Blind buddy

JohnCalifornia · Jun 11, 2026

Hi, after our recent trip to the lakes where it rained most days and rain came through the bellows I’ve thought about using the internal windscreen blind and magnetic side ones as the outdoor wrap around one was absolutely drenched and had to dry it out when home. As we all know the windscreen blinds are fragile at best so thought I’d invest in a blind buddy. Am I missing something? Are they supposed to just push over the small plastic bits that poke out of the flaps? I don’t know if my plastic bits are shorter than normal but it isn’t easy pushing the blind buddy onto the plastic bits without the blinds shooting back into the side pillars. I think even when fitted as far as they can push on they may just come off with the slightest knock. Anyway I’ve come up with my own solution and can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. There is no way the blinds will shoot back into the side pillars with this holding them together. Pictures attached

acer · Jun 11, 2026

JohnCalifornia said:
Hi, after our recent trip to the lakes where it rained most days and rain came through the bellows I’ve thought about using the internal windscreen blind and magnetic side ones as the outdoor wrap around one was absolutely drenched and had to dry it out when home. As we all know the windscreen blinds are fragile at best so thought I’d invest in a blind buddy. Am I missing something? Are they supposed to just push over the small plastic bits that poke out of the flaps? I don’t know if my plastic bits are shorter than normal but it isn’t easy pushing the blind buddy onto the plastic bits without the blinds shooting back into the side pillars. I think even when fitted as far as they can push on they may just come off with the slightest knock. Anyway I’ve come up with my own solution and can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. There is no way the blinds will shoot back into the side pillars with this holding them together. Pictures attached

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We use a normal clothes peg to avoid that strip of daylight that peeks through. However, yes, this looks like an excellent solution to the weak connection problem with these blinds and I expect that we will start doing the same, unless anyone has comments that might put me off. (I suppose I might worry about knocking the clamp when reaching through from the back etc.)

JohnCalifornia · Jun 11, 2026

Mmm yeah a decent storm proof clothes peg will do the job but the clamp I used are really strong. I bought a pack of 5 last year from screwfix in various sizes and this was the smallest. I’ve been in talks with the seller and he says that some blinds have small plastic pointy bits and some are larger. He sent me a pic of his (I assume) plastic pointy bit and it looks at least 5mm longer than mine

TripleBee · Jun 11, 2026

I use some cutout carboard that slides in the strips on the visors. When closing the blinds, I slide the carboard out to the middle from both sides and so it blacks out the middle part between the visors.
It's not completely dark, but blocks most of the light through the middle, and blocks the view from outside to inside. I have cut out the shape of the top console.

TripleBee · Jun 11, 2026

Oh, mine (T5) doesn't have the middle strip of light between the two blinds.
Why do they always change a medium good design to a worse design when updating something?

Viktorgeorge · Jun 12, 2026

I agree your spigots look shorter, than mine anyway, so blind buddy may - sadly - be less suitable for you.

However I cannot but note the two gaps arrowed above, and wonder whether you need to get those glued back fully to the edge pieces below them, as:

Front Blind closure problem

The front blinds used to close and attach together in the middle. After a few weeks of use in total, there's now a cm gap between the two handles. The problem appears to be the spigots which under heat and tension have started to a) Bend a little and b) pull out of the had handle slot on one...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

This may give you the extra spigot height you need for the blind buddy? The advantage of which is that, if securely in located, you avoid the risk of triggering one blind when retracting the other.