[Casca]

Thanks for the DIY. I was scratching my head for a while trying to figure out where the negator spring attached. Was ready to buy new as well, but all you can get now are cup holders with the silver tab on the face, which wouldn't match my other one, so I'd have to get driver side and passenger, each for @$55. I'll just fix it.

Anyone else doing this, don't even bother trying to bend the negator spring without heat. It will break.

[g911turbo]

I wonder if they sell just the spring cartridge. I completely snapped mine out of the plastic housing. I put the cup holder back in the dash for now.

And I concur with the other on this thread... heat needed or the metal will break when trying to bend.

[Sparkee]

Thanks for this DIY.

I had the same exact problem as the OP with mine with a bit of the plastic that holds the spring broken off. And, I also broke off the first tip trying to make a hook (should have read JFleming's post). But I fashioned one out of the remainder of the spring and viola! It is still sticking a bit though and the C.H. won't pop all the way out by itself. But at least it opens partway so that I can assist it the rest of the way. Better than buying a new one.

Thanks again.

[slackfaster]

just another thanks....

i knew where it should attach... but my little plastic clips where totally broken off and gone.
did the spring bend hook and all is good.

[chrisbmwcy]

Thanks for the writeup.
This is the exact same problem I had. I did exactly what you did and now its fixed! Well done and thanks!!

[IphonezarcoE90]

For clarification...(left cup holder) the place where you have to insert the spring indent is on the left side near the front....see attached picture

[Clownaround]

Thanks for the DIY! Was able to bend the metal spring into a hook without heat source. It took about 4 time of it snapping first though. You just have to work it very slowly with some needle nose pliers. It can be done.

[alexpant]

Great thread, still helping after so many years. My driver's holder wouldn't spring out of the dash board so, this thread helped me understand how the whole thing works. I tried to bend the tip, like the thread suggested but I overdid it and broke that "T" tip at the end. So I came up with another idea:

1. Get a pair of scissors, suitable to cut metal sheets. I was going to try using a scissor for false ceiling metal structures (too bulky), but then I remembered another much smaller one we always keep at the office and simply muck about cutting anything to kill of some time. So I used that.

2. Take the scissors and simply re-shape the end of the spring back to a "T", but this time it will be bigger since you will be using the whole width of the spring. As a result you don't need the plastic bits that usually break off!

3. Final product is as good as new, should also be quite durable, since nothing is bent or out of place

[steveindabmer]

did this a few weekends ago....excellent thread

[ociel]

Thanks for the post. I simply put a tiny key chain around the tip if the spring and that held it in place.

[Schnell!74]

Thank you so much! I couldn't find the area that it connected too very easily so you saved me some time. As soon as I pulled it out, little bits of plastic fell to the floor so I had to bend the tab back as well. I managed to bend it without breaking it off and now it's working again. I did go ahead and buy a new one as a backup if this doesn't hold. One thing to note on the replacement, the front on the old one has some sort of coating that gives it a slight grip. The new one is just plain ole plastic, no coating. Not very noticeable to the eye but definitely noticeable to the touch. Probably a small cost-cutting measure that they figured nobody would care about or notice. I probably wouldn't have if I didn't have something to compare it too =)

[Ferruccio]

Unfortunately I can't recommend this. You guys must have been a whole lot luckier than I have been. Once I bent the spring as indicated, I put everything back together, and the friction induced by the now-bent spring was just horrendous. I tried everything I could to lubricate the components to get things to slide better, but no.

It's now worse than it was. This tutorial just solidified the necessity to pay out $$$ to buy another stupid cup holder.

Sorry.

[Wolf 335]

Just to bump this thread from the dead as I just finished repairing my driver cup holder.

I have actually opted out of bending the metal tab, but rather used a zip tie as outlined in the youtube video.

All that is required is to disassemble the cup holder as outlined in this thread's original post and then instead of bending the tab, you simply push it through the opening and use a small zip tie around the "T".

Also applied some food grade machine grease to all tracks that make contact during sliding.

Now works like a charm.

[zsiy53]

Good job man. My right cup holder has been stucking in there for a few years now. Will give it a try in a few weeks!

[zhp43867]

Originally Posted by Ferruccio

Unfortunately I can't recommend this. You guys must have been a whole lot luckier than I have been. Once I bent the spring as indicated, I put everything back together, and the friction induced by the now-bent spring was just horrendous. I tried everything I could to lubricate the components to get things to slide better, but no.

It's now worse than it was. This tutorial just solidified the necessity to pay out $$$ to buy another stupid cup holder.

Sorry.

This is a legitimate issue.

I bent the tab, reassembled everything and the cupholder would not pop out. Removing the gear "fixed" the issue but it's a crappy solution.

To do this properly, pay attention to the angle of the wound metal against the plastic of the cupholder tray. You do not have clearance to warp the non-hook parts of the spring at all.

Put the body of the spring in a vice of sorts and bend only the tip with fine instruments. Go slow, the trick works (even if you break the original tip). I redid it and it works perfectly now.

[Austin LeNomad]

Like many on the board, there are two problems: 1 is the spring, which I used the tiny zip tie trick as well and solved that (it's been holding for years), and the other is the gear, which gets gunked up and can get burrs in it or something. On one cupholder, cleaning and adding some white lithium grease fixed it, on the other one the gear was just not right anymore, so I removed it entirely. Removing it fixed my problem, it never gets stuck, the tradeoff is that it opens really fast since there is no resistance from the gear any longer. I've got spoiled by it now, since it's the driver's closest one, but at first it was startling.

The zip tie trick worked for me because the spring wasn't broken, just the plastic hole it went through, so this wouldn't work on it's own if the spring was actually broken.

[andrewski45]

Eunos33, thanks for this diy it worked perfectly. Definitely recommend using heat when bending back the spring, did so and no break. It’s always a plus when you can save a few bucks.

[eddiem98]

Great post, my cup holder had a similar issue, however in my case it was actually the plastic that was broken, I ended up making a hole next to the original hole with a dremel tool and mine works also like a charm.

[mcdanielvzw]

Thread revival - I attempted this to my spring as well since my cup holder was stuck, even without the tension gear. I didn't want to spend $45-$65 on a new holder. The top plastic notch on the holder was broken, and I ended up breaking the end of the spring anyway.

I found what worked better for me below (the spring was actually too worn out at stock length anyway):
I took the spring off the plastic spool and reversed it. I then suck the largest end about 2 inches into where it normally connects, and fed the cup holder back in. Now it comes out no problem, and I just left the tension gear off.

[Jamesn71]

Great video on this repair.

https://youtu.be/ASjB-GtyIZE

Just to add to the info here.

[bluewater328]

Just did this for the first time in 20 min thanks to this DIY. Thanks!

[Speedy_12139]

Old thread, somebody else bumped it.. I did this mod within the first week of owning my 335 over a year ago. Even though my cupholders worked perfectly fine. I hated how slow they were to extend.

Haven't looked back since.

Did the rear fog light dealio thing too 🤣🤣 someday I'll get the real switch. But for now, clipping the factory button was free.