1997 bmw z3 rear window replacement

I'm not a DIY guy. Can someone recommend a place in the Denver/Boulder area to have my back window replaced? The time has come .

Is the window zipped in or sewed in?
If sewed, it may not be replaceable, though some say a good auto top shop can do it.
If zipped, an auto top shop, or an independent btw shop, or a dealer can do it. It would be better they had done other Z3 windows before.
If zipped, discuss with the shop whether they or you should provide the window, and which window it will be.
A BMW-part window can cost $300, or an identical-looking OE-type window can cost $200.
Or an Emiata window costs under $100 but seals with an exposed canvas perimeter flap that must be carefully glued to the top.

Window

It zips out, the window isn't all that bad, but the seal all the way around the exterior has come off.

The seal is the double sided tape under the edge of the canvas. The black plastic trim is what comes off. It is a channel that holds the edge of the canvas.

Some people try to glue it back, which can cause glue to build up on the edge of the canvas that can made it hard to get the canvas into the trim that comes on a new window. A couple of my previous owners left two kinds of glue on my top.

Some just pull the trim off like yours, because it has no sealing function, and it looks OK if no glue has been tried yet. I did that for a few months.

But eventually, the window gets replaced. Although many say it is easy, I tried and failed, and wish I had given the job to a shop as you intend to do.

I bought a new window from ESC Tuning and had my indy install it. It cost me $300 for the window and about $150 for the install. Not too happy about the cost of it all but it's just one of those things that comes with owning the Z3.

inventors/craftsmen wanted

two things the most inventive among us should come up with:

1. glass rear window. i had one in my vw convertible and it makes for much easier, cheaper maintenance. necessarily, to fit the z3 it will have to be smaller than the plastic ones we use now. heck, volkswagen uses glass. why shouldn't bmw?

2. a zippable tonneau cover. that is, the drivers side can unzip independently of the passenger side. i know what i want but can't find anyone to make it. this addition is probably the one single improvement that makes a roadster most enjoyable

two things the most inventive among us should come up with:
1. glass rear window...
2. a zippable tonneau cover. that is, the drivers side can unzip independently of the passenger side....

The glass window is a great idea that comes around every few months. The top and the body have to be redesigned for it to work; BMW calls it the Z4.
Tonneau covers worked decades ago when the windshield was flat and set on top of the hood, and the hood extended back under the windshield and ended in a vertical dash. That allowed the cover to extend beyond the cockpit and overlap the body all the way around, leaving the windshield outside. Modern horizontal dashboards covered by sloped windshields prevent the old concept from working. The closest thing today is Roadster Solutions' Roof Cover:
http://www.roadstersolutions.com/page165.html

interesting points, vin. i haven't explored the top design, but there should be space between the roofs struts that a flat window could fit. the question is, how small would it have to be?

you make a good point about the windshield/tonneau relationship but not for the reasons listed. when there was metal under the windshield, it made it easy to place fasteners. today, the plastic dash is problematic. placing fasteners along the body is easy.

the cover from roof solutions isn't really the style i'm writing about. the english really put good tonneaus on their roadsters but we seem to have lost that design. it covers the cockpit with humps for seats, roll hoops and steering wheel. a zipper down the middle allows one to drive with one side covered.

this also makes the car a four-season convertible in many areas because heat or a/c blow under the closed side to escape out the driver's unzipped side, thus bathing the driver in warm or cool air.

when one parks, simply pull the tonneau over the driver's seat and over the steering wheel. often, i didn't snap the driver's side because the steering wheel hump holds it on.

the only drawback is in heavy rain, the zipper can leak on a parked car. i saw a good article about building a tonneau in hot rodder or street rodder mag but can't seem to find it again.

... the english really put good tonneaus on their roadsters but we seem to have lost that design... the only drawback is in heavy rain, the zipper can leak on a parked car...

I grew up in the '50s and '60s with the tonneau covers you speak of, on MGAs and Healeys and TR3s. Here's a photo of college roommate with his cover half zipped.
But a leaky zipper is not the main problem. As I say in Post #7, you cannot protect the electronic-filled horizontal dash of a Z3 or any modern car with such a cover, because of the situation up under the windshield that does not allow a watertight seal. Before I bought the Roadster Solutions top cover, I searched the UK market for some kind of an old fashioned tonneau cover with zipper. Take a look there yourself. All I could find is a Roadster Solutions type of cover that goes over the windshield and is called a half cover. That's what it takes to cover the dashboard.
http://www.just-bmwcarcovers.co.uk/bmw-waterproof-half-car-covers-i3.html