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Some DIY solutions to squeaks and cup holders

2598 Views 6 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  RussVegas, 
R
Hi all

I just thought I'd share a couple of mods I've made recently to my SLK, which were basically put together with info from many posts on this very forum. Hopefully this may be useful to someone in the future.

Firstly squeaks. I've read many posts about this, and I'm waiting for a sunny day to run the various greases and so on around the rubber seals, hinges and so forth. However I had a niggling issue with the rear parcel shelf "ears" rubbing on the rear windshield. Somewhere I found a post that mentioned felt pads. The person that suggested this I would like to buy a beer for! I placed some on the rear window (pictures) to stop the squeaky ear rubbing. Perfect! I also had other annoying squeaks/rubbing. I found that placing felt pads under the sun visors solved this issue. I still have a couple of squeaks I need to find, but they only occur over rough roads. Now in general driving I have eliminated the general rubbing of leather on leather / vinyl on vinyl which was driving me mad! :grin:

Additionally the cup holders. I've bought a wedge back from the USA which I've seen mentioned on here. I'm not sure whether I'll keep it, as it does encroach on the passenger side slightly. However I also fitted my own cup holder in the centre console compartment as you can see. It's not really great for drinking as you drive along as it's a bit hard to reach, but it's ideal for transporting back a drink from a drive-thru to your home/work etc and it stays upright thanks to the strong spring. I simply screwed the cup holder in, and it folds away as you can see in the pics.

Hopefully this info proves helpful down the road for other forum searchers. :)

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RussT said:
Hi all

I just thought I'd share a couple of mods I've made recently to my SLK, which were basically put together with info from many posts on this very forum. Hopefully this may be useful to someone in the future.

Firstly squeaks. I've read many posts about this, and I'm waiting for a sunny day to run the various greases and so on around the rubber seals, hinges and so forth. However I had a niggling issue with the rear parcel shelf "ears" rubbing on the rear windshield. Somewhere I found a post that mentioned felt pads. The person that suggested this I would like to buy a beer for! I placed some on the rear window (pictures) to stop the squeaky ear rubbing. Perfect! I also had other annoying squeaks/rubbing. I found that placing felt pads under the sun visors solved this issue. I still have a couple of squeaks I need to find, but they only occur over rough roads. Now in general driving I have eliminated the general rubbing of leather on leather / vinyl on vinyl which was driving me mad! :grin:

Additionally the cup holders. I've bought a wedge back from the USA which I've seen mentioned on here. I'm not sure whether I'll keep it, as it does encroach on the passenger side slightly. However I also fitted my own cup holder in the centre console compartment as you can see. It's not really great for drinking as you drive along as it's a bit hard to reach, but it's ideal for transporting back a drink from a drive-thru to your home/work etc and it stays upright thanks to the strong spring. I simply screwed the cup holder in, and it folds away as you can see in the pics.

Hopefully this info proves helpful down the road for other forum searchers. :)
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Hi,

great idea re the foldong cup holder in the arm rest... just ordered off ebay - qq pls - does it drop down when driving if a drink is in it ?
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R
zx9landie said:
Hi,

great idea re the foldong cup holder in the arm rest... just ordered off ebay - qq pls - does it drop down when driving if a drink is in it ?
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Nope, happy to say the spring in the armrest/cubby lid is really strong. I've driven with that bottle of water full and also a full McDonald's large soft drink and it's nice and solid! :)
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Col
I bought one of those cup holders and was going to fit it somewhere else but seeing your solution has made me think. I might mount it where you have but set it up to be used when the lid is opened sideways instead to bring it further forwards. Not sure how feasible that is but I'll take a look. I know on later cars the console lid design was simplified to only open backwards as you've shown. Thanks for sharing.
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R
I really struggled to find anywhere practical to mount a cup holder. I tried a few cheap holders off of eBay before I hit on this solution. The fact it folds so easily and is permanently mounted makes it ideal. I even considered mounting it within the cubby itself but it wouldn't really have enough room.

The wedge holder is OK but it gets in the way of the handbrake a bit, or if you have it further back the passenger can't plug in their belt. It's a solution but isn't ideal.
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clown
Hi @RussT,

Love that cup holder inside the centre console lid! Ingenious!

Any chance of a link to where you got it?

Gotta get me one.

Thanks for sharing.
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R
Sure, here you go!

Universal Folding Car Vehicle Truck Beverage Drink Cup Bottle Holder Stand Mount | eBay

The screws go nicely into the cubby lid without poking through into the leather too (believe me I spent some time making sure of that LOL). I removed the cubby lid from the car then just screwed it in. It's a pretty solid item and the folding mechanism is great.

Oh one tip, as I messed it up on the first go. When screwing it in, you have to have the holder open, but when it's closed it requires a bit more space at the bottom. I'm not always thinking ahead when doing these things so forgive me if I'm stating the obvious! I do actually have 2 more screw holes hidden away under the cup holder now :wink:
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