The sun visor on my 05 MPV got floppy, and online boards say you can't repair them. Most of the youtube tutorials (velcro, zip ties, etc) are temporary fixes and either don't work well or don't last. New OEM visors are $180 and used are $35 (but not worth buying because they'll likely develop the same issue). I decided to take mine apart to see if it can be repaired.

To remove the fabric cover, I had to cut the fabric at the top, along the seam, to reveal the inner plastic visor. (I hated to cut it, but I think I can stitch it back or use a thin bead of goop to glue it back out of sight). I unscrewed the concealed mirror and slid out the visor extension panel (had to press in 2 tabs to release), then pulled off the fabric cover. I split the two halves of the cover apart by gently sliding a flat head screw driver around the seam and prying the 2 halves apart. It didn't seem to have snap connectors or glue keeping the 2 halves together, only the pressure connectors.

Once I had the visor partially split apart, I could see the innards. To completely separate the 2 halves, I had to remove the swivel spindle from the visor because it was threaded though both halves of the visor. To remove the swivel spindle from the metal clip that holds it, I had to position the protruding tab on the end of the spindle correctly (tab point straight down) so it will slide through and out of the metal retaining clip.

Once apart, I saw that the visor problem was that the swivel spindle was chewed up by the metal clip and would no longer hold the visor in place. I tried to use JB Weld to fill in the chewed up spot, let it cure, and then tried it out. It didn't last 5 minutes before the JB Weld was chewed up. So I pulled the spindle back out and tried something else. I flipped the metal clip over so that the pressure point on the clip contacted the "unchewed up" part of the spindle, and put it back together. It seemed to work well and the visor is no longer floppy. I don't doubt that the metal clip will eventually chew up the other side of the spindle, but hopefully that will take a few years.

I haven't put the fabric back on yet, but at least I've got a sun visor that works again. I think the fabric will go on fine, since the seam I cut is at the top and not really very visible. I couldn't find any tutorial that showed the innards of a MPV sun visor so I thought I'd post this here to help others out.


MPV sun visor split apart.

This half of visor contains the extension panel that's been removed

Mirror half of MPV sun visor, with mirror unscrewed and removed.


Spindle going through the metal retaining clip.

close up of spindle going through metal retaining clip

closeup

Chewed up side of spindle that caused the floppy visor.

Other, un-chewed up side . When I flipped the metal retaining clip to press against this side, it worked and held the visor in place again. Good semi permanent fix.

 

Excellent DIY tutorial--I/we congratulate you !

 

This fix worked well for 3 years until the Mazda was totaled this year. I didn't include the reassembly in the first post, but after I flipped the metal clip over and put the plastic visor halves together, I pulled the fabric back over the visor shell and used a bead of goop glue along the seam that I split at the top of the visor. I held the fabric in place while the glued dried, and the glued seam was barely noticeable. The whole project would have taken a couple hours if I'd known what I was doing from the start. Maybe this post will help others save some time and money.

 

I tried several different of the aftermarket ones and all are junk in terms of fit and defective visor light switches so I did your repair method AND IT WORKS GOOD AS NEW !!! Thanks again for rewarding this DIYER with complete success and satisfaction for a job done right and done at home !!!