Door Rattles
 

I have my first real problem - right at my one-year anniversary. Timing is everything, I guess. I thought my door panels were "creaking" ever so slightly. It was driving me insane, as I can't stand rattles and the rest of the car is still tight as the day it was delivered. I took it to the dealer and they heard it - and also determined that all the doors were doing it! They took the panels off thinking that the lock pin / mechanism was doing it. They put felted everything, etc. They reinstalled the door panels and called to say that it was still doing it. So they kept it overnight and tried again (I really appreciated their honesty and extra effort - I have a GREAT dealer).

They put extra felt around where the panels meet the door, and did some other insulating, including taking care of the speaker-grill squeak sound. They were very honest that their efforts were a shot in the dark as it's almost impossible to tell exactly where this noise is coming from. Well, their efforts worked perfectly - for three weeks.

Last night, both front doors started again. Has anyone else experienced this and found the solution? I take it in for Service "A" in a couple weeks, so I'll have them look into this again. I'd just like to point them to a solution if someone else has cured this problem. I'm going to try putting some black felt in key places over the weekend to see if that helps.

Oh - I also lubricated the door latches, thinking that could be the problem. It wasn't. Thank you in advance for any insight you might have.

spread a light coat of vaseline around the rubber door seal, it can stop that "squeaking" noise of the ruber seal shifting against the door frame. Not sure if this is the rattle you are hearing however.

Now that's a new idea. I'll go buy some tomorrow and see what happens. It does make a lot of sense. Thank you for the suggestion.

You sure that won't break down the rubber seal?

Might be better to find a product expecially made to keep the seal soft.....and besides, how does that stop a rattle?

Long shot, ask your dealer to check the door mirror housing/motors/covers, I noticed a marked improvement when both of my mirrors were replaced.
The doors gave that solid "boom" effect.

The stuff to use on the door seals is silicone spray, not vaseline. But either way, my first thought also was the door seals.

Our W203 C240 developed door noises that were instantly cured by going over all the rubber with a paper towel and silicone spray. It's a preventative mtc thing for me now - do it a couple of times a year.

do not use vaseline or other petro lubes, its not good for the rubber, although it might not be apparent at first...

Think vaseline on condoms... we all know its a big nono right??:smash:

Excellent analogy...shouldn't forget that one.

If its a loose part inside the door, it won't. If its a squeaking sound caused by the door shifting against the frame, it will. The silicone spray is good too I guess, as long as it makes the seal soft and pliable.

I tried a silicone lubricant on the seals. No change. So, I spent an hour or more putting felt in various places, then driving around to see if the felt has put enough pressure on something to stop the rattle. Nothing worked. I was about to go insane when I realized that there was once piece I hadn't poked or prodded - the hard plastic cover that goes around the inside of the door's window frame. When I pressed my hand on that piece, I heard a sound just like what has been driving me crazy.

This piece was poorly fitted at one place, which allowed me to put some felt between it and the door frame, which put some pressure on that plastic piece. Sure enough, that stopped it. Unfortunately, this makes it appear to have the build quality of a Yugo!

I e-mailed my service advisor. I know he'll make it right - but I don't know how.

Here's the question that's now occurring to me: Have I cured the problem or just a symptom. It’s as though this door (and the front passenger door) are FLEXING when I drive – like they’re slightly all out of adjustment or the body is all of a sudden flexing. Does that sound crazy? Why has it taken a year for this to occur? I've been through four seasons with this car, so I don't think I can attribute this to seasonal temperature changes.

Here is a photo of the piece I'm referring to:

good detective work.

that piece must snap in (tabs?), or perhaps there is an adhesive bond there that has failed.

Thanks. Hopefully they can insulate it with something. I bit you're right - there is probably an adhesive in there that has failed. I take it in for Service A on the 11th. I'll post an update then.

They are flexing. Every car does. When I started working on the door seals of our W203, it was because I could hear the doors "working" on big bumps [or going over speed humps].

As each successive car's chassis gets stiffer, there is less flexing, but that is not the same as zero.

To give you an idea of what I mean, when I went to jack up our W203 at all four corners, you could actually feel the doors binding a little until the fourth jack was in place and all four corners were supported. With the W204, a jack at one front side and the opposite rear side [don't try this at home, kids] will not only support the car, but all four doors will open and close normally. But that doesn't mean there isn't some flexing going on in normal driving - just less and less as each successive generation gets more help from computer design.

Anyway, happy to hear you've found the source of the problem - always 90% of the battle. I wouldn't be surprised if the ultimate solution is to replace the whole plastic piece - might just be a bit out of spec.

As an aside, and knocking on wood at the same time, I'll observe that at 15 months and 12k miles, our C300 Lux is easily the tightest, most screwed together car we've ever had....period. This is the first car in decades that I haven't had to chase various minor interior noises. The W203 was a real challenge - always looking for the next place to put the insulating tape to shut things up; nothing so far on the W204.

Interesting. For the prior two decades I drove a set of Accords. Top of the line models, but still Hondas. Neither of the two I had developed any of those "various minor interior noises." They suffered from tire noise (as does the W204), but they were very solid and quiet inside.

I'm very happy that the W204 is even better :)

All of our Hondas had interior noises to chase - nothing major, but not zero, either. [Latest were '98 4 cyl and '01 6 cyl - same body, same issues.] Most of our Toyotas have been worse, though my mother-in-law's end-of-model-run '08 Corolla has been very tight.

As for road noise, nothing approaches Honda for needing ear plugs - they almost act as if they are all deaf at the factory.

Our '08 C300 is car number 55 [no, that's not a typo] in my garage since 1962 - I'd have to go back to our [also end-of-model-run] '79 300SD to get to a Mercedes that felt as solid out of the showroom as our W204.

I am curious to know what the dealer's actual fix for your rattle problem was? Or were they able to finally fix the issue? thanks,

I get tiny rattle sound from the sunroof when in the up position. Of course the service says they dont hear it. Im just going to spray some wd-40 on the hinges to keep it nice and quiet.

I have the same problem with additional rattle from the large speaker in the door. The rattle from the speaker was fixed by the dealer. Thanks for the photo. I will check this panel to see if it fixes the remaining rattle.