The pictures look great, everyone! Nice to see a couple of MINIs getting together both wearing their Eyeshades too! Such personality MINIs have!

 

It's here! It's here! Yay!!!!!!
I gotta say, it's of higher quality than I thought it would be and the nice case it come in is a nice touch.

 

Love the look, love the quality! This adds a LOT of personality to my MINI! However, I seem to have the same fitting problem as roushraven, in that the shade seems to small, and I don't know how to get it to stand up properly against the windshield, for that awesome look!

Any suggestions as to how to get the shade to fit snugly against the windsheld and stay in place?

And Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Rand

 

I have only ordered one and I don't have my car yet, but with my previous car, not a MINI, I was usually able to get it pretty tightly next to the windshield by tucking it in by the dashboard and flipping down the sun visors.

 

I communicated in depth with Kristan about the fit issue. Bottom line problem is that the shade was designed too small to fit snuggly in our cars. Not sure why no others have noticed or spoken up about it. Anyway, the only thing that can be done short of having a new one made is to wedge the bottom of the shade between the dash and base of the windshield.

I decided that I will eventually have a new one made; it's a shame because it really is nice and as you mentioned adds a lot of personality.

-RR

 

Well, for the money spent on this shade, I would think something should be done. After all, we bought this expecting it to fit the MINI, as it was advertised. If I spent twenty bucks, I'd just live with it, or toss it and start again. But for this price, I think we should have some resolution that would be satisfactory... am I wrong in this?

In fact I'd like to see if others have this same problem. If it's just one or two, then we have defective shades, and we should be able to get new. If it's ALL of them, then we, as a group, have an issue and need to decide IF..or WHAT... needs to be done. I am not really happy with how this turned out. I don't want to stir up any muck, but I'd sure like some type of fix. How effective will this shade be with the way it fits? Not very, I would guess.
Rand

 

I agree with you 100%. I'm very disappointed in the fit and believe that production should be stopped and all of them re-made. However, so far, you and I are the only ones on NAM that have expressed this as a problem. Why, I don't know. I'm a very detailed oriented person (perhaps you are too) so I notice things like this right away which is why I immediately spoke up.

To her credit, Kristan offered to have a new one made for me. However, the offer required that I return my shade and then wait for a new one to be made and then laminated with the graphic by the printer. Quite a long delay after already waitng so long to get it in the first place. I told her that I would keep what I have now and when I decided to order one for my other cars then I'll order a new one for my MINI. By the way, I have the dimensions used by the manufacturer for all of the shades, provided to me by Kristan. If in fact they were all made according to those dimensions then everyone should be experiencing the same poor fit.

 

Well then, that was a good call by Kristan. I am certainly amenable to waiting, if it means getting a proper fit on the shade. I am also amenable to waiting and see if any others are experiencing the same issue. I am sure Kristan will read this thread at some point. I am not mad, just disappointed; these things happen and sometimes they are out of your control. I would be willing to wait for a proper fit and get the right shade. Heck, this isn't a life or death situation :-)
Let's see what transpires over the next few days. I am going to contact Kristan as well, and give her a heads up that you are not alone.
Regards,
Rand

 

Just so everyone is on the same page with the two shades that are having fitting issues, I've addressed the situation and am trying to figure out why most of these are fitting just fine and others are not. My guess is that there is something special about these two MINIs that makes their windshield larger somehow. Does anyone have some insight on why this might be? I'm trying to narrow it down to it being because of some special modification, model, year, option, etc. that would be unique to these cars. I know that all of the sunshades for the R56 MINIs were the same size, so the fact that these few are not fitting right is quite confusing. I'd love to get to the bottom of this in order to prevent it from happening with any other MINI's!

 

I tried my shade in a couple of different MINI Coopers at my local dealership and the fit was the same i.e. too small. I'm sorry but there is no way that my car has a special windshield modification making it unique. The real question is why haven't other members with eyeshades come forward.

 

Just to make sure we're all talking the same language, what were your expectations for how the shade should work?

With my R52, fitment of both the OEM MINI sunshade and the Eyeshades shade is the same - slide the bottom edge toward the junction of the dashboard and the windshield, lift the upper edge into place, and then flip down both visors to hold it there. Is yours falling out of place even with both visors down?

 

Maby some people are just too picky about the little things. Do you have pics of how your shade fits? I would like to see if it's different from any other shade I have seen.

 

Post the dimensions of your shade. Is it possible that the vendor provided a slightly different shade in a couple of cases? Mine fits great, I'm happy as a pig in mud with the product.

 

AHHHHH! Is this the fitment issue, when you flip the visors down they don't touch the shade or just barely?

If so, I do have this issue.

I will say though... the shade stays in place.

 

Hey DICKS garage, you can keep the passive aggressive commentary. There is nothing picky or little about how poor the thing fits which is why I contacted Kristan and guess what she agreed and offered me the solution I described in my post above.

If the shade is to your liking then good for you - motor on! My remarks in this thread should be of ZERO interest to you. As for pictures, Kristan has all pictures and measurements of my shade but here you go.

As for my expectations, I expected it to fit - period. How the OEM shade fits is of no relevance because that's not what I wanted or what I ordered.

Again, Kristan has come up with a work around for me and I assume she'll do the same for Rand; the only other person to come forward so far.

 

Thanks for the clarification - I was just wanting to make sure you weren't expecting the shade to stay in place without the visors, since there are some shades on the market that work that way. I only brought up the OEM shade in case you had any experience with it. Looking at your pictures, it's pretty clear you were mistakenly sent a smaller shade. I'm glad Kristan's working with you on it and I'm sure she'll make it right.

 

All,
I have to say, Kristan has been very cordial and emailed me with the same concerns I have. I will make a cardboard template and ship it to her, along with my shade. I ordered the shade expecting it to fit... so that the bottom edge would be up tight to the windshield, while the top would sit quite nicely against the mirror stalk, and the sun visors would hold it in place. When I slide the bottom against the junction of the windshield and the dashboard, the top edge of the shade is too low, so with the visors down, they do not catch the top, or just barely ( as mentioned by G33KGUY) , and the shade does not stay in place but sinks down to about a 30 degree angle, not really very good to block sun from the interior.

I also have no idea about how the OEM shade fits, I have never seen one fitted. I just expected a better fit since these are custom made, and fairly pricy. I am NOT complaining mind you, about the quality of the product, the great graphics, or the price... you get what you pay for in most instances. I am also not usually particularly picky about the small things. In fact I would have accepted my shade as is, and gone about my business. But since it was brought to light, I figured Kristan SHOULD know, and others, if there is a problem. I think that is only right. If I sold a product that was a custom fit, and there was a problem, I'd want to know about it to make sure it was resolved properly. That's what roushaven and I are doing, with Kristan's help.
If it turns out that I am in fact BEING to picky, and everyone's shade fits like this, and everyone else is ok with that, then alright, I can live with that. As long as I am not living with a mistake that is correctable.

Rand

 

Hey Rand,

Let me know how things work out. Though mine essentially stays in place, looks like we have very similar issues.

Appreciate you working with Kristan to resolve this. It's a great product indeed.

Thanks
James

 

Hey James,

No worries, I believe Kristan is very aware of this thread and she is as concerned... and disappointed... as we are about this possible issue. We'll see how it all works out.

As a point of reference having just looked over roushraven's pictures, my shade fits the same way as his is pictured.
Rand

 

When I get a chance I will double check mine, but I am pretty sure mine was a snug fit and the visors were only needed to keep it from sagging.

UPDATE: I double checked mine and it appears at the bottom left and right side of the windshield appears to be about 1/2" gap and at the top it is snug. All in all, mine fully fits the window and I have no complaints. It is tight enough, I do not have to have the visors down to keep it in place. I have no complaints and LUV it!

 

SpyVsSpy - Will double check mine as well. Taking pics too just for reference.

Just a point - I 100% support Kristan.

 

I wasn't meaning anything tward you specificly. I have had a lot of different jobs dealing with people, and people who expect perfection out of every little thing do exist. Everyones standards are different, and some are impossible to please.
With that in mind, looking at your pic's, your shade is about 1 inch too small on each edge? To me that 1" wouldnt really be a big deal on a normal shade, but theese shades are a little pricey and something I would use at shows, so I can see where your complaint is coming from. I could see a quarter inch gap, but 1" is a little much.

 

Is it possible that some of us don't have MINI factory windshields anymore? MINIs have a habit of getting windshield cracks and I'm on windshield #7. This is the first windshield I have on mine that is not a factory MINI windshield and the first thing I noticed about it was the tint bar at the top was different and also the curvature was slightly different than the factory windshield.

Mine isn't an exact perfect fit either, I need to use the visors to hold mine up. But it rains more often that not here so it's not that big a deal for me.

 

(edited to insert the photo -- did a search and found Motor On's sticky about How to Include a Photo in a Post! woohoo, thanks!)

For what it's worth on this subject, I am completely happy with the fit of my eyeshades in my 2008 MCClubman. The shade covers my windshield fully. I flip down the sun visors to hold the shade snug at the top, but I've always done that on every window shield I've ever used in any vehicle. I'm a picky person too but honestly I am fully satisfied with this fit. I dunno what might be different for those having a problem :(

 

I'll try to remember to take a couple of pics in the morning. I just put my V1 and EZ Pass in the car so that may change how mine fits.

I still think this is going to come down to a couple of shades the wrong size since so many of us aren't having any fitment issues.

As far as the front glass goes, OEM and aftermarket glass can't have more than a slight difference in shape because if it's more, it's simply not going to fit the steel frame. I can't believe it would be any dealer installed items since my eyeshades fit and I've got the OEM rain sensor for auto wipers. That's why it would be interesting to compare the dimensions of the troublesome shades to others that seem to fit well.