Glass

The black ceramic coating on the inside of the rear hatch glass had started peeling away.  I wanted to fix it and the only way is to replace the rear window glass.  The part was not phenomenally expensive from BMW, which was nice.  The sunroof glass is another story.  Also, this car had old, mirrored silver window tint on it that had been scratched in several places.  Living in the south, I wanted maximum heat rejection capability.  I also wanted to add more tint to the glass roof panel for better heat rejection.

I tried unsuccessfully to install Lamin-X headlight film, so I asked a pro to do it right.  And, I wanted to add Xpel film on the rear fender flares.

I did all of this work in one stop at Impact Auto Glass and Audio Evolution, both in North Charleston.  They are actually located right beside one another.  I have used both shops in the past and like their work.  Impact was unable to remove the old hatch glass without breaking it.  Not that I really wanted the old glass, but for reference, it's really well attached!

I had used Audio Evolution for tint in the past and was completely happy with their work.  Not this time.  After they applied the tint the first time, there were numerous bubbles and flaws.  OK, no problem.  They reworked them.  I let them keep the car as long as they wanted so there would be no time pressure.  Sure enough, they re-did 4 windows and all was well.  Except after a day or two after I got the car home, I noticed someone had yanked on the passenger side door panel and broken the upper triangle plastic piece away.  And in the process, they yanked the securing screw right through the wood pulp of the door panel, totally destroying it.  I was and am pretty pissed.  I don't have pics as I found it... my wife was pretty pissed too and she removed the plastic triangle piece beforeI could photograph it in place.  I could go back and forth with these guys and they would tell me "it was like that when it came in" or I can write about it, find a new tint shop, and move on.  So that's what I will do.  Luckily, I had a spare door panel in stock from a 2000 M roadster.  So that will go into this car.  What a pain just to get tint right.

I also refitted the rear hatch spoiler (finally) after repainting it.  I was able to find new weather stripping that is slightly larger than what BMW uses.  I did use the correct sealant that TIS specifies.  The U-shaped shims (I assume they are there to work as shims?) on the outer holes of the hatch spoiler were a surprise to me... they aren't listed or shown in the parts catalog.  I removed them and the adhesive tape they were stuck on with, and I replaced the tape with 3M VHB tape.  See pics.  However, if I were to do this job again, I think I would have used larger pieces of tape and completely surrounded the holes in the hatch steel.  This would completely prevent water from getting in.  I didn't do it that way, I made U-shaped pieces of VHB.  So, after the install was complete, I went in to the inside of the hatch where the self-locking nuts are and added some silicone caulk to keep any water from getting in (if that's even possible).

Formatting on Blogspot really sucks sometimes....

Rear window glass, 51318399014, $301.00r
Labor to replace rear window glass, $220.25, Impact Auto Glass, Charleston
Remove and replace window tint with Llumar GTX 15%, add Llumar GTX 40% to glass roof/sunroof panel, install Lamin-X headlight film (thick) and Xpel rear fender protection, $623.15
Rear Wiper Arm cover, 61628357518, already accounted for in previous post
Rear wiper blade, Trico 15-110, already accounted for in previous post
Hatch spoiler nut cover, need 3, 51711964810, $0.48r each 

Total cost of this mod = $1145.84
Total investment in vehicle to date = $10,770.49

Sheared out through-hole.  Thanks, jackasses.

I can probably salvage the door panel and keep it for stock.  Luckily I had a near-perfect one in stock.

This is the edge of the rear hatch glass, showing the delamination.

New glass from BMW

This is the seal I used under the rear hatch spoiler, you need to cut 3 pieces of it.

Rear hatch spoiler, repainted and ready to install

TIS specifies Sikaflex to glue the hatch spoiler in place in addition to the 3 bolts.

This curious washer/spacer doesn't show up in TIS.  I secured it with 3M VHB tape, similar to what the factory did.  If I were to do this mod again, I would have used VHB in a circular shape to fully seal the hole from any chance of moisture getting in.

Here is the location for the bead of Sikaflex.  I suspect Betalink would work too.

New hatch glass, albeit out of focus.

Great reflection of our Palmetto trees, but again out of focus.  Trust me, it looks just like a brand new car now.  No fading and jet black right to the edge!