better that those shown in the 9/86 Zubehor

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philipj
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Joined: Mar 10, 2016 7:39 PM
Location: Florida

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by philipj »

Do you know the original part numbers for these? Thank you.
Boneyard Dynamics
Posts: 89
Joined: Apr 26, 2011 5:46 PM
Location: Bavaria, not far away from the place the e28s where build

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by Boneyard Dynamics »

philipj wrote: Aug 11, 2022 3:46 PM Do you know the original part numbers for these? Thank you.
The part numbers won´t help as this parts are NLA for decades, they are so long gone that they aren´t even listed at the dealers parts catalog for more than 15 years.
irl-mn
Posts: 133
Joined: Mar 05, 2012 8:08 AM
Location: Twin Cities, MN

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by irl-mn »

+1

I haven't been able to find any information beyond what is in this thread. My parts are off the car and in storage until I can figure out how to have a 100% complete and functional set.
Boneyard Dynamics
Posts: 89
Joined: Apr 26, 2011 5:46 PM
Location: Bavaria, not far away from the place the e28s where build

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by Boneyard Dynamics »

As long as i know the rear door sun blinds were not a factory option, but could be ordered at the dealership. There was also a rear electric sun blind which had to be installed at the dealer.
vinceg101
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Joined: Jun 20, 2007 2:40 AM
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by vinceg101 »

I had luck finding these recently (earlier this year) from an ebay seller (unfortunately someone in Russia). He has a whole series for several different generations of BMW's; I figured that for a hundred bucks and shipping (it was cheaper back in February) it was worth the test.
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Turns out they're actually pretty nicely made; high quality, strong and do a pretty good job of shading the interior. The two rear triangular window units don't quite fit right (a tad too big or off in geometry so they end up popping out. I noticed in his recent sale ad there are two small wire clips on these shades; I wonder if they there to remedy this problem.), but otherwise the two larger door window shades fit perfectly. The steel wire frame is actually really heavy duty and holds its' shape; it actually withstands being bent.

Check his sales out: https://www.ebay.com/itm/393882655834
Motronic
Posts: 1433
Joined: Aug 01, 2010 1:45 PM

Re: E28 Rear Sun-blinds / Sunshades

Post by Motronic »

vinceg101 wrote: Aug 15, 2022 8:07 PM I had luck finding these recently (earlier this year) from an ebay seller (unfortunately someone in Russia). He has a whole series for several different generations of BMW's; I figured that for a hundred bucks and shipping (it was cheaper back in February) it was worth the test.
Thanks Vince, I might jump on a set if he doesn't demand payment in Belarusian Rubles. :laugh:
Seriously though I might order a set.
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