I've had to repair two door regulators on my '01 Bonnie; the left rear and the right front.
I got lucky on the left rear because no retainers broke during disassembly. That wasn't the case on the front right door, though, because I managed to break the top right one. I didn't figure it would be a big problem getting a new retainer...was I ever wrong. The only place I could find them was at the Chevy dealer, and my local Chevy dealer prides itself in having the highest prices for OEM parts in the known universe.
The door panels use two different sizes of retainers, as far as I could figure out from looking at the dealer computer screen. I bought one of each size-- mostly to get the part numbers so I could get the retainers from a hopefully cheaper source on the net if I needed more.

Here'* photo of the two different retainers. The longer on is GM part number 25707329. The shorter one is part number 25704141 (by the way, the long one cost me nearly $5; the short one was $4.11--like I said, my local dealer prides itself...)



The retainers are snapped into their grabbers when you get them from GM. Flat out, getting them apart is not an easy task. However, I used a retainer removal tool to get them apart, as pictured below:



However, pressing the retainer against a piece of wood doesn't work very well, you need sometime tougher than that.

The last time I was at the local Advance Auto Parts, they had those retainers on their hanging cards. I don't remember the cost, but they had to have been cheaper than that.

Archon, I checked everywhere around here but Advance Auto...Doh!

I just checked with GM Parts Direct and saw that the long retainer is $3.05 each and the short retainer is $2.52. Still too much but much better than the dealer.

Thanks for info/links on window regulators that are alternatives to OEM. Both OEMs I'd bought a few years ago were also made in China.

Archon, I checked at an Advance Auto yesterday but couldn't find any 2001 Bonneville-style retainers there. I took in one as an example, but the counter guy was mystified by it and suggested that I use a sheet metal screw.

However, I did some digging on the net and came up with this firm:

http://www.carpak.com/

They do have the retainers in their catalog (part numbers 99-8061 and 99-8062) in the section under "Door and Trim Clips", but they don't seem to supply their parts to an end consumer like ourselves--at least the website has no mention of doing that. I imagine that body shops get Car-Pak parts through a supplier. There are no prices given, but the quantity is ten per pack.
I think I'll check with a local body shop and see what the prices are now that I have an aftermarket part number.

Perhaps all of the stores don't carry them. The one where I saw them was a larger store on a major route in town. I know the look that the counter man gave you. I've seen it a few times.

Did someone say here that you can fix the regulator rather than replace it? my cable detached from the one side and I would like to try and fix it. Any suggestions???

In techinfo. http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...e=article&k=26

thanks!! But what if my cable is all mangled up. It has kinks in it and was broken completely off!? Am I screwed? I tried to rewrap it around the spool but it is so badly kinked that it would not work. Can I buy another cable? Thanks!!!

I've repaired them even with badly mangled cables. As long as the anchors on the end are still good, you should be able to use the cable. If you feel it is too badly cobbled up, you could try taking the cable to a bicycle shop and see if they can make one for you. The individual parts of the regulator are not sold anywhere that I could find.