Circular marks on the rear (hatch) window

[eGolf2015]

Has anyone else noticed crop circle-like marks when the rear glass is fogged up?

We saw them the first night we had the car home. They're on the interior side of the glass and they are of assorted sizes and styles, but not arranged in any particular order or pattern on the window.

I figured it was just suction cup residue from the factory & it would come off with a good window cleaning. No such luck; after a few tries we took it back over to the VW dealer. The detail shop there tried a bunch of different things, including a clay bar, but the circles still show up when the window fogs. They'd never seen this problem before and aren't really sure how to get rid of them. We're supposed to bring the car back in later this week so they can try some other product that they have on order, but I'm not optimistic & hoping that someone out there has seen this before and successfully eliminated the circles.

We're planning to have the windows tinted in a few week, but obviously we need to get rid of these marks before we do that.

 

[idris]

I've definitely noticed those. I also assumed they were suction marks from the factory, but have not tried to get rid of them. It's not great to hear that you can't get rid of them

Please update this thread if you manage to get rid of them somehow

 

[cynandvinecar]

We have same issue, will try to remove today.

 

[pixbroker]

Same here. No luck removing it. Tried various chemicals. Please post if you find out how to remove.

 

[eGolf2015]

I did some Googling and found recommendations for white vinegar and Eagle One window cleaner. Tried the vinegar, but that didn't help at all. The service advisor at my VW dealership is going to try to get some Eagle One in addition to whatever the other product is that they are planning to try.

 

[SfEvR]

I did some Googling and found recommendations for white vinegar and Eagle One window cleaner. Tried the vinegar, but that didn't help at all. The service advisor at my VW dealership is going to try to get some Eagle One in addition to whatever the other product is that they are planning to try.

Thanks for the update. Please let us know if it works. I've seen them too, but been too busy/lazy to try to deal with it.

 

[cynandvinecar]

We have same issue, tried a few options, previously mentioned vinegar, plain soapy water, even car wax (really clean window now!) but nothing worked so far.
Afraid to get too aggressive, dont want to risk damaging the defrost element.

Car is going back to dealer this week for delay charging issue (not holding my breath on this being successful) will ask them to get rid of the circles, see what happens.

 

[eGolf2015]

Car is going back to dealer this week for delay charging issue (not holding my breath on this being successful) will ask them to get rid of the circles, see what happens.

Definitely don't hold your breath - in fact, I suggest letting it out very slowly onto the inside of the rear window so they can see the circles first-hand when you take the car in.

 

[cynandvinecar]

Car is going back to dealer this week for delay charging issue (not holding my breath on this being successful) will ask them to get rid of the circles, see what happens.

Definitely don't hold your breath - in fact, I suggest letting it out very slowly onto the inside of the rear window so they can see the circles first-hand when you take the car in.

 

[eGolf2015]

No luck at the dealership today with the additional cleaning products. The service manager is escalating the issue and the glass may need to be replaced at VW's expense.

Rather than go to that extreme at this point, I'm considering going ahead with the window tinting as planned and seeing if there is still a problem. The logic being that the tinting film will be adhered to the glass, preventing fog from forming directly on the window, and presumably, without fog, the circles would no longer appear. My concern is that whatever is causing the circles might prevent the tinting film from adhering properly to the glass.

As long as the problem is documented with VW pre-tinting, and I have some sort of documentation showing that VW will honor the warranty in the event that tinting does not make the circles go away, we could avoid replacing the glass, and if tinting does eliminate the circles, it would be a win-win.

See anything I am missing or have any thoughts to the contrary?

 

[cynandvinecar]

Success! took car into dealer because Tech from VW Corp is looking into delay charging problems. Also brought up other issues including "crop circles". They used a clay-bar used by glaziers and paint shops to remove surface contaminates and it worked like a charm.

Also have to compliment VW on how they have taken ownership of the problems.

 

[cynandvinecar]

Has anyone else noticed crop circle-like marks when the rear glass is fogged up?

We saw them the first night we had the car home. They're on the interior side of the glass and they are of assorted sizes and styles, but not arranged in any particular order or pattern on the window.

I figured it was just suction cup residue from the factory & it would come off with a good window cleaning. No such luck; after a few tries we took it back over to the VW dealer. The detail shop there tried a bunch of different things, including a clay bar, but the circles still show up when the window fogs. They'd never seen this problem before and aren't really sure how to get rid of them. We're supposed to bring the car back in later this week so they can try some other product that they have on order, but I'm not optimistic & hoping that someone out there has seen this before and successfully eliminated the circles.

We're planning to have the windows tinted in a few week, but obviously we need to get rid of these marks before we do that.

Solution found, need to use clay-bar, see my most recent post

 

[pixbroker]

Thanks for the update @cynandvinecar. Can you also please keep us posted regarding the delayed charging results. Thanks!

 

[svento]

Do you happen to know if the clay stick was used on the interior or exterior?

 

[cynandvinecar]

Do you happen to know if the clay stick was used on the interior or exterior?

I told them the circles were only on the inside but in an apparent overabundance of caution they did both inside and outside.
Also, I incorrectly called it a clay-stick. in fact it's clay-bar.

 

[cynandvinecar]

Thanks for the update @cynandvinecar. Can you also please keep us posted regarding the delayed charging results. Thanks!

I sure will as well as posting what happens on the other topic pages covering that specific issue.

This guy from Corp is really good, I texted him what had happened this morning at 6am and he was already in contact with German engineers with the results.
They are working on the web version of Carnet, but I sat with him and we went through it page by page with him making notes and taking photos of the screen on all the inconsistencies.
I'm not sure how much pull he has but it does seem they do care and want to make it easier to use and function correctly.

 

[eGolf2015]

Success! took car into dealer because Tech from VW Corp is looking into delay charging problems. Also brought up other issues including "crop circles". They used a clay-bar used by glaziers and paint shops to remove surface contaminates and it worked like a charm.

Also have to compliment VW on how they have taken ownership of the problems.

Very interesting - a clay bar was the first thing they said they tried at my dealership, but it didn't have any effect on the circles....

 

[eGolf2015]

So...the VW warranty folks have decided that they would rather replace the rear glass from the get-go rather than letting me try tinting first and only replacing the glass if that doesn't work.

I'm not especially excited to have the fixed glass replaced in a brand-new car, but it looks like we'll be taking it in later this week to have it done.

Regarding the clay bar, have you tried breathing on the windows to verify that the marks are completely gone? I bought a clay bar kit the other day and tried it for myself on the interior and exterior of the glass to no avail. (Although it worked wonders on my MkIV Jetta's paint job!)

 

[cynandvinecar]

So...the VW warranty folks have decided that they would rather replace the rear glass from the get-go rather than letting me try tinting first and only replacing the glass if that doesn't work.

I'm not especially excited to have the fixed glass replaced in a brand-new car, but it looks like we'll be taking it in later this week to have it done.

Regarding the clay bar, have you tried breathing on the windows to verify that the marks are completely gone? I bought a clay bar kit the other day and tried it for myself on the interior and exterior of the glass to no avail. (Although it worked wonders on my MkIV Jetta's paint job!)

Well here is where I am now beginning to lose faith in VW. When I went to pick the car up I was told they couldn't reproduce the circles in the shop but went ahead and clay barred it anyway. I immediately breathed on the inside of the glass and sure enough the circles were gone so at that point it wasn't worth getting into it with them. But the circles have definitely gone, we've had damp days here and no problem.
The delay charging is a different matter however, they are now pointing the finger at Bosch but somehow are having trouble replacing my unit. Corporate service guy has bailed handing me off to Customer care, they are in denial that there is anything wrong with Carnet.

 

[eGolf2015]

So...the VW warranty folks have decided that they would rather replace the rear glass from the get-go rather than letting me try tinting first and only replacing the glass if that doesn't work.

I'm not especially excited to have the fixed glass replaced in a brand-new car, but it looks like we'll be taking it in later this week to have it done.

Regarding the clay bar, have you tried breathing on the windows to verify that the marks are completely gone? I bought a clay bar kit the other day and tried it for myself on the interior and exterior of the glass to no avail. (Although it worked wonders on my MkIV Jetta's paint job!)

Well here is where I am now beginning to lose faith in VW. When I went to pick the car up I was told they couldn't reproduce the circles in the shop but went ahead and clay barred it anyway. I immediately breathed on the inside of the glass and sure enough the circles were gone so at that point it wasn't worth getting into it with them. But the circles have definitely gone, we've had damp days here and no problem.
The delay charging is a different matter however, they are now pointing the finger at Bosch but somehow are having trouble replacing my unit. Corporate service guy has bailed handing me off to Customer care, they are in denial that there is anything wrong with Carnet.

The dealer just received our replacement glass and it has similar circle markings on it. Waiting to find out what the next step will be. They've already stated that the warranty will be void if we try to solve the problem by tinting, so I'm not sure where that will leave us.

If any of you have observed the same circle marks on your window(s) but haven't chimed in here yet, please do. I've pointed my VW contacts to this thread, so the more anecdotal support you can provide, the more likely they'll take ownership and try to find a solution that works for everyone.

It's a shame that VW is not owning up to Car-net's numerous problems. Even the Car-net rep I've been dealing with as a go-between for the software engineers has told me that there are widespread issues that Car-net is trying to resolve with VW. What's the name of the person that you were talking to at VW regarding delayed charging? Perhaps if a few dozen of us also contacted him to report the same lack of functionality they'll admit there's a problem and do something about it.