What is causing this scratch on my rear window.

[xcmountain80]

Good morning T4R,


I noticed this line on the window when I washed the truck last, so I figured I'd let it get good and dirty and narrow it down. So here it is good and dirty and leaving a not yet visible but it will catch your finger nail type scratch.

Thoughts?

 

[Gerdo]

Roll the window down all the way, take a cloth rag and spray some cleaner on it (windex works great), with a finger, shove the damp rag down between the rubber and move from side to side. You could carefully pull back the rubber before you lower the window to see if there is something there BEFORE you lower it.

I would guess that you have a speck of sand in that rubber.

I do this with all of my window trim (top, sides, bottom).

 

[xcmountain80]

Roll the window down all the way, take a cloth rag and spray some cleaner on it (windex works great), with a finger, shove the damp rag down between the rubber and move from side to side. You could carefully pull back the rubber before you lower the window to see if there is something there BEFORE you lower it.

I would guess that you have a speck of sand in that rubber.

I do this with all of my window trim (top, sides, bottom).

Sounds great Gerdo, I'll try that, also I promise to buy one of your tank skids those are oh so nice.

Aaron

 

[w650gb500]

I have the same scratch, but its WAY deeper. I removed the rear hatch panel to find a bolt holding the wiper motor(I believe from memory) had begun to back out and was contacting the window. I would suggest taking 10 minutes and do the same. Open the hatch, remove the panel and take a quick look. Once opened up, the offending bolt will be easily to see.

Just my experience.

Sorry for the crappy pic, but it looks like its in the same place.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Gerdo's advice on cleaning the insides of the rubber window gaskets is spot on. I wish I'd seen it last week.

I was just outside looking at my 4Runner and apparently during my last outing I got a bunch of mud between the windows and the rubber on the front side windows... now they're scratched up in a bad way from being rolled up & down.

 

[xcmountain80]

For sand scratched depending on how bad, Griots Garage offers a glass polish that removed some interesting things that may help get rid of some scratches.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Thanks for the tip! I'll have to check that stuff out. I was hoping there would be some way I could polish them out. Most of them aren't very deep, but they cover literally the entire surface of the passenger side front window. In the sun it looks horrible.

 

[LittleCaesar]

I have the same thing. I thought it was my dumb a#$ that let the handle of the nozzle on the hose slide down the back window.

 

[RunninInGA]

I've never tried myself, but I hear polishing scratches out of glass is pretty darn difficult. You need lots of speed on a buffer machine.

 

[xcmountain80]

That was it! 15 minute job deep 10mm, plastic putty knife for the trim and an extension made life a breeze. Went ahead and tightened the remaining motor bolts as they were all loose.

A

 

[w650gb500]

I figured that it was the same loose bolt that I had. Sucks because now I need to find a rear window for mine. I hate that scratch back there.

Glad it helped.

 

[Krazy Kris]

I used the search feature on the forum and found this thread. It looks like this is a 4th gen but mine is a 5th gen with the same back scratch problem.. I wonder if it might be a bolt. I wiped out the plastic peace that keeps the water out but not sure if that did much..