OEM Windshields Now Available Through BMW

[HayekFan]

Some good news for those in need of an OEM windshield for their E28. BMW has changed their policy and will now allow dealers to order Euro windshields for US cars.

The previous situation was you'd go to your dealer and your VIN would pull up the US part number which is NLA. They would do a little digging and find the number had been superseded by the number for the Euro windshield which is a direct replacement. The problem is they would be blocked from ordering the Euro windshield due to a technicality related to DOT regs. At that point you would be forced to find some other source which has been problematic.

After running into this roadblock again recently, my dealer opened a case with BMW asking if there was some way to order the Euro windshield. To my surprise, the response came back YES.

ORDERING PROCEDURE UPDATE: BMW has dropped the special procedure described in earlier edits of this post. The Euro windshield is now a normal order using 51 31 1 848 431.

List price of the Euro windshield as of January 2020 is $302.93.

The windshields went NLA again in 2021 and are currently unavailable.

[Blue Shadow]

Now if the BMW parts discount houses can get them we should be fine.

[John in VA]

The US part comes up as "discontinued" on my local dealers' parts pages. The Euro one shows as $326.60 retail, and sell for $204.26 to $277.61. I wonder if they can actually be ordered?

[HayekFan]

Yes, the word from BMW is that they can actually be ordered now. There is a slight change in the ordering procedure that's covered in the OP.

[stuartinmn]

EDIT: cost of the Euro windshield is $360.

If I recall correctly, the euro windshield I bought through the local dealer back in 2010 was ~$400. Good to see the price has actually gone down a little.

[HayekFan]

Yep, and it's possible the price is actually $326.60 as John in VA mentioned. $360 is what I remember being told by the dealer on the phone the other day but I may be misremembering. I'm going to try to confirm the price tomorrow.

[HayekFan]

I checked with the dealer and the price of the Euro windshield is $326.60. I've corrected it in the OP.

[BimmerDan]

Just to be clear on this, the policy has been for some time that you can get Euro parts through your dealer. You have to provide your vehicle registration and they will order one. HOWEVER BMW of Lincoln would not guarantee the windshield would make it in one piece and refused to order one.

[HayekFan]

As I understand it, the policy has been that you could order a Euro windshield for a Euro car by providing a registration. But you were out of luck if you had a US car, which is 95% of us. This is because A) the US spec windshield is discontinued, and B) BMW wouldn't allow orders for Euro spec windshields for US cars because doing so violates customs regs relating to DOT markings.

This is what happened to my dealer recently when they tried to order a windshield for my US car. So they opened a case with BMW to see if there was a workaround or the policy could be changed.

What has changed -- or seems to have changed based on BMW's response -- is that you can now order a Euro windshield for a US car. You just need to note the supersession from the US part number (that pulls up with your US car's VIN) to the Euro part number. BMW is justifying the change because they recognize that there's no alternative source within the US for OEM windshields for US cars.

That said, I haven't actually seen the correspondence between BMW and my dealer. I'm just passing along how they've explained it to me. I also admit to being fairly new to all this windshield stuff since for me it's only become an issue fairly recently -- after deciding to get my car painted and wanting to replace the windshield at the same time. My impression is this change is a breakthrough of sorts and I wanted to pass it along to "the communiteh". If I'm mistaken on the implications or the background, feel free to correct.

[Zeuropa]

Sorry for the newb question, but what's the difference(s) between the US & Euro windshields?

Thanks

[stuartinmn]

Outside of the part number I don't think there's any material difference. The part number for the US windshield was presumably approved by the US department of transportation.

[wkohler]

Only difference is the part number. Both of the factory windshields I've had installed have the same DOT markings as every other one.

[Zeuropa]

Thank you for the replies. Is it possible to remove the windshield non-destructively?
Thanks again.

[Mike W.]

Thank you for the replies. Is it possible to remove the windshield non-destructively?
Thanks again.

Yes, definitely. The key is patience and working the rubber out a little bit at a time.

[adrian in florida]

This is great news! Thanks for the update!

[stuartinmn]

Thank you for the replies. Is it possible to remove the windshield non-destructively?
Thanks again.

To elaborate on what Mike said, if you don't mind destroying the rubber gasket you can cut that out and then removal of the glass is pretty easy.

[Mike W.]

Thank you for the replies. Is it possible to remove the windshield non-destructively?
Thanks again.

To elaborate on what Mike said, if you don't mind destroying the rubber gasket you can cut that out and then removal of the glass is pretty easy.

Yes, but.. If you do go that route, be careful not to damage the paint underneath. That leads to rust and all sorts of trouble eventually.

[stuartinmn]

Yes, but.. If you do go that route, be careful not to damage the paint underneath. That leads to rust and all sorts of trouble eventually.

True, but chances are most e28s have rusty window channels by now anyway that need to be fixed before putting new glass back in.

[wholepailofwater]

I went to my local BMW Dealership and got an Windshield ordered. They wanted a copy of my DL and Reg to prove I actually owned the car(not the dealership, but corp. BMW). And I was allowed only one windshield per order.

The eta for the windshield is second week in January.


John Paul

[HayekFan]

I went to my local BMW Dealership and got an Windshield ordered. They wanted a copy of my DL and Reg to prove I actually owned the car(not the dealership, but corp. BMW). And I was allowed only one windshield per order.

The eta for the windshield is second week in January.


John Paul

Thanks for the report -- sounds like the new process works. This is good news.

[vinceg101]

I went to my local BMW Dealership and got an Windshield ordered. They wanted a copy of my DL and Reg to prove I actually owned the car(not the dealership, but corp. BMW). And I was allowed only one windshield per order.

The eta for the windshield is second week in January.


John Paul

Can I ask which part number and what the cost was?

[Adam W in MN]

I placed an order for one through Steve at Blunttech and so far it is looking good. He said it showed there were 71 pieces in Germany.

[Adam W in MN]

My windshield order was just approved by BMW NA

[HayekFan]

My windshield order was just approved by BMW NA

Yeah, there seems to be some lag between placing the order and when it gets approved.

I ordered a windshield last Friday and it didn't get approved until yesterday. According to my dealer, the order goes from the dealer up to BMW NA, then over to BMW in Germany. It's not "official" until Germany approves it.

[Kapt]

So what’s the secret handshake?
I ordered a windshield with the superseded part number thru GetBmwParts.com and got an email the next day asking if I wanted expedited shipping for an additional $22.00 because it was coming from Germany. I replied that I did and thought I was good to go. Two days later I received an email saying the order was cancelled because its a Euro only part. I tried my local dealer (same place as GetBMWParts.com but different section) and they were also told it’s not possible. They’re gonna look further into it.