webada

So I got this plastic creaking noise when squeezing the interior handle bar (the horizontal silver plastic bar), both front doors.

Even worst, I have creaking noise on both doors. Its noticeable when going over bumps (at slow speed) and up/down hills. I think both are related.

Got it back from the dealer today. They were able to replicate the creaking noise and adjusted bolts and lube all hinges. 90% of the noise is gone but not 100%. Even the service notes says "still slight noise exist but within normal operation of the vehicle" The had two separate foreman and tech checked/review the problem. The SA told me they had compared with two other GLK and now the noise level its within norm. The plastic interior door handle bar however, was not fixed. I checked the GLK in the showroom, same noise exist. I was told this is normal.

To be fair, for the door noise, you have to turn off AC/Audio to hear this but its there and any road noise or music will actually muff it. But it shouldn't be in a Mercedes, it certainly isn't in my BMW. And to have that cheap plastic sound in the door bar and be called "normal" is certainly disappointing as a new Merc owner.

I checked out the 2010 E-class, none of this cheap ****. Perhaps I should have thrown in another 10G for it. sigh...

NYCGLK

Sucks, I agree these noises should not exists in brand new MB no matter what model it is. I don't have any after 1k miles yet knock on wood, but guessing it's just matter of time.

However, GLK is entry level and doesn't cost that much, which might explain these "imperfections". Hey, have you been in Lexus IS or RX or new BMW 335? I read countless times that these cars develop pretty bad rattling after a year so the door handle noise would be least of your concern. So to make you feel better this could happened to many others cars in this price range. Just turn the music up.

Question, how do you make it to make noise? by pulling or by squeezing?

webada

Yea, I've been on Lexus forum, even their latest RX and GS have rattle issue.

squeeze the bar... you will hear some creaking. Its solid in the back door.

I guess if I wanted a quiet car, I shouldn't get a suv...

BVC500

I already posted a thread about this. I noticed it on two new GLKs. I think its a design issue. Two pieces of hard plastic (outer silver piece with inner black piece) are rubbing against each other when you grab the handle They should redesign the handle or wedge rubber between the two pieces (assuming they are hollow).

The GLK doesn't cost that much? The one I want is $50K! Haha.

yualfred

Try it on my GLK, no rubbing noise, however I feel there is a tiny play between the aluminum piece and the plastic backing when you squeeze the bar. If this play get worse, I can imagine it makes noise. This shows that there is a quality variation between cars. But I am glad this so far found in door handles, not in power train parts. (knock wood)

EnigmaAW

thankfully, my handles don't make the crunch sound anymore, maybe since it's AFRICA hot here in houston, the heat fused them together? j/k

webada

its not only the handle bar, as a result, the door itself will creak when going over bumps slowly.

yes, during hot days, the nosie goes away

aat928

Mine does the same. Been into the service department 3 times but still no fix. Makes noise like a Honda CR-V for $50K. When the lease is up, back to Japanese car.

webada

ya, I hear ya. its really disappointing.

thankfully its easily covered up any kind of music or even the AC fan noise. Just hope it doesn't get any worst.

rocketm

Hi,

I just picked up my GLK and I got this plastic creaking noise when squeezing the interior handle bar (the horizontal silver plastic bar) on the driver side door as well. Can the dealer fix it?

cyberglk350

I took my first GLK in for this. They had to remove the door panels. Then they can remove that "Bar" that you grab to close the door. They chose to wrap the "Bar" with felt. It did help eliminate the creaks. But after removing the door panels they were never the same. They did not fit tight like they were before and other things started rattling. After that I thought I would have been better off not doing the fix in the first place.

Go to the dealer, tell them you want BRAND NEW door Panels. Your not interested in thier "Felt" fix.

rocketm

ic ic.. sound like I shouldn't ask them to remove the door panels then. It might make things worse. Anyone else came across this same situation?

JT01

My driver door handle makes the same small squeek when I grip it hard... but i'm not gonna fuss with it.

Like I said in another thread... IF IT AIN"T BROKE... DON'T FIX IT!

Anytime you take anything apart, you're almost guaranteed to get more rattles after.

BVC500

I don't think brand new panels are in order, especially because its a design flaw (supplier or Mercedes to blame), and brand new panels aren't going to include some sort of fix...at least not yet until Mercedes becomes aware of the problem.

You don't need new door panels, as cyberGLK350 suggests, unless they are irreparably broken. I suspect in cyberGLK350's case, the felt helped as he said, but there were new problems afterwards because the dealer didn't do a proper job disassembling and re-assembling the door panel unit. Generally, the case with dealers is that when they take things apart, they break clips in the process, and then they don't put the pieces back together properly, which also includes replacing the broken clips, leading the door panels to be ill-fitting and causing more rattles. Dealers are careless. Plus, this is a new model and a new problem, so the dealers aren't yet experienced in dealing with this problem, which happens to be common among the many GLKs I've looked at!

rocketm

Well, if that's the case. I will ask the dealership to take a look. I will make sure they did it correctly and not mess up my car.

BVC500

No doubt, this is a really annoying rattle, especially because you hear it every time you close the door.

In my case, my father and I are so used to taking things apart on Mercedes that if I owned a GLK, I'd take the door panel off myself, not trusting a dealer to do the job properly. An example: due to the VW dealer breaking clips and not replacing parts correctly, causing more interior rattles, my father and brother took apart the interior of his brand new VW GTI (it was a rattle box). In the end, they were able to solve the rattles where the dealer wasn't able to.

cyberglk350

BVC500 may be right. If the dealer does the job correctly, then no you shouldn't need new panels. Of course they are re-usable. But 8 times out of 10 they won't do it right.

He will need new door panels if they remove them the way they did mine. By pulling extraordinarily too hard on the bottom right at the back end of the panels without using the proper tool. What happens is the plastic gets "stretched" then it does not sit flush against the doors metal frame. Ruined forever. The plastic clips they use from the factory are pretty strong and typically retain their strength. They can be re-used a couple of times. Also where they used something to get the panel seperation "started" they gouged up the plastic panel. It looked very bad from the side. Big gap, cuts from the plastic and you could see inside the door. I mean please Mercedes Benz. Are you kidding me?

Here is the big picture for me....

If I buy a BRAND NEW car. I don't want half - a** fixes like placing felt inside the door handle. I checked all of the newer built GLKs on the lot that day and none of the newer builds made any creaking noises. Therefore new door panels were the only fix for me. They went ahead and put new panels in for me per my request and the noises were gone. LAter that day they told me they were able to see obvious changes in the assembly behind the handles. Which would mean Mercedes likely knows about the problem and has corrected it in newer builds. The computer systems tell Mercedes what parts are being ordered for replacement. I'm certain the statistics will show alot of door panels have been replaced. Mercedes has made a fix. Also, the door panels are multiple seperate pieces. The handle that squeaks is actually a "bar" and an "aluminum trim" piece. What is squeaking is the "gap" between the aluminum trim and the bar beneath it. The only way to get one that doesn't crunch is to get the newer panel with the better bar that fits the aluminum cover tighter. Otherwise yes, you would have to use something like felt to fill the space.

If I were the OP. I would demand new door panels. I would not settle for anything less. If they don't want to do that then call MBUSA and tell them what you want. Because the newer builds are better. Screw the felt fix thing. It's a bandaid.

I am finished with nitwit mechanics who have no respect for their own work and other peoples property. During my life I have been working on cars for 24 years. I have seen this atitude first hand while working for multiple Dealerships. Of course not all, but many mechanics just don't care. They are there for a paycheck only. They could care less about their workmanship. If they get fired, so be it. They'll be hired by another dealership anyway.

Its not that hard to do good work. One thing that comes to mind is Reading Comprehension. Lookup a procedure and read through it FIRST. SECOND, give a **** about your workmanship. THIRD, if you need a special tool, go get it before you start. Don't do a good job because its "someone else's car". Rather, if its a job "your" doing then you should try and do the best job you can. Not for the customer but rather for yourself. Take pride in what you do. Be the best you can be. When you **** up a door panel. Instead of just saying "Oh, well" and snap it all together half ***. Take action, order a new panel tell the customer you screwed up but are going to make it right and your embarassed about it.

I think this is alot of whats wrong with our entire Country these days. I think people just do the minimum amount of work to get by. Whats strange is the Dealers charge alot per hour. Something like $100. per hour. How can they do this with the workmanship they are providing? They must not be paying the Mechanics what they should be. It really is sad.

BVC500

cyberglk350: Thanks for the info re: the part change and I totally agree with you on all points!

rocketm

Thanks for the info. I am going to demand the dealership to order a new door panel for my car. I picked up my car only 2 days and found this problem. I am sure they can get the part (no charge to the dealership) since it is a problem from the mercedes factory.

cyberglk350

Another thing for everyone here to remember while at thier dealerships....

YOU PAID A PREMIUM to drive a PREMIUM vehicle. Mercedes on thier own website claims they go through painstaking quality checks to make sure the premium vehicle you paid for is just that. BETTER THAN THE COMPETITION. Go to youtube and check out the videos of all these Mercedes Engineers overlooking parts and sewing fabrics. Its a riot.

How so many creaky door handles have been shipped is beyond me. Especially being it is something EVERYONE is going to touch on just about EVERY vehicle. Even the CEO of Mercedes has probably entered and exited a GLK. I wonder if he was thinking "Why does this door handle creak?"

Mercedes claims they took several GLK's and drove them for over 1,000,000 miles in deserts, arctic climates, mountains... yadda yadda yadda. So none of these guys driving this car during these 1,000,000 miles noticed a creaky door handle? C'mon now.

We should not accept "bandaid" fixes. We paid for much more than that.

We are doing Mercedes Benz a FAVOR by taking the cars in for this problem. This way they can produce a better product for everyone. If we let them get away with adding felt to the panels then does Meredes ever really find out about the issue from the dealers? I don't know.

but,

If we force the Door Panels back to Mercedes Benz's front door. They will get tired of seeing them show up and they will tire of paying the frieght of shipping them back and forth from Germany. This will send the strongest message that they have a problem. At least I am sure the Mercedes Benz bean counters will get it right away!

Good luck everyone!

cyberglk350

Mine got progressively worse. Passenger door was to the point where just driving down rougher roads would cause it to make the crunch noise. Its one thing when grabbing the handle to close the door. But a totally different deal when simply driving causes it. Unless your a Metallica fan the music won't hide it for very long.

But I will say the newer GLK i have does not do it at all. Its so much more pleasurable to drive when quiet.

rocketm

I brought my GLK in to the dealership yesterday. They will examine it and if needed, they will replace whatever it is needed to get it fixed. As I have mentioned to them it is a brand new car I bought 2 days ago and I don't expect bandaid solution.

webada

Curious, what did your dealership said?

rocketm

Okay, finally my dealer was able to fix the problem. The first method (using silicon or lubication) failed. The second try was to order a new piece of chrome handle part. Remove the panel and re-adjust the chrome part with the other part of the handle. It is now in perfect shape. No more creaking.

mr.mbenz

thanks for the info cyberglk350.

we should not expect a bandaid fix for something that expects more than a 'band aid'.
These dealers assume they can get away for a short term, simple, cost-effective approach.
again, well said.