Lexus Side Windows - Scratches after Car wash

SilentBull · July 19, 2016

Hi

I recently bought a used vechicle from lexus showroom and after couple of weeks went to first car wash. When i came back, the front side windows have full of vertical scratches all straight lines. It doesn't seem to be man made, but not sure how it caused. Based on my friends advice tried polishing, but still didn't go, when i wake up today morning I saw minute chips in the windscreen as well. Not sure how that also caused. Now it seems i have minute chip in windscreen and deep scratches in side windows

Feeling very low on this. I have the following options, please advise

1. Call the insurance and replace the windscreen and side windows -

If i use this, what effect will i have with my insurance next year and most probably they will replace similar brand i believe and not lexus original.

2. Can the windscreen be repairable as it has lot of minute chips less than a rice grain size.

3. Replace only side windows and i can live with windscreen - Will this affect the value of car

4. Buy second hand windows and windscreen and go to local garage to replace - By this, i get original lexus and cheap labour.

Any thoughts

lockeyboy · July 19, 2016

Hi

The clever people will be along shortly, but in the interim, don't use a carwash if you can help it.

Could someone be scratching it deliberately? Is there something that is on the seals that does it when the windows go up and down?

You might want to post photos of the scratches

RichyRich · July 19, 2016

Do you have some pics? Could it be that the car was resprayed badly at some point? is paint and glass covered by any warranties? maybe try going back to your Lexus dealer.

Definitely good advice to avoid car washes but wouldn't expect it to cause obvious damage but am also aware the paint is soft on Lexus

feel for you :(

Linas.P · July 19, 2016

Generally, windshield repairs works just fine if the chips are less then 1cm long. I believe it would work for bigger cracks, but companies just not taking risk fixing them or doesn't give warranty.

It is weird to hear that you side windows are scratched horizontally.. that is very unusual ... not to mention it is pure hardened glass there and very hard to scratch to begin with. I have vertical scratches caused by opening/closing windows for a long time (after all car is almost 8 years old). Replacing side windows would be mad... I would suggest to take it to professional bodyshop to be polished, they might need to do multi stage polishing, from coarse - to remove scratches, to very fine to polish it nicely.

SilentBull · July 19, 2016

Hi

Please find the pictures. I did went to the dealer showroom and they mentioned they have not seen anything like this and advised me to go for insurance.

I am sure it was not hidden as it defenitely caused something at car wash. There are no dusts on the rubber seals and i have been operating that for quite 2 weeks. It is just yesterday the scratches appeared after car wash.

ahmedali44 · July 19, 2016

I got similar scratches on my passengers side but r very faint, only noticed it 1 month ago after hand-wash, only shows in really sunny weather, tried taking pictures but won't show up. I think must had dirt on Windows, when put up @ down scratched it.if u run ur nails it's deep. probably had it when purchased car but didn't notice it. My scratches are same as urs.

SilentBull · July 19, 2016

Hi

I think i figured out how the scratches were done, probably combination of hand wash and weather to blame. When they sprayed chemicals, it was so hot that all those liquid were getting bit solid and would have stuck in the rubber seals and when they try to up and down the windows, the scratches would have gone.

Now what is the next solution, should i wait for the weather to dry and see how it looks or call my insurance and replace it.

Is it worth having fitted with different manufactureres?

SilentBull · July 19, 2016

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

Generally, windshield repairs works just fine if the chips are less then 1cm long. I believe it would work for bigger cracks, but companies just not taking risk fixing them or doesn't give warranty.

It is weird to hear that you side windows are scratched horizontally.. that is very unusual ... not to mention it is pure hardened glass there and very hard to scratch to begin with. I have vertical scratches caused by opening/closing windows for a long time (after all car is almost 8 years old). Replacing side windows would be mad... I would suggest to take it to professional bodyshop to be polished, they might need to do multi stage polishing, from coarse - to remove scratches, to very fine to polish it nicely.

Hi

Even i have vertical scratches only, but it is clearly visible. Does polishing able to faint these?

Linas.P · July 19, 2016

Sorry, I misread the thread. vertical scratches are completely normal, most likely some tiny stones or sand gets between rubber and window resulting in scratches.

The reason you haven't seen them in dealership, could be that car was waxed and the wax made the scratches invisible. Again changing the windows for such scratches are pointless, new windows will eventually be scratched as well.

Polishing will definitely make them less visible, if the scratches are very deep, then it might not remove them completely. Generally polishing side glass is very hard and you need very powerful polisher and very course specialised paste. I have used ceramic nano polish from Gtechniq (P1)... It made my windows look much better, but I still have some scratches left (I was probably not harsh enough)..

Finally, you can seal windows with wax or some nano-sealants which will temporally hide the scratches.

ahmedali44 · July 19, 2016

I wouldn't change glass just for scratches unless u smash it. But have to check ur policy as sometimes side glass not covered with excess payable only windscreens. I learnet to live with it now only noticeable if u look closely. Mine are more then ur scratches.

SilentBull · July 21, 2016

Hello

It is just the mindset since the car was bought only two weeks ago and already scratches in the side windows. My insurance does cover for scratch glass. But the question is whether to go with autoglass or lexus original or just live with it. Autoglass claims that lexus does not make any windows and the same supplier supplys to them. the only difference is logo.

I am bit concerned whether the car value reduces if i don't put lexus windows. Having said that, i don't have any plans of selling my car atleast for 5 years since the mileage is just 39k. So your advice on this is much appreciated.

I also have very small dots which are defintely not marks in the windscreen, not sure how it is caused again, is there any way that these can be repaired rather than replaced. It can't be seen while driving and the vision is perfectly fine.

bobmc · July 21, 2016

My car also has some fine vertical scratch marks on the drivers window, it is fairly common but still annoying. Any second hand window you might find is also likely to have similar marks. There's a possibility they might polish out, maybe a professional detailer might be able to do it?

Don't replace the windscreen unless there is no choice as it's reported that the rain sensing wipers often don't work properly afterwards.

normski2 · July 21, 2016

From time to time I clean the seal strip that touches the window face.

Use something like a plastic trim removal tool with a wet cloth looped around the end. I use an old thin tea towel. Push it down between the seal and the glass, slide about 3-4" then slide a cleaner area of cloth into place and repeat all along the window. You will probably be amazed how much crap comes out.

I would have thought if the rain sensing wipers played up after a windscreen change then the sensor pad may not have been bonded correctly to the windscreen. I plan on doing my windscreen in the not too distant. But I shall remove the sensor pad first myself and apply a new area of double sided material for re-bonding.

Autoglass should be absolutely fine as long as they get the right one. Give them as much info as you can find. But that's true for any windscreen in all honesty.

Linas.P · July 25, 2016

On 7/21/2016 at 9:49 AM, SilentBull said:

But the question is whether to go with autoglass or lexus original or just live with it.

For side windows - no difference what so ever. For windshield .. only Lexus by any means. Yes glass is the same, but the problems starts with rain-sensing Wipers sensor and wipers "de-icers". If you replace the windshield make sure trims are replaced as well, I believe trim is included in Lexus price (£80+clips), while autoglass might try to fudge old trims and even old disposable clips back after replacement.

The only thing which is worth doing is to try to fix the existing windshield as IS250SE-L doesn't like replacements, so unless it is not repairable try to stick with existing windshield.

Jamesf1 · August 8, 2016

my 59 is250 has the same ting on the front passenger windows. only noticable from the outside, when freshly washed, and from the right angle in sunlight. Its a common fault. Vertical scratches from the window being lowered\raised. I hardly notice it so just live with it on mine

bobmc · August 8, 2016

Has anyone had any dealings with this company?

https://www.glaswelduk.com/scratch-repair

Deathstar · August 22, 2016

My 2012 IS 250 has vertical scratches. I've noticed that in comparison to my old VW Passat the Lexus is not as hard wearing. I had bird droppings on the car for less than 2 hours and it marked the paint. With regards to the glass I have tried polishing with a machine and by hand all to no avail. I'm sure if you get the correct paste and tools that you could grind it down a bit but is there any point?

Linas.P · August 23, 2016

I would skip 1 step of aggressive sanding from this video and just go directly to the second step + paste polishing. The pads and paste are available cheaply in amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Abrasive-Glass-Scratch-Repair-GRADE/dp/B00CKPIY4M/ref=lp_1740357031_1_14?srs=1740357031&ie=UTF8&qid=1471912756&sr=8-14

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Polishing-Compound-Solution-Cerium-Suspended/dp/B005M26N16/ref=lp_1740357031_1_5?srs=1740357031&ie=UTF8&qid=1471912793&sr=8-5

dougie175 · August 23, 2016

That's actually very impressive, we replace a lot of glass at work when mirror get smashed into the glass this could be a great repair method for the bodyshop!

Linas.P · August 24, 2016

One thing I would do differently from the video above - I would use much more water or other lubricant with green or red (course) pads.. that would prevent deep scratches by the paper itself and will mean less job with both blue paper and the polishing paste. Making that more like wet sanding... Anyway - I have ordered blue pads (fine) and still have some paste left from last time, going to try to remove the vertical scratches this way. Will see how it goes..

dougie175 · August 24, 2016

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

One thing I would do differently from the video above - I would use much more water or other lubricant with green or red (course) pads.. that would prevent deep scratches by the paper itself and will mean less job with both blue paper and the polishing paste. Making that more like wet sanding... Anyway - I have ordered blue pads (fine) and still have some paste left from last time, going to try to remove the vertical scratches this way. Will see how it goes..

Really interested in this let me know how you get on. Cheers

rayaans · August 24, 2016

On 22/08/2016 at 10:58 PM, Dylanlewis2000 said:

My 2012 IS 250 has vertical scratches. I've noticed that in comparison to my old VW Passat the Lexus is not as hard wearing. I had bird droppings on the car for less than 2 hours and it marked the paint. With regards to the glass I have tried polishing with a machine and by hand all to no avail. I'm sure if you get the correct paste and tools that you could grind it down a bit but is there any point?

The only way to remove scratches off glass is using a machine polisher and cerium oxide - it produces a LOT of heat so be careful!

The paint is soft = easier to mark, nothing to do with durability.

Also, the vertical scratches are due to dirt getting caught in the window seals - unavoidable and happens on most if not all cars - doesnt seem to happen on the new models though

Linas.P · September 28, 2016

On 8/24/2016 at 2:14 PM, dougie175 said:

Really interested in this let me know how you get on. Cheers

So I was playing around with the pads and paste. Didn't get up to posting anything here, because didn't had much success.

Few things so far which I have discovered...

Blue pads are too fine to get the vertical scratches of the side windows as posted by OP. If the scratches are deep, like vertical ones on windows, get full package coarse (green) or even coarser (red) pads and do it 2 or 3 stage (something I will try next).
Do not wet pads... or do anything I though I will do in my post above. If you wet the pads... Yes that is correct - it will reduce friction, heat etc... But the main point is that it will not have enough grip!

+ there were not that much heat when I was doing it (actually no heat at all). So I guess advice would be to do it in some kind of shade, like I was doing it in underground parking.

+ pads seems to wear very quickly even when dry, so when wet they choke very quickly. Dry one you can slap few times before replacing, but wet one are throwaway.

Do not attempt with any wireless drills (as clearly stated in video .. I though I will give a try) - Battery is not a problem, but they are too light and it makes you to work too hard for little results. It would be much better to drop heavy polisher and just move it around with few fingers. I was concentrating on one spot for like 45 minutes and got tired.. even the drill Battery was still good.. my Battery was flat. So get big tool and let the tool work for you. I will not attempt next round before I find where to plug-in my big polisher.

dougie175 · September 29, 2016

10 hours ago, Linas.P said:

So I was playing around with the pads and paste. Didn't get up to posting anything here, because didn't had much success.

Few things so far which I have discovered...

Blue pads are too fine to get the vertical scratches of the side windows as posted by OP. If the scratches are deep, like vertical ones on windows, get full package coarse (green) or even coarser (red) pads and do it 2 or 3 stage (something I will try next).

Do not wet pads... or do anything I though I will do in my post above. If you wet the pads... Yes that is correct - it will reduce friction, heat etc... But the main point is that it will not have enough grip!

+ there were not that much heat when I was doing it (actually no heat at all). So I guess advice would be to do it in some kind of shade, like I was doing it in underground parking.

+ pads seems to wear very quickly even when dry, so when wet they choke very quickly. Dry one you can slap few times before replacing, but wet one are throwaway.

Do not attempt with any wireless drills (as clearly stated in video .. I though I will give a try) - battery is not a problem, but they are too light and it makes you to work too hard for little results. It would be much better to drop heavy polisher and just move it around with few fingers. I was concentrating on one spot for like 45 minutes and got tired.. even the drill battery was still good.. my battery was flat. So get big tool and let the tool work for you. I will not attempt next round before I find where to plug-in my big polisher.

Great feedback Thanks!

Basically from what you say, the way they will work is to use them as recommended by the suppliers / youtube video?

If you boss this let us know as I will be looking to do the same myself.

Cheers

Linas.P · September 29, 2016

Yes that is right... no need to invent the bike when it is already done + it is much harder than it looks and it takes a lot more time than in video, you literally need to push quite hard.