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I had tolerated the original "floppy" visors on my '01 convertible for over a year (they were that way when I bought the car) and I finally got around to replacing them today. The driver's side visor would hit my hat every time I got into the car and would not flip up all the way up. The passenger side was even worse- the mirror had broken away from the visor, the inner card had separated from the hinge, the fabric had separated and it had the same "dog ear" of the driver's side visor- making it not only unsightly, but un-useable.
Before selecting the replacement visors I did quite a bit of research and discovered that there are several different versions out there, some better than others in terms of quality of: fit, construction, color and materials. These visors from various sources typically run $150 and up for a pair. I found a pair that were exactly as advertised sold by "buyavette_inc" on eBay for $149.95 (shipped).
These replacement visors were of very good quality (likely superior to the originals), a good color match and installed just like the old ones. The installation proved to be fairly straight forward, after watching a YouTube and finding a helpful schematic on this forum- it took me about a half an hour to replace both visors. Good as new (maybe even better than new)!
Just thought I would share in the event your car could use new visors.
Old visor, passenger side I had to build up the lid with a spacer so the light would turn off and put a clamp on the hinge as a stopgap :
I am close to doing this, after my seat covers. Are these the ones with led lights? updated versions
Yes, these have led lights. I opened them in the daylight; so the jury is still out if I like them better than the original lighting. These lights seemed brighter- more white, and sharper- like a flashlight rather than the originals' softer, warmer glow.
From the seller's description:
"These reproduction C5 Corvette sun visors are produced with original factory specifications using today’s technology. These sun visors fit just like factory with a flip up mirror and lights. Update you interior with these factory styled sun visors. Available for all C5 Corvette’s 1997-2004, Convertible and Coupe, Z06 and Base models.
Our visors have several improvements over original design. Inner boards are made from a stronger material, hinges are made to last longer, traditional lighting is now long lasting, bright LED bulbs, the exterior fabric is MADE IN THE U.S.A. and is the exact material and color originally provided for making of the original visors. We recommend buying ours in pairs instead of buying one from another source. We have learned from customers who have bought from other vendors the material and or color usually does not match. Buy with confidence--these visors are equal to original and in many ways--superior--due to advancement in technology and experience."
I replaced mine two years ago. I pointed a lot of people to the site. They became unavailable for a while.. glad to see they are still available. Some insider on this... I can tell you these visors were the victim of a policy design revision. Since the original design was a heavier composite, the rev. ( revision )was approved because the particle board was lighter. Same thing happen with the three compartment covers in the hatch area and the passenger footwell. AS something you will never find in a book. the latches were designed to fit the composite and were actually in production, when the light weight rev was implemented.. the original latches were designed to "snap-in" you can see the finger snap on the latch but it does not engage anything now and those ;latches are now glued in.. adding another step in the build process. it cost more to make these components lighter even at the expense of less structural integrity... just a little insider on the reason for the Dog ears. Not that it could not be made better.. the original design was better, but the rev was lighter. Pushing the mandate to avoid the gas guzzler tax. Many things were made lighter in the on going rev portion of the build.
Bill aka ET
Those look excellent. Nice to know there is a good option for replacing aging visors. Wonder if they can match shale interiors. Actually, I would prefer to not have visors at all. Never use them and look funny with the soft top down. Now if there was something to plug the hole left behind.....
ET- thank you very much and this is interesting information. The visor issue appears to be a very common problem as these cars age. I found a lot of good information here which led me to these visors (and it very well may have been your post of a couple of years ago that I was relying on).
The C5 interior is often characterized by critics as "cheap" but my gut always told me that cheap was not GM's intention here as much as the intention was to keep it "light."
Your point about GM making and/or revising components to be lighter at the cost of durability and actually being more expensive puts to bed the mistaken belief of many that the interiors are "cheap" (or at least the mistaken belief that these interiors are cheaply made). Hindsight being 20/20, GM should have stuck to the original plan on the sun visors. I suspect that they were likely revising several parts at the same time looking to harvest weight in the sum total (e.g., "these 20 revisions will shave off 2 pounds"); but the sun visor is something (particularly in a convertible) that gets frequent use.
The fact that my passenger side visor was far more depleted by wear and tear stands as evidence that passengers in a Corvette use the visor and vanity mirror frequently. I became acutely aware of this as my lovely wife would use (and later wanted to use) the decaying visor every time she rode in the car. Sometimes for the sun shade, but mostly for the vanity mirror to check her hair and makeup.
I opted to get these visor over others that were marketed as "OEM" or stated to be exact duplications of the originals because I hope to keep my car for a long time and did not want to have to deal with issue later on when parts might not be available. Because you mentioned these improved visors were unavailable for some time; anyone wishing to replace their visors with them, would be well advised to get them while they can.
Those look excellent. Nice to know there is a good option for replacing aging visors. Wonder if they can match shale interiors. Actually, I would prefer to not have visors at all. Never use them and look funny with the soft top down. Now if there was something to plug the hole left behind.....
Too funny! I did not intend to contradict you just now by my post on the issue of usefulness--- I was posting as you posted. Like you, I actually do not use the sun visor that much; so we can agree on that--- but my wife uses it all the time, and apparently so did previous owners' companions- because the passenger side visor was "shot" when I bought the car a little over a year ago (falling apart and resting below the horizontal). But my driver's side visor had the dog ear and was resting at the horizontal- I was hitting my cap and sometimes head against the floppy ear getting in and out of the car. I did not realize until after I installed the new visors that the visors stuck up above the horizontal; and to me, that looked a little funny too. But then, such is the way they were designed- and they might actually help deflect some of the wind off of my wife's hair.
This is one project that's definitely worth while. Takes a short time and you'll ask yourself why you didn't do it sooner. I like the led lights in them. Most of all, I don't miss the floppy ears.. Lol
ET- thank you very much and this is interesting information. The visor issue appears to be a very common problem as these cars age. I found a lot of good information here which led me to these visors (and it very well may have been your post of a couple of years ago that I was relying on).
The C5 interior is often characterized by critics as "cheap" but my gut always told me that cheap was not GM's intention here as much as the intention was to keep it "light."
Your point about GM making and/or revising components to be lighter at the cost of durability and actually being more expensive puts to bed the mistaken belief of many that the interiors are "cheap" (or at least the mistaken belief that these interiors are cheaply made). Hindsight being 20/20, GM should have stuck to the original plan on the sun visors. I suspect that they were likely revising several parts at the same time looking to harvest weight in the sum total (e.g., "these 20 revisions will shave off 2 pounds"); but the sun visor is something (particularly in a convertible) that gets frequent use.
The fact that my passenger side visor was far more depleted by wear and tear stands as evidence that passengers in a Corvette use the visor and vanity mirror frequently. I became acutely aware of this as my lovely wife would use (and later wanted to use) the decaying visor every time she rode in the car. Sometimes for the sun shade, but mostly for the vanity mirror to check her hair and makeup.
I opted to get these visor over others that were marketed as "OEM" or stated to be exact duplications of the originals because I hope to keep my car for a long time and did not want to have to deal with issue later on when parts might not be available. Because you mentioned these improved visors were unavailable for some time; anyone wishing to replace their visors with them, would be well advised to get them while they can.
I tried to point out exactly that GM engineers can solve almost any problem. But we do not have full access to money or time. We are controlled by project managers, who keep project in budget and on time. Dave put most of the money into the drive train. The specific gravity of plastic over metal was the only way to go when " Making it l;ight was a high design demand. People throw stones at this car, and in my 40 year career , this car was the best fluidly designed car I am proud to have been apart. People who bought this car got a lot of bang for the buck. Todays Corvette follow that same passion in design that other manufactures envy. No one can design a car with so much to offer for so little money.
I recently bought the same replacement visors. I'm having a terrible time trying to remove the old visors. I insert the small screwdriver but and turn the visor but can't get it to come off. Do any of you with experience have any suggestions? I have watched the very short video on youtube.
I recently bought the same replacement visors. I'm having a terrible time trying to remove the old visors. I insert the small screwdriver but and turn the visor but can't get it to come off. Do any of you with experience have any suggestions? I have watched the very short video on youtube.
Since I just did this, I will do my best to talk you through it. My car is a convertible- so I retracted the top- getting good light on the subject helps. So if you have a coupe, maybe remove your top.
I used two different flat blade screwdrivers. To remove my visors I used a screwdriver blade that was much larger and thicker than the tiny one he used in the video. I found this larger flat blade (filled the entire slot) gave me a much better purchase on that inner ring and it was less prone to slipping out of the slot and gave me the leverage I needed to turn that inner ring.
You want to turn the inner ring counter clockwise (as in unscrew it). I found it very stiff and difficult to budge at first, but once you get it moving- it will creak and moan a bit if like mine- it will turn to the point that you can release the visor from that outer collet/bezel. I suspect this is where you may be struggling- not wishing to force something and break it. It may be difficult to budge it, if your car is like mine.
Once you get the visor out- the connection will be hung up inside the a-pillar/windshield frame and your visor will be dangling by the wires. You'll need to get your index finger up into the hole and fiddle with that connection (I found that it was hung up on the lip of the outer bezel ring and so lifting up a bit on the connection and teasing it out worked best for me). My connection did not come out as easily as the fellow's in the video. It took some considerable fiddling. But I got it out. Unsnap the connection and snap in the new. There was a bit of plastic molding flash left on my replacement visor's connection and I needed to clean it up a bit to get the connection to snap. Not a big deal.
To install the new one into the windshield frame- reverse. Maybe a bit easier said than done. But doable. My install did not rotate in quite as easily as the fellow's in the video. I found my large blade screwdriver ill suited for the reinstall, so I used a much smaller blade screwdriver and the new visor arm as leverage to get that inner bezel to lock in completely, rotating it clockwise. You want to be applying upward pressure as you turn in the new visor to ensure the inner ring is flush with the outside bezel.
On my passenger side, I ran into a bit of a hitch. The bezel actually came out with the visor. Not sure how I managed to do that, but should it happen, don't worry. It snaps right back in and there is an indexing ridge on the bezel and a corresponding cut in the windshield frame. Just make sure you orient that bezel ridge to the slot and press it back in.
I too have a convertible so I'll be sure to retract the top. That video was much more informational than the one I saw. I'll be doing the swap soon and I'll be sure to let you know how it went. Thank you so much!!!
You are very welcome and once you get this done, you will be very glad you did! It really spiffed up our car's interior, those old floppy visors were the only thing letting it down.
Yesterday evening we drove the Corvette and my wife was thrilled with "her" new visor. She really liked the led lighting too.
Should you run into a hitch, let me know if I can be of any further assistance; but I'm confident you will get it done without any problems.
Can you tell me if these are the same color as the OEM black? Are these more of a dark gray ?
A picture can be worth a thousand words. So you can be the judge- but I would say they are black, and if anything, it looks like my old visors were faded to a shade lighter. The warning label is not an exact match, however. But that strikes me as a minor detail. PS- looks like my post may have caused a run on the seller's stock such that the seller has only 1 pair left. So if you are on the fence, you might want to make your decision soon!
No More "Dog Ears"
