Just remembered I did this writeup a while ago so thought it would be useful for the Z3 knowledgebase.
Well after splitting my rear screen I was left with no alternative but to seek out a replacement. An OEM screen is now in excess of £200 :-o so I started a search for a good quality aftermarket one and having looked at several on offer on the Internet and not really liking most that I saw I stumbled upon one on Ebay advertised by a company called Art-Design-Munster based in Germany. Their initial advertisement was priced at £93 plus £15 postage which was a lot less than what BMW charge but after some investigation I found you can pick them up for £76 all in if you order off German EBAY. The quality looked good from the photo's and blurb and a couple of emails to the guy convinced me this would be the best and cheapest option so I placed an order. I was pleased when two days later it turned up well packaged and everything included with english instructions to do the job.
The company has a website which is quite good and very informative albeit in German but google soon sorts that out.
http://www.cabrio-heckscheibe.de/
You can all guess what I have been doing today so I thought I would share my experience with you all.
Firstly opening the box revealed the screen itself wrapped in bubble wrap, a spatula to aid separating the hood, a roll of double sided tape, zipper and little clamps. Following the instructions there is a clamp holding the original zip in place which must be removed to seperate the old screen from the hood.
Release the little prongs and pull the clamp apart then you can seperate the zip by running your finger around the seam and it will eventually fall out (no turning back now!).
I have taken a couple of pics of the old and new screen together in particular the seam/zip which I hope shows how similar the new one is to the original where you finally end up tucking in the mohair edge of the hood.
Here's a close up of the zip ends.
The zip is exactly the same length as the original making it easy to judge where to start zipping the new screen in which is the most difficult part of the job as it is quite fiddly but once on it is just a matter of taking it steady and slowly you don't get the zip trapped particularly on the corners. I recommend zipping a few inches at a time and inspecting the teeth of the zip to make sure they are all located correctly as it is easy for one not to locate properly enabling you to go back and relocate it. Once zipped up all the way around the zipper just slides off the end and you just then have to secure the ends either with the original clamp if still usable, new clamps supplied with the screen or as I chose to stitch the zip ends shut which I found the easiest albeit laborious as it meant you were in and out passing the needle from inside to out.
There was a role of double sided tape include which is used to aid sticking the hood fabric down under the seam. again this was a little fiddly to install but works well. Here are some more pics of the finished job and some closeups of the seam which I hope you agree is as good as the OEM one if not better.
And finally the complete screen in all its glory which is now so clear I keep wondering if there is anything there when I pull up the drive.
Update: well after being fitted now for several months the only reservation I have is the beading has a tendancy to kink slightly where the screen folds but for the price it is certainly still worth the money.
Well after splitting my rear screen I was left with no alternative but to seek out a replacement. An OEM screen is now in excess of £200 :-o so I started a search for a good quality aftermarket one and having looked at several on offer on the Internet and not really liking most that I saw I stumbled upon one on Ebay advertised by a company called Art-Design-Munster based in Germany. Their initial advertisement was priced at £93 plus £15 postage which was a lot less than what BMW charge but after some investigation I found you can pick them up for £76 all in if you order off German EBAY. The quality looked good from the photo's and blurb and a couple of emails to the guy convinced me this would be the best and cheapest option so I placed an order. I was pleased when two days later it turned up well packaged and everything included with english instructions to do the job.
The company has a website which is quite good and very informative albeit in German but google soon sorts that out.
http://www.cabrio-heckscheibe.de/
You can all guess what I have been doing today so I thought I would share my experience with you all.
Firstly opening the box revealed the screen itself wrapped in bubble wrap, a spatula to aid separating the hood, a roll of double sided tape, zipper and little clamps. Following the instructions there is a clamp holding the original zip in place which must be removed to seperate the old screen from the hood.
Release the little prongs and pull the clamp apart then you can seperate the zip by running your finger around the seam and it will eventually fall out (no turning back now!).
I have taken a couple of pics of the old and new screen together in particular the seam/zip which I hope shows how similar the new one is to the original where you finally end up tucking in the mohair edge of the hood.
Here's a close up of the zip ends.
The zip is exactly the same length as the original making it easy to judge where to start zipping the new screen in which is the most difficult part of the job as it is quite fiddly but once on it is just a matter of taking it steady and slowly you don't get the zip trapped particularly on the corners. I recommend zipping a few inches at a time and inspecting the teeth of the zip to make sure they are all located correctly as it is easy for one not to locate properly enabling you to go back and relocate it. Once zipped up all the way around the zipper just slides off the end and you just then have to secure the ends either with the original clamp if still usable, new clamps supplied with the screen or as I chose to stitch the zip ends shut which I found the easiest albeit laborious as it meant you were in and out passing the needle from inside to out.
There was a role of double sided tape include which is used to aid sticking the hood fabric down under the seam. again this was a little fiddly to install but works well. Here are some more pics of the finished job and some closeups of the seam which I hope you agree is as good as the OEM one if not better.
And finally the complete screen in all its glory which is now so clear I keep wondering if there is anything there when I pull up the drive.
Update: well after being fitted now for several months the only reservation I have is the beading has a tendancy to kink slightly where the screen folds but for the price it is certainly still worth the money.
