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Hey guys, I have an 01 Corvette. I got windows tinted about a year and half ago and from the get go noticed on both sides there was damage to the tint shortly after I started to roll the windows up and down in the same location. I put troubleshooting this issue on the back burner till today in lieu of other projects.
I pulled the door panel on and found the culprit damaging my windows, its the window regulator on the back side at the top of the door panel. There is a pulley that is tethered to a cable to raise and lower the window. On the outside of the pulley there is a metal rivet protruding out past the pulley holding it on. Given the curvature of the window as it gets about 2/3 of the way down the rivet on the pulley starts to make contact with the window, which is why my tint has gotten gouged and progressively worse over time.
Has anyone experienced this issue before? If so what was your solution?
I am considering pulling the window regulator out and taking my die grinder or dremmel to the metal riveted **** and sanding it down to see if I can get the clearance I need. If I had to guess I probably only need a 1/2 mm to mm of clearance to prevent the contact. Was hoping for a simpler solution such as making an adjustment. Thanks for your help.
I have damage at the top of my drivers window where the tint is rubbed thru to the glass. There is a product available called Moleskin. It is an adhesive backed felt that will prevent window tint from being scratched by the hard rubber wipes used on some cars, such as the 08 Acura TL I had. You should be able to find a tint shop that stocks it. A small piece over the rivet should fix the issue.
I have damage at the top of my drivers window where the tint is rubbed thru to the glass. There is a product available called Moleskin. It is an adhesive backed felt that will prevent window tint from being scratched by the hard rubber wipes used on some cars, such as the 08 Acura TL I had. You should be able to find a tint shop that stocks it. A small piece over the rivet should fix the issue.
I read of moleskin, my concern is that it would peel off from the contact of the window and rivet are making. Thickening that spot would likely increase the pressure of the window opening against it. The rivet looks to be the size of a dime in terms of diameter and thickness.
I have some felt pads for putting on the bottom of my wooden chairs lying around the house, they have stuck to those chairs for years. Going to give that a shot today. The one thing that may help is that the edge of the window doesn't hit the rivet putting pressure on the side edge of anything I stick on the rivet.
Originally Posted by CaseyJones
Does that rivet normally rub the windows? My windows are tinted as well but I have not had this problem. Yet...
I would have never noticed had I not had my windows tinted. Wouldn't be surprising if there are others with this issue but unaware because there is no visible impact to non-tinted windows.
Would have no issue grinding down the rivet, my fear is that by doing it, the window will continue to press against it and now I have a rough surface scarring the tint and window.
Ps. Fixed the video link, you can hear the grinding.
Moleskin has some very good adhesive. On my TL, there was a hard rubber window wipe below the felt dust wipes in the top of the door panel. Dust and sand would settle down and sit on the rubber strip scratching the window tint. I had it put on when I had the windows tinted, 2.5 years in the FL sun and there was no issue with adhesion.
Moleskin has some very good adhesive. On my TL, there was a hard rubber window wipe below the felt dust wipes in the top of the door panel. Dust and sand would settle down and sit on the rubber strip scratching the window tint. I had it put on when I had the windows tinted, 2.5 years in the FL sun and there was no issue with adhesion.
EDIT: Just slapped the felt pads on with some ultra strong all weather 3m double sided sticky tape between the felt and the rivet and it has not moved after rolling the windows up and down 20 times or so. The pads are so thick with the tape they are making contact with the window for the entire travel of the window. I had to get the pad in place by pushing gently with a flat head screwdriver.
Thinking I will give this setup a shot for a month or so and report back. If this holds up I might just buy precut tint on ebay for 30$, remove the glass and install the tint myself while the glass is sitting on a blanket, given it's pretty much a flat surface it couldn't be that hard to do. Going to do the driver side today or tomorrow, if anyone wants additional pics let me know.
Window Regulator Gouging My Tint
