My 'retracting' boot cover was broken when I bought the car ... and i was going to just live with it .... but as it was a nice sunny day I decided to get it working.

to disassemble you have to use a flat bladed screwdriver to lever up the plastic locking levers in the top ...they just slide off the metal arms.
then you must drill out the two top rivets and one on the bottom both sides so 6 rivets in total.

you can see here the side pieces after I've drilled them out ... they're already off of the main spar here........they just slide off of the main spar





what I suspect you'll find like I did was that the plastic stay on the side cap has broken off... like the pic below.


What I did was to drill through from the inside two 2mm holes and then counter sink the out side slightly .... don't go mad with the counter sink the plastics not too thick.

I then drilled two 3mm holes in the rod matching those in the end cap .... easier than it sounds ... if you take one apart you'll immediately see why.


then I used two 3mm x 20mm screws to form a new 'stay' for the spring mechanism in the rod... you then really need a helper ... I got my missus to help.
get some one to hold the rod... then place the endcap on the rod so the screws engage with the end of the rod... if you're using 20mm screws the tips should just locate in the holes as well as the female coupling in the rod.
now you need to tension the spring ...so rotate the end cap ..NOT the rod.. towards you about 20 full turns .
then you have to slide the rod and end-cap into the spar with out disengaging the end-cap from the rod or letting either turn....
then with you're helper holding the rod and end cap in place slide on the other end cap ...being careful to insert the plastic rod mount into the rod and not push the other end cap off of the spar ....its actually easier than it sounds with two people.
then you have to re-rivet the end caps back on.....I only riveted the top ones as there's virtually no clearance on the bottom one.

ending up with something like this


I only had large industrial rivets but the top ones have loads of room inside so it doesn't matter and the plastic levers cover them once pushed on again.

I did the whole thing with it wobbling around on the top of a wheely bin ... If you have large table or work bench it'll probably be even easier for you.

now I have a cover that retracts and doesn't sag down loads like it used to ...

 

Good work. I have an estate also and I don't get to see many specific posts about them. I have never actually seen one besides my own.
P.

 

Useful post, and always nice when your wife volunteers to hold your rod!!