boling8080

As has been mentioned, there appears to be 2 cup holder designs for the E60. The originals hold containers but can stick open or closed. The updated holders appear to be designed to hold NOTHING that can hold a liquid, including 12 oz (330 ml) cans.

At the last service I requested they un-stick the passenger side holder. Big Mistake! The tech replaced the drivers side holder and didn't unstick the passenger?s side holder. Now I have an opening (but unusable) drivers side holder and passenger side one that's stuck closed.

Since I've had both holders I think I see a difference in the design.

The difference appears to be a split in the spring loaded plate that is at the top of the older suspended at the upper ring. In the old holders, that plate is one piece. (I'm going from memory here). The new, bad holders have a two piece plate. Here is a pic of my new cup(non)holder.



The outer ring of the plate has such a high tension on the spring that it almost refuses to give. If I force that outer plate to bend down, the can sits properly (if full) but the tension on the plate is so strong that it dents the can! If the can is not full, there is enough tension to launch the can out of the older.

So, if anyone has a good cupholder, can you verify my memory that those holder had a one piece plate? That'd be a start on a user fix, since BMW can't/won't engineer a fix to this problem. Thanks.

Stranger

I have a 07/04 E60 and it comes with this particular cup holder, and I observe the same that the outer ring is so stubborn that it will push anything other than a nearly filled can out of its way.

ericdbs

i have the same.... but never had any problems... holds.. myfast food drinks..32 oz and cans even the red bulll can in place.... hmmmnow i hope it doesnt fall apart now..

Stranger

Then you are one of the lucky ones. QC/QA not done properly at the factory.

Maybe I should manually "exercise" the outer ring until the spring loosens a bit. Hmmm

boling8080

Okay, so much for that theory. Stranger, is your outer ring hard to push down or relatively easy? I'm trying to figure out why your cupholder works well and mine doesn't. Thanks.

wolverine

Both 'versions' of the cupholders have outer and inner rings. Here is a copy of a post I just made on another thread:

I have modified my cupholder and it works beautifully for large and small soft-drinks, 16 oz cokes, Starbucks, red bull, and plastic tumblers. It's not a simple modification, but I'll try and explain it for the brave few that want to try it. There are two phillips-head screws that hold the cupholder into the dash - you can remove the entire assembly very easily.

There are two problems with the BMW cupholders. First the spring-force on the outer ring is too much. There are two springs used, a strong one for the outer ring, and a weaker one for the inner ring. You remove the outer ring spring so that only the spring used for the inner ring operates both outer and inner rings. By removing the spring attached to the outer ring, both small and large rings then use just the one spring, and the spring force is reduced.

Second, if you look at the bottom support arm, it does not deploy so that the upper part of the arm is vertical, it is at an angle. A drink that is not heavy enough to move the outer ring will sit on the angled part of this arm, or will be pushed up the arm and 'spring out' of the cupholder.

To modify the vertical arm, you have to use a dremel tool or file. There is a stop in the mechanism that controls how far the arm moves when it deploys. If you take some material off the stop, the arm will deploy farther. Take enough material off so the arm deploys to the vertical position.

Well, like I said, it's not simple but these two modifications make the cupholder perfect for any container I've tried. I don't know why the Germans didn't do this in the first place. If you screw the modification up, just have the dealer replace it. They're used to it!

GER_545SMG

The spring on this thing was designed for a suspension bridge seismic retrofit, not a cupholder

Merv the Derv

Your totally right with your theory. My first one was perfect then it fell apart and the replacement kept launching the container upwards.

I love the "No wine glass warning"

Ågent99

Yeah, the wine glass warning...too darn funny. I'd love to hear the story on why they needed to put that warning on there!

Guest_Stranger_*

On mine the outer ring spring is like what GER_545SMG said "for suspension bridge seismic retrofit"; bloody stiff;. So mine doesn't work properly like yours.