Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

M3 Windshield Installation

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    M3 Windshield Installation

    Since I bought the M3 the windshield has always bothered me when driving the car. The original windshield was pitted so I decided to replace it. I searched the internet for install threads and did not find much so I thought that I would share my experience with everyone.

    Seeing that the M3 windshield is bonded onto the body it is unique to other E30’s. I was advised by many friends not to take this job on at our shop but I was concerned about the rust issues that I might find on the cowling and how a windshield installation shop would repair that.

    I am lucky that my son, Brian, is a Master Tech and has installed windshields in newer BMW and that his friend Rob has been installing windshields for BMW for many years. Neither of them had ever done an M3 so we all were a little scared of the job but decided to take it on.

    I purchased all the parts from BMW which included the rubber gasket that goes around the windshield, the rubber gasket that goes on the inside of the car just above the dash, the bonding material kit and the glass.

    This is a picture of the old windshield before we started the project. It is hard to tell with this photograph but this windshield is very pitted.



    Brian and I went to work on taking out the old windshield. Removing the old rubber seal that surrounds the glass is not too hard. There is a spot at the bottom of the windshield where the seal ends meet. We used a plastic pry tool to lift the seal until we could grab it with a pair of pliers. Once it started to come out it was very easy to remove.



    The yellow tape you see in this picture is “special” tape from BMW. It is what they use at the dealership to keep from scratching the paint. It is different than the blue painters tape that I usually use and is kind of like electrical tape without the real sticky adhesive side.



    The tools we used were what the dealership uses on the new BMW’s. There are two ways to remove the old windshield. This method uses two units that clamp to the inside of the windshield and a piece of wire that looped between the windshield and the inside of the car. With all the inner panels removed or loosened there was plenty of room for the wire to cut the old bonding material without damaging the interior pieces.





    Once the tool is setup it works with a standard ratchet that tightens up the wire thereby cutting the bonding material.



    It is necessary to move the two units on the inside of the windshield to get the proper angle to cut the bond material so a few setups are required.



    I was surprised when I found that both drain holes were plugged with Butyl as I was told that this is what creates the rust in the cowling. Maybe this was not the original windshield as I had thought.



    The passenger’s side had just started to get a little surface rust.



    The driver’s side was still in great shape.



    The rusted area on the passengers side was sanded until it was down to bare shiny metal.



    Then some Eastwood Rust Encapsulator was used as primer.



    This was finished off with several coats of Diamond Schwartz touch up paint. Sorry for the bad picture but it came out perfect.



    The bonding adhesive around the body was removed with a razor blade. Again, my thanks to Brian for taking on that job while I fixed the surface rust. There were some nicks from the razor blade in the color coat but it did not get into the metal so the Diamond Schwartz touch up paint was used to cover the original primer.



    From here on out I left things to the Master Techs, Brian and Rob. When we pulled the new BMW windshield out of the box we were surprised that there was already a bead of bonding material on the windshield. It is hard to see in the picture but there are two ridges and a valley in this material. The workshop manual said to lay a 5 mm bead of bonding material on the windshield but did not mention that there would already be bonding material on the glass. We chose to set the new rubber seal around the windshield and do a test fit before we applied anymore bonding material to the windshield. There was a +/- 3mm gap between the bonding material on the windshield and the body. We decided to go with the 5mm of new bonding material as the Factory Manual suggested.



    The next step, if using BMW bonding material is to prim the metal and the glass. There were two different tubes supplied with the BMW bonding material for this task. The Blue tube is for the body.



    The yellow tube is for the glass. We primed the existing sealant and the portion of the glass that the new sealant would touch. Care should be taken with this primer as it will etch the glass so be carful where it is applied.



    There was an area at the bottom of the glass where the factory bond on the windshield did not touch. You can see the ridges and valley on the factor bead better in this picture. We chose to fill in that area with the new bonding material.



    Here are the Masters at work with the air calking gun.



    Once the bonding material was applied it was time to install the new glass.





    In this picture, you can see the small pieces of blue painters tape on the body of the car. We used a grease pencil to mark the rubber seal and blue painter tape on the test fit to make sure the fitment was correct once the new bonding material was applied. The wide yellow tape makes sure that the windshield does not creep downward while the bonding material is curing.



    Rob does not use the strap method at the dealership because he said that he has seen installers tighten up the strap too much and when it is released it will cause the windshield to crack. The BMW factory manual showed this method of strapping the windshield but did not note the use of the yellow tape. As you can see we chose to do both but were very carful not to tighten the ratchet strap too tight.



    I left the strap on the windshield for 24 hours. Then I pulled up the corners of the rubber gasket on the outside of the car and used a squirt bottle to put some water where the bond met the body. No leaks were found. Then I waited a few days before we took the car the a BMWCCA get together. This was the final test, while on the freeway I took the car up to about 80 mph and heard no air leaks. The Masters did a great job! Here is a picture of the first outing with the new windshield. The Touring is my wife’s new car and the M5 is Brian’s car.



    It is so nice to have a clear windshield. I am finding that every little smug shows up now but I can live with that…

    Cheers,

    Jim
    sigpic

    #2
    Jim glad your still with us my friend! I would of had a heart attack standing there watching this all happen to my baby.
    Beautiful car!
    88 M3 Diamantschwarz
    89 M3 Zinnoberrot
    56 Isetta

    __________________________________
    ALL California E30 M Owners CHECK HERE
    http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=307420
    __________________________________
    LIKE ARCHIE'S on Facebook!
    www.facebook.com/archiesicecream

    Comment


      #3
      We were all very nervous durring the process but after completing it I would not change a thing. There are far to many places where even professional shops can mess up and some of those mess ups can mean searching for or repairing NLA parts. I don't think, no matter how experienced, any shop would take the time and care that we took on the job. Usually it takes Rob half hour or less to actually set the new windshield. I think we worked on this one for an hour and half just setting it. Several hours were spent on prep. Very relieved the end result reflects the time and effort put into it.

      Comment


        #4
        nice write-up , thanks for taking all the pics and time to document the process. wish i had those nice tools.

        hope your a lucky guy seems every time i get a new windshield it gets hit within a month...
        Angus
        88 E30M3 X2
        89 325IX
        92 R100GS/PD
        :)

        Comment


          #5
          Thanks..need to replace mine..this helps!
          NASA
          BMWCCA member
          PCA member 25yrs




          1991 318IS slick top
          1997 M3 sedan
          2001 325CI DD

          “whoever turns the wheel the least, wins"

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by archie View Post
            Jim glad your still with us my friend! I would of had a heart attack standing there watching this all happen to my baby.
            Beautiful car!
            I was on the verge Shant but I found that pacing in circles helped. Thanks!

            Originally posted by spdracrm3 View Post
            nice write-up , thanks for taking all the pics and time to document the process. wish i had those nice tools.

            hope your a lucky guy seems every time i get a new windshield it gets hit within a month...
            Your welcome! I am staying way back from the cars in front of me with just that thought in mind.

            Originally posted by e30s50dan View Post
            Thanks..need to replace mine..this helps!
            Happy to help.

            Cheers,

            Jim
            sigpic

            Comment


              #7
              So I was just informed by one of my coworkers that there is mention of the existing bead we found on the windshield in the Legacy files for repair instructions. I don't know how we missed it but the good news is we did everything correctly. As with all BMW inconsistencies, some windshields have the existing bead like ours did and some do not. For those that do not you will need 2 tubes of glue. You will need to lay the first bead and let it cure then lay the second bead on top like we did and set the windshield. I'm glad ours had the existing bead as we may have missed this important step. I will look up the Legacy instructions as soon as BMW's website is back up to confirm.

              System is down but I found what he was talking about with a little more searching online.



              Last edited by SpecRaceM5; 11-27-2013, 11:29 AM.

              Comment


                #8
                Great post, Jim. Very informative.
                I Timothy 2:1-2

                Comment


                  #9
                  I wanted to do this same task
                  Hate the pitting on the windhield
                  But will try using a glass polish first, since I only have minor pitting, nothing too serious

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by kmarei View Post
                    I wanted to do this same task
                    Hate the pitting on the windhield
                    But will try using a glass polish first, since I only have minor pitting, nothing too serious
                    I tried the Einszett glass polish on my 325is. It made the situation worse by filling the pits with polish, which is opaque. YMMV though.
                    I Timothy 2:1-2

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Until I feel more comfortable,I will leave this to the pro's. Great job and great looking car.
                      sigpic

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by pilotskillse30 View Post
                        Until I feel more comfortable,I will leave this to the pro's. Great job and great looking car.

                        Well they pretty much are Pro's considering they have all the right tools, and experience with bonding windshields, etc.
                        "I'd probably take the E30 M3 in this case just because I love that little car, and how tanky that inline 6 is." - thecj

                        85 323i M TECH 1 S52 - ALPINEWEISS/SCHWARZE
                        88 M3 - LACHSSILBER/SCHWARZE
                        89 M3 - ALPINEWEISS II/M TECH CLOTH-ALCANTARA
                        91 M TECHNIC CABRIO TURBO - MACAOBLAU/M TECH CLOTH-LEATHER

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Meaning that I don't feel comfortable doing this MYSELF. So I will leave this to someone else that knows how PRO'S.....Slow down bro..you read to much.
                          sigpic

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Easy fellas. No offense was taken. I know pilotskillse30 didn't mean anything by it and we appreciate the compliments Barry. It really came down to knowing just enough to get ourselves into trouble. Fortunately everything worked out well but all three of us were sweating bullets.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by pilotskillse30 View Post
                              Meaning that I don't feel comfortable doing this MYSELF. So I will leave this to someone else that knows how PRO'S.....Slow down bro..you read to much.
                              Understood. I'm not sure why you took offense to my post. Im just pointing out that Jim is fortunate enough to know people with the right tools and knowledge. It's not like he did it himself with a puttyknife and tube of silicone. I agree with you, its not a job for someone without experience with bonded windshields.
                              "I'd probably take the E30 M3 in this case just because I love that little car, and how tanky that inline 6 is." - thecj

                              85 323i M TECH 1 S52 - ALPINEWEISS/SCHWARZE
                              88 M3 - LACHSSILBER/SCHWARZE
                              89 M3 - ALPINEWEISS II/M TECH CLOTH-ALCANTARA
                              91 M TECHNIC CABRIO TURBO - MACAOBLAU/M TECH CLOTH-LEATHER

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X