Scratches on front windows

:behindsofa:
I have several feint vertical scratches on both the front drivers and passenger windows.
As we are currently down in the Midlands, I called into a F/L breaker near Coventry for a couple of replacements, which they had quite a few of sitting on the shelf.
Upon inspection, they were all scratched, some worse than mine. Had a look at another couple of cars that were awaiting stripping and the front windows on those were the same. The scratches are only on the outside.
Am I to assume that this is yet another common "Quirk" of Freelanders ??-I have never had scratches like this on any car I have owned.

Know what you mean, have them on mine, keep meaning to use brasso on them as I remember using it to remove scratches on glass when I was in the Army.

Mind you I would only try it on the side windows.

My front screen is scuffed I was going to go through the insurance for a new one but if I can polish it out that would be ace

Does brasso work well then.

From what I remember it did work, however the last time I tried was over 30 years ago when I was a young soldier.

think it was a fault with the felt seal on the window rubber, it either went really hard and scratched the glass (unlikely) or small dirt particles brought down with the rain get trapped in the felt.

used to try and clean mine regularly once it started, but it was too late, damage was done.

Not just Freelanders. All vehicles suffer this scratching. It's caused by bits of road grit (granite) getting lodged between the seal and the glass. My 1972 Hillman Avenger has them too.

Mine were scratched so badly, I actually bought both front windows off of ebay and replaced them.

I feel really guilty after reading the other posts though as I blamed our dog and have not let him in the front since!

RO51 said:

My front screen is scuffed I was going to go through the insurance for a new one but if I can polish it out that would be ace

Does brasso work well then.

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my td4 had winscreen wiper scratches on it when I bought it not deep but like white lines and I tried brasso and loads of other things to no avail even bought some proper scratch polish from windscreen place but never worked either
new screen was the only way forward for me

kevins said:

my td4 had winscreen wiper scratches on it when I bought it not deep but like white lines and I tried brasso and loads of other things to no avail even bought some proper scratch polish from windscreen place but never worked either
new screen was the only way forward for me

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Oh dear that's not good news mine is the same as yours it's a bugger in low level bright sun

Haha nice to know I'm not the only one with scratched side windows. I can live with them

Anyone tried a glass polishing machine

Well guys, most surprised with the large number of posts in such a short time !!
From what you have posted shows that mine is far from an isolated case.
It makes sense that the outer window seal is holding abraisive dust (Granite from road chippings etc) which, over time, is gouging into the glass. I reiterate that all of the cars I have owned over the years-and there have been many !! have never suffered from this problem. With a windscreen, a scratch can be dealt with for £75 Insurance excess but side windows are more involved as they will only be damaged by a break in and a £75 glass excess a side would work out as uneconomical.
I think the chances of finding a pair of "Virgin" windows is akin to winning the lottery so therefore I will have to live with it

I had 3 scratches on a windscreen at the end of the wiper stroke. They were about 5mm wide, 35mm long.

I can't remember where I got the kit, but I bought a polishing pad with drill attachment and some glass polishing compound.

I got the scratches out, the car passed it's MOT, but was covered in dots of compound that flicked off the pad!

Another Freelander owner with scratches on front windows, here I am. On mine it's noticeable that there are no scratches at all on the front passenger window (which is rarely rolled down completely) and some scratches on the driver's side window (which my father have the bad habit of rolling totally down even when covered with sand, dirt, etc).
That being said, fortunately the scratches are very thin, there are not so many of them and they can be seen only in direct sunlight.

...mine has also got a few scratches on the front windscreen which can be seen in certain light conditions...I think they've been done by some auto-car wash machine used by the former owner...:doh:

Watch out for the old wives tales of glass scratch removal. I read somewhere that toothpaste worked well...............It doesn't, it leaves cloudy patches

If you do spot 2nd hand ones in good condition, replacement really is a piece of p*ss. Took me less than 30 mins. to do both sides.

Strangely my side windows are fine just the front screen. It looks like in the past its been used with old blades that were very warn

Do places like auto glass etc offer a Pollish service?

It's all coming out now! I noticed the same severe scratching on both front windows back in April on my Freelander 1.
I had never noticed them before, they seemed to appear out of nowhere? I wondered whether all that desert sand that had been blown in (do you remember that weather report -cars were covered in it over several days), had lodged in the rubber seals and caused this?

went to the scrappers last week and got a drivers window un marked




now to make you mad i have no scratched on my current window but i saw this thread and then saw the glass in the scrappers and thought id have it its only a matter of time