Anyone ever seen this happen before???

[Jtuner]

So I was at advanced picking up oil change stuff, when I looked outside, and my entire rear window was SHATTERED!! Upon further investigation, there was no sign of a rock hitting it, or any foul play, it must have just shattered when I closed my door or something.. Anyone ever heard of this or seen it happen before???

[D. Clay]

There are several opinions and factors that have been suggested.
Stress on the glass from body twist,
Hot sun,
A small unnoticed "starter crack"
Air pressure from the door closing, etc.
I've never seen it happen but I have seen it afterwards. An E30's backglass is in with a rubber gasket instead of being bonded with urethane to the unibody. I've seen cracks in windshields shoot about a foot longer when closing the door - especially Chevrolet pickups.

[rfritz]

This happened to me about 5 years ago and I thought someone was shooting at me. It did scare the shit out of me and sucked, because it was the middle of winter here in good ol Indiana. I think it was 20+/- degrees.

[asubimmer]

yes this is kinda common. Happened to me about 6 months ago? Really pissed me off.

Ohh and D. Clay, not all E30's use the gasket, M3 windows are glued in to make it stiffer ;)

[silverblades181]

I've heard of it. Apparently the E30s get high cabin pressure, and in the "right" conditions, the glass will shatter...but that's all hear-say.

[Jtuner]

good that's what I was hoping/expecting to hear.. I have new glass comin in on thursday,, just more of a pain in the ass more than anything.. guess i'll make sure to close my doors a bit softer hehe thanks guys

[cutncheese]

It happened to me to, just came out one morning and the back window was gone.

[stevohill]

I've heard of this happening b/c the defroster button will get stuck and stay on, and poof no more window

[M42boy]

good that's what I was hoping/expecting to hear.. I have new glass comin in on thursday,, just more of a pain in the ass more than anything.. guess i'll make sure to close my doors a bit softer hehe thanks guys
Maybe we should leave our sunroofs in the "vent" position more often to let pressure escape. Man, this sucks!! :eek:

[bmwman91]

Sheesh, good thing I leave the sunroof cracked whenever I am not parked up in carjackistan (err I mean Stockton). I could believe the defroster thing, too. Hope it does not happen to me! I cannot afford a window right now!

[Jtuner]

Yeah, my rear window defroster was left on from the night before (my badness :() and the crack looks like it spurted from that metal contact actually.. My guess is that's what caused it,, it was a hot day with the rear defroster on = disaster :( :(

[Zoso]

I wish mine would crack so I could have it replaced. I'm too chicken to break it myself and hope that insurance covers it!

My rear defroster grid is shot and it too bad to fix.