Stiff or slow window fix
By
Almost every Miata will eventually develop windows that are difficult to
wind up and down or travel very slowly if they are power windows. The usual fix is to remove the door panel and
spray the cables and rollers with white lithium grease. Although this often provides some improvement,
many people report it helping very little or not at all.
Because I’ve experienced
the exact same symptoms, and eventually broke a cable end off a particularly
stiff manual window, decided to try and figure out why this was happening
to begin with.
The cause of those stiff
windows is actually its travel through the upper channel in the “vent” window
area (for those not old enough to remember vent windows, it’s the little triangular
shaped window in the front of the door). While it doesn’t seem like that little channel
could create slow or stiff windows, there is actually a logical reason why
it happens.
Everyone has noticed that
when riding with the top down, there is a back draft of wind created, thus
the development of windblockers. Well, that same back draft that is blowing your
hair backwards (and isn’t that a great look) is also blowing dust and dirt
directly into that little channel. Over
time, it builds up on the felt in there, causing increased resistance to the
window traveling through. Most people
think the answer is to then spray the same white lithium grease into the channel.
This gives very temporary relief and then the problem quickly returns,
often worse than before. That’s because the spray grease attracts and
holds dirt very quickly.
The good news is that this
is one of easiest fixes ever for an inherent Miata
problem. For years, Honda has used
a grease called Shin-Etsu for lubricating rubber/felt/silicone
parts with great success. I had previously
used it on a very noisy targa top on a Corvette
and figured it couldn’t hurt to try.
I paid $15.80 for the tube
you see pictured which should last the normal Miata
owner a lifetime. If you have some
need to have multiple Miatas like me, you may need
to replenish your supply every ten years.
I first thoroughly cleaned
that channel with a large q-tip (got about two dozen of them from my doctor)
using denatured alcohol. Once all the
old lithium grease and its imbedded gunk was gone, then applied a very light
coat of the Shin-Etsu grease with the same large q-tip, distributing it evening
throughout that channel. The improvement
was immediate and dramatic and this on a car with power windows where I had
already done the relay upgrade without the relays helping the speed at all.
It’s been six months of top
down, bad weather, cold weather and even some snow thrown in for good measure
and the windows continue to operate as new.
On my one manual window car, I can roll the windows up with one finger
now, much as I remember them when new.
I believe if you get in the
habit of cleaning the channels and reapply the Shin-Etsu once a year, the
incidence of broken cables and regulators will plummet. The cables become frayed because of constantly
applying so much pressure to overcome the friction, same with regulators.
Better one $15 tube of grease over a lifetime than several hundred
dollars of cables/regulators. I believe it will also keep the switch on power
windows from failing or burning the contacts because there won’t be the increased
pull over the contacts from trying to overcome too much drag.
It’s also probably a good idea to periodically
lube the cables and rollers themselves by removing the door panels and using
your spray grease there, where the areas are protected from the wind and perform
a much different function than the alignment channel.
I’ve put this particular task on my 30,000 mile maintenance interval.
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