Milky rear screen

This is very very common and not only limited to our 8's, I think the only way to solve is to replace, there has been many discussions on this in the past just do a search.
I'm not in Cambridge, I'm Wiltshire but up for a meet if someone wants to arrange one

I have the same thing on my rear window in the left bottom corner.

What happens is moist getting in between the laminated layers of glass.

I went to a specialist car window shop and asked them about it about a year ago.
I was told that this was not a problem to worry about, the window was still good, it was just a cosmetic imperfection.

I asked what a new window would cost, and he looked at me as if I was the stupidest person in the world and said.
you don't change the window on an 8-seris because of that.
When changing a window you are never guaranteed that it will be 100% there is always a chance it will start to leak after some time. even if pros do it.

He then concluded with the fact that he would never ever change the window on such a special car for that.

So I'm still driving around with the white spot on my window.

It's delaminating. The problem will probably spread up the sides, and your heating elements will stop working as the wires corrode or break.

Mine had this problem when I bought it, and yes I had the window replaced. Looks much better now, and all the elements for the heating work. The only reason you might not want to do it is cost -- the window alone is around £800, plus the cost of fitting.

How much Ouch.

Like Wayne I would be up for a possible meet follwoing the success of 11th Nov meet

This is a common problem apparently. Mine has a small area at the lower LH corner where the milky way is becoming noticeable. I read a post sometime back about someone having the screen replaced and having the side edges of the glass itself properly sealed before fitting to prevent moisture penetrating between the laminate layers - sounds like a sensible idea if you're going to replace the screen.
Cheers,
Jason

Quoted £500 all-in for rear window.

I was having my front glass done and it just so happened that I accidentally dropped a ladder on my rear one and guess what. It was covered on my glass insurance

Heaven forbid anything like that should happen to your's

The cause of the problem is delaminating of the screen. A replacement is the only solution but you could do it on your car insurance and get them tinted at the same time. All good window tinters remove the glass to tint them anyway so fitting a new glass would be the only additional cost.

8Tech.

Seal It...

See this thread on the subject of rear glass.
http://www.clube31.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4394

The comments about water getting in are correct. But many cars have laminated windows and don't suffer from this problem. So why us? The main cause is the inadequate design of the rubber seal on the outside edges. It barely covers the edge of the glass and, worse, its not bonded in the standard BMW application. This encourages primary capillary action to saturate the edge of the glass. Then a secondary capillary process pulls the water into the glass, attacking the fine filaments as it goes. Apart from the unsightly mess, you'll probably have significant sections of the screen that no longer work. There is only one solution - as already said: change the glass.

I'd then urge you to consider a investing in a generous 'non-standard' application of rubber sealant under the side edges. Autoglass were quite happy to include this process within the lifetime warranty provided wih the new glass.

A replacement BMW (original part) screen is anout £360 +VAT from BMW. The black (3M) PU primer paint which glass replacement companies use to prime the glass edges before sticking them down with the adhesive is good for painting and sealing the edges of your existing screen to prevent further deterioration. Wait for a hot summer day to make sure that any moisture has evapourated from within. Peel off the runbber surround. Wipe the glass edges with white-spirit to remove any remnanants of old rubber mastik. Then paint the edges of the glass. A new rubber seal and mastik is advisable to finish off.