Liftgate Glass Rubbing

[fburns3]

The headliner side of the hinge controls forward and backward alignment, so you that's probably what you need to adjust if you are hitting the frame with the front edge of your decklid.

Post up pics from all the angles to see what it looks like.

I captured a series of photos - some are of the back of the liftgate where it meets the bumper. It appears I might have a slight amount of gap in which I could shift the liftgate backwards towards the bumper (but still be aligned with the taillights) and thus possibly prevent the glass from rubbing along the roof when it is opened - I welcome your thoughts. I have also included photos of the driver side liftgate gap that I think can be reduced via the torx bolt adjustment on the liftgate side of the hatch. For Rocinante777 - can you please check on your newly installed liftgate glass and whether it is closer to the metal body than mine (I included my overhead photos for that). Finally, I attached photos of the rubbing results from the glass in the liftgate hitting the top body of the car - for anyone else out there that sees the telltale white chalk lines - the cause is indeed the rubbing! Thanks everyone.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Honestly, the gap looks big enough already to prevent any rubbing, so that's weird. I have seen much tighter gaps that don't rub.

Can you post pics with the liftgate raised up just enough to where it is touching with the frame and/or pano glass, and take pics of the specific areas that are touching from different angles?

Yes, you need to lower the left side as that gap is hideous.

 

[fburns3]

First, thank you again for all of your help. Also, I appreciate the solid sense of humor - indeed a hideous gap!
Attached are a series of 7 photos - I marked them up due to the all the reflections and hopefully that will help you view them with the right orientation.

Also, I took a second look at the "flushness" of my liftgate to the taillights and fenders, and they seem pretty close to flush, which means any hinge adjustment to push/shift the liftgate a few millimeters away from the frame and toward the bumper might result in a liftgate that protrudes further out from the taillights and will not be flush. I welcome your opinion on this also.

I also hope that my story in supplement to Rocinante777's original post is helpful to other owners. The more I analyze this, the more I am afraid I will have to go through the similar steps that he endured, which included Tesla Service removing the liftgate glass itself and re-installing the glass so that it is closer to bumper side of the liftgate metal frame. I sincerely hope TLLMRRJ comes up with another valuable idea!

 

[Rocinante777]

[...]
I also hope that my story in supplement to Rocinante777's original post is helpful to other owners. The more I analyze this, the more I am afraid I will have to go through the similar steps that he endured, which included Tesla Service removing the liftgate glass itself and re-installing the glass so that it is closer to bumper side of the liftgate metal frame. I sincerely hope TLLMRRJ comes up with another valuable idea!

To be clear, they did not r/r the same glass. They installed new glass. Which was a pain because I had already had it tinted before we noticed the problem. When I later complained that they had not touched up the frame scratches after fixing the rubbing problem, they were going to remove the hatch and replace the glass _yet_again_. At which point I gave up after confirming the scratches did not expose bare metal (you have to practically stand on you head to see them at all.)

I hope your experience is less frustrating.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

First, thank you again for all of your help. Also, I appreciate the solid sense of humor - indeed a hideous gap!
Attached are a series of 7 photos - I marked them up due to the all the reflections and hopefully that will help you view them with the right orientation.

Also, I took a second look at the "flushness" of my liftgate to the taillights and fenders, and they seem pretty close to flush, which means any hinge adjustment to push/shift the liftgate a few millimeters away from the frame and toward the bumper might result in a liftgate that protrudes further out from the taillights and will not be flush. I welcome your opinion on this also.

I also hope that my story in supplement to Rocinante777's original post is helpful to other owners. The more I analyze this, the more I am afraid I will have to go through the similar steps that he endured, which included Tesla Service removing the liftgate glass itself and re-installing the glass so that it is closer to bumper side of the liftgate metal frame. I sincerely hope TLLMRRJ comes up with another valuable idea!

I don't have any easy answers for you. From the pics, your hatch needs to be adjusted on both sides of the hinges. It's just a poor assembly job by Tesla, yet again.

Your liftgate doesn't need a lot of adjustment, but whether it's a little or a lot of adjustment needed, it's the same amount of work.

The only creative solution I can think of would be to sand down the edge of the liftgate glass to give a little more clearance, which could definitely be done safely, but I wouldn't go that route.

 

[fburns3]

Thank you both so much for your insights and advice. Considering all the potential additional issues from Tesla service, my plan is to have a friend help me adjust the liftgate via the hinge guidance from TLLMRRJ. I will keep everyone posted about my own experiences, although I plan to wait until the end of summer to do the work. In the meantime, yesterday I carefully pushed the liftgate open just to the point where the glass meets the metal roof frame, and then I held in the close button for a few seconds to mark the maximum auto height for the liftgate when it opens. While I will have to duck my head to load things in the trunk, it will work for the interim period of time.

Thank you too Rocinante777 with regard to your close examination of the scratches - mine are also powdery white, so I am hopeful the scratches are not down to bare metal too. The same person must have installed both of our liftgates!

 

[fburns3]

I don't have any easy answers for you. From the pics, your hatch needs to be adjusted on both sides of the hinges. It's just a poor assembly job by Tesla, yet again.

Your liftgate doesn't need a lot of adjustment, but whether it's a little or a lot of adjustment needed, it's the same amount of work.

The only creative solution I can think of would be to sand down the edge of the liftgate glass to give a little more clearance, which could definitely be done safely, but I wouldn't go that route.

@TLLMRRJ, I posted this in your other liftgate adjustment thread but am repeating myself here in case other owners are monitoring my progress in fixing the liftgate rubbing. I procured all the tools, including torx socket and small vice grips. I removed the liftgate struts and propped open the liftgate. When I attempted to turn the screws in the hinge clockwise (to loosen them), the ribs on the screws were immediately stripped despite my slow and careful efforts. I then attempted to loosen the screws simply using the vice grips but found it not possible to gain enough of a grip to turn them. Perhaps my screws are extra tight or the paint job helped "glue" the screws in. I welcome any more insight or advice if you have it and am extremely appreciative of your help thus far.

I live in Maryland, and my understanding is that the body shop manager at Owings Mills is pretty good based on other posts. So, I may just have to set up a meeting with him to discuss next steps. Or, maybe @TLLMRRJ has some genius advice that will allow me to fix this myself!

Thanks again.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

@TLLMRRJ, I posted this in your other liftgate adjustment thread but am repeating myself here in case other owners are monitoring my progress in fixing the liftgate rubbing. I procured all the tools, including torx socket and small vice grips. I removed the liftgate struts and propped open the liftgate. When I attempted to turn the screws in the hinge clockwise (to loosen them), the ribs on the screws were immediately stripped despite my slow and careful efforts. I then attempted to loosen the screws simply using the vice grips but found it not possible to gain enough of a grip to turn them. Perhaps my screws are extra tight or the paint job helped "glue" the screws in. I welcome any more insight or advice if you have it and am extremely appreciative of your help thus far.

I live in Maryland, and my understanding is that the body shop manager at Owings Mills is pretty good based on other posts. So, I may just have to set up a meeting with him to discuss next steps. Or, maybe @TLLMRRJ has some genius advice that will allow me to fix this myself!

Thanks again.

This is what I posted in the other thread:

-----

Hate to ask, but are you sure you are turning the screws in the correct direction to loosen them?

I did not need to grab the threads at all, but I did have one that I needed to grab the tip when the ribs became rounded off and it was no problem with the tip in vice grips.

 

[Eugene Ash]

+1 on this problem. Got red car last week and it has this same problem. Will report what the SC says.

 

[fburns3]

+1 on this problem. Got red car last week and it has this same problem. Will report what the SC says.

Hi Eugene. When you get the chance, can you please update what your SC said and/or did? I have been procrastinating any sort of fix on my end - I began the attempt to loosen the bolts via the torx socket and vice grip but was met with soft metal and stripping and held off. I am also afraid of taking it in to my service center for fear they will make it worse or damage something else. Thank you!

 

[Eugene Ash]

Hi Eugene. When you get the chance, can you please update what your SC said and/or did? I have been procrastinating any sort of fix on my end - I began the attempt to loosen the bolts via the torx socket and vice grip but was met with soft metal and stripping and held off. I am also afraid of taking it in to my service center for fear they will make it worse or damage something else. Thank you!

I was a bit rear-ended. A tiny dent, so when I brought up the original rubbing, they wrote it off immediately to the accident. Ended up going through the insurance, whole rear door replacement. Before that I did take a peek of what it would entail, and concluded that under-the-liner hinge mounts to the roof, are not easily accessible. The bolts that face inwards from the rear hatch are too delicate in my opinion to break loose of the paint, and the service center doesn't even try to go that route.
While I was waiting for my service appointment, I did apply ptfe/teflon lube to the top edge of the rear hatch glass. Upon wiping the peeled off clear coat chips, of course. (the ones that you use on bicycle chains). This helped with the awful scratching noise, and allowed me to raise the hatch open limit almost to the max.
I think the worst that can happen is that eventually the glass will peel off the clear coat and maybe some of the paint. The shell is aluminium, so no concerns for iron rust there.

 

[sanfordwhite]

Looks like we have two separate threads on this issue. My response is posted elsewhere. My brand new Model S had rubbing at the top center of the lift gate glass. Tesla service fixed but now the lift gate is out of alignment - right margin higher and left margin lower than adjacent panels. Another fix is supposed to happen tomorrow... I asked for a more experienced technician. NEVER have problems with the few times I've used Service over the decade I've owned now 4 Model S's.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Looks like we have two separate threads on this issue. My response is posted elsewhere. My brand new Model S had rubbing at the top center of the lift gate glass. Tesla service fixed but now the lift gate is out of alignment - right margin higher and left margin lower than adjacent panels. Another fix is supposed to happen tomorrow... I asked for a more experienced technician. NEVER have problems with the few times I've used Service over the decade I've owned now 4 Model S's.

You have just been lucky in the recent past. Tesla has by far the worst service of any car company now.

 

[sanfordwhite]

I guess it takes a great service team, as I have in Chicago suburbs AND my unwillingness to take no for an answer (rarely needed with Tesla). But, yea, to have a tech fix one problem and create another suggests a lack of pride of workmanship OR a push by managers to rush though projects. In my recent case I think it was the former...