Grease on side window "Totally Normal"

Had my car in for some warranty work yesterday and I asked them to try to fix the smear of grease I sometimes get on my side windows (worse after it rains or I wash it.) I was told that it can't be fixed and is something that happens on all Porsches these days. He showed me some brand new Caymans and a 997 sitting on the showroom floor and they even had the tell-tale grease smear running up and down the window. He said if they opened up the door to remove all the grease from the track that it would then squeak and get rusty. Just seems so strange to me that Porsche would have this problem inherently built into their cars.

Hawc: is this anything to do with the alleged hydrophobic coating on the side-windows, or is it grease from the insides of the door?

It's grease on the inside. The hydrophobic coating on the outside is great. I'm all for that.

"Totall Normal".........Totally bullsh*t. Mine was the same, worse as you say after heavy rain or washing. They changed out the window seals on both doors. Seems fine now. Tom R

I don't think it's grease. Same on my car. I think it's glue. What happens is, there are stickers on the inside of the window during shipping, etc... If someone at the port takes the sticker off, but doesn't clean the glues off, and then someone lowers the windows, the glue gets on the inside window seal/brush and it keeps getting reapplied to the window every time you lower it. Is the 'grease' at the edge of the windows? Lubridcant should not be anywhere but the edges. If it's inboard, it's not grease. I've lived with mine. It's getting better with time. Some day I'll spray my window with window cleaner and then roll the window down to wash the seal.

Hmmm, not sure I've seen this before, guess I'll have to recheck. But even so, they wont be that apparent if I hadnt noticed them before! ________________________ "Sir! We're surrounded!" - "Excellent! We can shoot in any direction!" A good car will get you from point A to point B. A great car... will just get you into trouble!

I have a '05 BS and I've had the smear for 35K miles. I don't think it will ever go away. GB, I'll try the window cleaner and see if it helps.

My C Car had the same problem. Purchased new Oct 07. The smear problem went away in about 3 months. Sometimes it's best to live with a problem like this rather than have them open the factory sealed door. Also had probs with TPMS. It works fine now. Oh, and the rattle behind the drivers seat is gone. I guess things like this need to settle in. However, the TRUNK CLUNK is still an issue. CEL tells me service in 28 days. We will see how Brumo's does on the first service. Will have about 8500 miles on the ticker.

Actually, it is grease. I removed the the stickers myself, and have had this to a very minor extent on the inside of the passenger-side window - never had a problem with the drivers' side. Other cars I've seen have more, some less... I think it is the grease on the mechanism inside the door, and my guess is sometimes they get a little carried away with the amount they use. There are several threads on this subject already: http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-complaints/3470-oil-grease-inside-door-windows.html http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-complaints/3954-possible-solution-oil-grease-streaking-windows.html And some members have reported having the dealer open things up and remove the excess. I have found that a little Wurth citrus cleaner or P21S citrus-based Total Auto Wash takes it right off. I guess I'm lucky it doesn't rain too much here in LV, but even when I've been caught in some pretty hefty rain storms on the road, I don't see it any more. I've found this stuff to work great - when it's wet, the airflow through the arm that holds the side mirrors whips the water off the window quite nicely... nothing alleged about it. brad

i started seeing the same grease streaks on my driver side windows on my 08 cayman . i cleaned it and it hasn't came back in a week or two.

The strange thing about the grease, is it will show up intermittently. I get it every couple months or so. I haven't paid too much attention to it, so I'm not sure what if anything is the trigger.

The factory must have used invisible grease on my car. I have no squeaks or streaks on the windows, with or without washing.

i agree. i have seen it twice over the last 2 months. same here, i clean it off and it does not immedietely come back.

Let us know if there is a part number for that "invisible grease"....

My 2007 BS has the same problem, the car is 15 months old with 6000 miles on it and it has not gotten any better. The dealer also said there was nothing they could do about it as it was common to most P-cars. Being a bit of a clean car freak it really does pi55 me off. I'm going to force the issue during my next service appointment to see if will address the problem.

My CS, purchased new in 11/07, started streaking on the passenger side a couple months ago and reoccurs now after a heavy rain. Coincidentally or not the window also started to stick and will not automatically go up without several trys.

I received my CS new in July 2007 and had the grease streaks appearing on my glass as well. What I did to eliminate it on the first attempt was the following: lower both windows got a 12" plastic or wooden ruler folded (wrapped) a microfiber towel over the ruler lengthwise wetted the microfiber towel with a solution of Simple Green and water inserted the towel shrouded ruler in between the inside of the glass window and the door-top rubber trim where it meets the glass slide the towel shrouded ruler back and forth (front to rear) repeatedly, repositioning the towel from time to time until the towel stops collecting grease and comes out relatively clean (some rubber trim residue should be expected) It is best that your peer into the window cavity using a flashlight to get a better understanding of the required cleaning motion. This cleared my problem and it has never returned! Regards, Joe

FWIW, I had the same happen on my 2003 Boxster S .