I am starting to get scapes and scrathes on the Drivers side window (outside) from the window going up and down, about 5 inches behind the outside mirror on the lower portion of the window (about 3 inches wide) just on the outside, not on the inside. Anyone ever had this problem and may know what is causing this and the fix??? I am in the process of trying to get my door panel off to try and see what may be rubbing against the window. Thanks for your help, Don

 

I've got the same problem. Glock'94 has already fixed his, so he might chime in and give you the details. It's caused by the outer door rubber. When the felt on the inside of that piece wears out, I believe there are little staples left that start scratching the glass. My drivers side is so bad I'll probably replace the glass eventually.

 

Yep, I replace my passenger side one about 3 months ago. Wasn't too hard to do. Getting the clips to undo took a bit of time.

The scratches are caused by the felt no protecting the rivets that hold the rubber on. I think it was $35 for the piece. You'll want to be sure to put it back on with rivets again. You won't be able to get the rivet closest to the mirror (it's at a really bad angle). It will be just fine with 2 rivets and the clips holding the rest of it on.

My driver's side door is just like R94LT1's... the previous owner let it get too bad before replacing it, so I'm going to have to replace the glass sometime. I tried polishing it up with some toothpaste and glass finisher, but neither worked.

 

You can get to the rivet by the mirror. You just have to remove the window from the regulator, then it is easy to drill out and replace. I just finished repairing my drivers side power window and power door locks. While I had it apart I replaced the outside window seal (felt).

If you take apart you door, make sure you get some new nylon inserts (nuts) that the door trim screws use. They get very brittle with age and are quite cheap to replace. Good luck. :)

 

Actually I am pretty sure what you are reffering to is NOT caused by the outside weatherstripping. I am pretty sure of this because the spot on my windows that had the scratches on it there was NO outside weatherstripping. it had become hard and cracked away before the scratches apeared.

There is a thick felt covered block in the door that rides alone the outside and one inside of the glass. it is about 3 inches wide and is located not far back from the mirror. there is also one towards the back of the door. they can fill up with debris and dirt and cause the scratches. i have them on my window. almost looks as if someone took a sanding block and went up and down on the windows.

I have just been to lazy to clean/replace them. so i am just living with a slightly scratched windows.

BTW Ecklers sells a windows polishing kit that will get the scratches that i desrcibed out of the glass. as far as what you other guys have i dont know if the kit will get them out. I works for me thats all i know.

Don



[Modified by a851yy07, 11:39 AM 11/13/2001]

 

I said to hell with the rivets and just snapped in the new weatherstrip. been on 2+ years with no problems. I just replaced strips and glass on a non gm 93 car last month because of same problem and I wonder what the hell the engineers are doing in the 90's. I can walk around my neighborhood and look at plenty of 30-40-50 year old cars with perfect glass.

 

I bought a "new" 99 Grand Am and before I took delivery (car had 3900 miles on it) they had to replace both front door windows for scratches and the rears were replaced about 18 months later, bad deal. No problem with the 2K Grand Prix, but my 86 is scratched bad on both sides.

 

Thanks Guys!! I thought for awhile that I may be in this boat alone! I would really like to get this fixed before I mess up the window too bad. But sometimes I am a little slow! I would really appreciate it if someone could kind of walk me thru this step by step!! Take of inner door panel I think I'm good to go there, Then what?????????? Thanks, Don

 

Don,
The best thing to do is to get either a Chiltons or a factor manual. I have a Chiltons and a Haynes, but only the Chilton pretty much gave me a step by step description of how to disassemble the door. Plus it had a detailed drawing, with drawing notes, of the 1990-1996 door handle assemble, door trim, and window/regulator. I found this helpful. Someone also posted something in the tech tips. Some hints: look for the metal clips on the handle and door lock rods. These metal clips are a little hard to get to since they are by the door lock assembly. They have a little metal tab at the end that needs to be pried up a little so the clip will slide off. You might also want to buy a new actuator (power door lock) clip since it is plastic and will most likely break. It cost $.52. When you finally get the inner mounting panel removed (held on by eight screws - mine hand 13mm head) you can now remove the window from the regulator. Just remember to mark the location of all the bolts, nuts, etc. It will help when you re-align the window. If you do replace the outer window seal, you can remove the door weather stripping on either end to get to the front and back rivets. The weather stripping is held on by two bolts at either end, and it is glued down so be very careful as you pry it up. I suggest that you re-rivet the new strip in. You can get a pop rivet gun for next to nothing at Sears or some place like that. The engineers put them there for a reason, and I am sure GM would not want to pay the extra money for the part and the time it takes to install them if they were not needed.