Bl**dy He!!

[stevie_a]

Had an incident this morning, an articulated lorry past me as I sat at a set of traffic lights

And a stone came off its tyres and hit the car, pulled over to look, thinking bl**dy hell that was lucky, then looked where the stone hit.

Top of the back window which is now split with a two inch gash.

So where is the cheapest place to get one and are they easy to fit.



Sent by HTC Desire without using tapatalk

 

[si-forks]

Sorry to hear about that I've seen the windows on e-bay about £125

Si-forks on tapatalk

 

[NeRo]

Sandy bought one off eBay last year and we fitted it - Sandy will be the first to admit the replacement window's quality wasn't up to an original BMW one

Remember to buy the sealing clip (can't think of proper name just now) as we wasted a lot of time trying to save the fitted one for reuse

It zips out and in and I would recommend 2 people - roughly 45 minutes to do the job?

 

[stevie_a]

BMW window £185 + vat... $-)

 

[GazHyde]

BMW window £185 + vat... $-)

Was that a quote from one dealer? I've seen quite a variation in prices between $tealers for the same parts...

 

[stevie_a]

From Menzies BMW of Stirling this morning

was driving past and decided to stop in.

 

[si-forks]

Sounds like a good price to me see if you can get then to fit it as well for that price you never know :-?

 

[stevie_a]

I asked the guy how much for fitting?

He said that it is to hard a job ...

They send the car to a specialist in Edinburgh...

 

[Aceman]

It's more fiddly than hard to do I managed to do it on my own upto the last bit where you have to secure the zip and you need someone to push on the outside while you secure the inside.

I bought one of these from ebay made by a guy in Germany and it is very good quality with just one slight reservation in that the beading that you tuck the canvas into kinks slightly when you fold the roof down but other than that it is very good and considerably cheaper than anything else out there.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130629448629?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:VRI&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2661

Edit: Just added the writeup I did regarding the replacement of my screen to the Z3 Knowledgebase so hope this helps. :-bd

http://zroadster.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=742

 

[Freds Dad]

I asked the guy how much for fitting?

He said that it is to hard a job ...

They send the car to a specialist in Edinburgh...

Ask them for the name of the specialist and cut out their mark up.

 

[stevie_a]

I know a good trimmer here in Glasgow, but to be honest i will probably fit it myself.

 

[SilverZed]

I knew mine needed a new screen when I bought it (has a small split in it currently sealed with sellotape!) So I did a bit of research.

You're looking at around £220 inc VAT supply only for the dealer part or I have seen aftermarket items on the bay from around £85 upwards. Steer clear of any aftermarket versions that have a cloth trim flap that you glue to your existing hood instead of the proper U channel with grippers to tuck into as these will look like a bag of sh1te once fitted. If you supply the window complete including new zipper and fitting kit (comes with window) then trimmers will charge around £70 or £80 to fit it for you.

If you don't want to source the window yourself then trimmers will fit you a new aftermarket screen for anywhere between £125 and £240.

Some will stitch new plastic into your existing zipper (cheaper end) others will remove the hood from the car and fully stitch a new window in with new U channel. I spoke to one who claimed this was a better job as he knew of cases where windows had blown out of their zippers on motorways when clients opened their windows thus pressurizing the cabin. I questioned this as it would close the door on future zip in replacements and he answered by saying a window should last you at least 5 or 6 years before it starts to look ropey or split again and unless your hood has been replaced since the car was new it is unlikely to have much more than 5 or 6 years left in it anyway. I think he is probably right and the full stitch into the U channel would at least prevent the cloth pop out problem.

You can get full new aftermarket hoods from around £325 supply only or £495 fitted.

You can fit zip in windows yourself. The trickiest bit is centering the zipper before you zip it in. Get it even a couple of teeth off centre when you start the zipper and within a short space of time your window will develop diagonal wrinkles as it is being pulled unevenly under tension. You can of course unzip and try again but there are no markings to help you so it could be a pain.

I'm tempted to spend the £240 for a hood off full stitch in to be sure I'm sorted for the next few years but then I can't help thinking that I would be halfway to the price of a full new hood fitted! :-?

I'm an all or nothing guy so I reckon there are only 2 choices, I either try and do it for under a hundred quid by sourcing a window off the bay and fitting it myself or I bite the £500 bullet and treat her to a full new professionally fitted hat. I'm also a cheapskate so I'm off to look for a window on Ebay!

Byeee #-o

 

[g8jka]

Keep your eye on eBay, I managed to get a genuine screen, brand new still sealed up in the box with all the fittings etc last week for the price of £60 plus delivery \/

I was eventually going to buy the one that aceman recommends in the previous posts but this one came up so I brought it straight away Just waiting until the hardtop comes off then I will fit it.

Like you say though, if its going to cost around £220 for a new genuine screen I would spend the extra and get a whole new hood fitted, unless you go for the cheaper option that aceman fitted as I have heard good reports on this one.

 

[SilverZed]

Thanks for the write up Aceman, tip top! Deffo going to do it myself now and get another few years out of the hood before full replacement. The German aftermarket one looks good quality. :-bd