I think I have a door rattle...

[J4MMYz]

Hi guys/girls.

Please - no FAQ's or links to others posts as I would prefer answers.


The car is as smooth as anything, very quiet - so quiet I can hear an irritating noise right in my ear! At first I thought it was the window, as when driving along you can hear a tapping sound sometimes, but I just took my mate out as he wanted to go for a ride and realised when I hit a bump (rarity as I normally avoid ) theres a loud crack sound and I think it might be the door seals making that noise some others have been on about. Also, I notice a bit of wind noise but my mate said he could hear the same on the passenger side, so I think thats normal...

Just a few questions if you could answer them that'd be a lot of help!

- Do you have wind noise and how much? (I don't mean like a window open noise, just sounds like a whooshing)

- If I adjusted the door latch a little, would it help or should I take it back into Audi (That is the pain in the backside option though)

- When you close your door, do you have to apply a firm amount of pressure for it to close properly and not latch? Everyone that gets in my car for the first time always fail to close the doors properly, this could be a quality thing or that the doors are too tight in, which is why I hear the crack/bang? I remember my VW Polo was hard to shut the doors, it was 10 years old but no noises like that (a lot of other noises though lol) the Focus and Ibiza i've had though, you could shut the door very easy. I know it's all to do with the air having to escape, but just checking.



Answers would be greatly appreciated, please, again, no FAQ links... I've read them!

 

[koder]

Don't know if this helps, but I have no wind noise or rattles in the cabin whatsoever. So what you're experiencing doesn't sound normal and I would get Audi to look at it.

Myself and my wife have also found the doors difficult to close, a few times the DIS has shown them to be open, not sure if we're just being too precious with her and not giving it enough force. The doors are a lot heavier than we're used to though

 

[ds7090]

check the door striker,
audi had my seats out interior panels etc as they thought it was in the B pillar, turns out the door striker just needed a bit of greece

 

[J4MMYz]

check the door striker,
audi had my seats out interior panels etc as they thought it was in the B pillar, turns out the door striker just needed a bit of greece

Door striker, Is that the weird bar at the bottom of the door that I've never seen on a car before?

 

[J4MMYz]

Deliberately hit a sunken area in the road on the way to work, and heard a loud sticky cracking sound, the type of sound seals would make so I definitely think it's those.

Whats the best course of action? Use that applicator stuff or take it back in to the garage? I don't fancy having a 27k car that needs regular seal treatment, haven't spent all that money to do that every few months!

Seems as though it's started since I washed the car, when I collected it, it was fine so does seem that way. Passenger side is fine, not a sound...

 

[Bristle Hound]

Might be worth trying some Einszett Gummi Pflege on the door rubbers / seals mate
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=287698

Just a thought ...

 

[J4MMYz]

Hmm, might try it.

I don't know though, but I think I should take the car back in, my dad is telling me to, a 27k car shouldn't be doing that after a week of owning it.. Worth telling them to change the seals if they find them to be the problem, hopefully i'll be crack free then.

 

[Bristle Hound]

Hmm, might try it.

I don't know though, but I think I should take the car back in, my dad is telling me to, a 27k car shouldn't be doing that after a week of owning it.. Worth telling them to change the seals if they find them to be the problem, hopefully i'll be crack free then.

Agreed - Dealer first then see where you go mate

 

[J4MMYz]

I'll give them a ring tomorrow morning if it hasn't stopped, I just siliconed all the hinges/latches so we will see if it helps. Probably not.

I'm guessing the constant small rattling sound is also the same problem - I'll suggest replacing the seals drivers side see what they say. I'll pull the old it's a 27k car trick on them if they try being stingy about it

 

[Rob2k68]

Hi J4mmyz, Dont make any latch/striker adjustments yourself it will effect the line out, flushness and gapping of the doors and requires specific torque settings. Grease is longer wearing on mechanical parts so ask the dealer to check all of that these parts are lubricated with whatever Audi specify. Also try driving along and when you hear a noise apply a force to different areas of the door trim panel to elimate them one by one, also push the glass out to see if that helps the wind noise as all of this will help establish where the noise is coming from.

On my current car if I grip and pull the interior door handle then it stops the buzz caused by the speaker. Also I thought I had a rattle from the door whaich was actually from the panel underneath the steering column cowl so have a feel around the dash too.

Door shut efforts will reduce a little over time as the seals take a set so don't be too worried.

 

[J4MMYz]

Hi J4mmyz, Dont make any latch/striker adjustments yourself it will effect the line out, flushness and gapping of the doors and requires specific torque settings. Grease is longer wearing on mechanical parts so ask the dealer to check all of that these parts are lubricated with whatever Audi specify. Also try driving along and when you hear a noise apply a force to different areas of the door trim panel to elimate them one by one, also push the glass out to see if that helps the wind noise as all of this will help establish where the noise is coming from.

On my current car if I grip and pull the interior door handle then it stops the buzz caused by the speaker. Also I thought I had a rattle from the door whaich was actually from the panel underneath the steering column cowl so have a feel around the dash too.

Door shut efforts will reduce a little over time as the seals take a set so don't be too worried.

The noise doesn't stop if I press the glass, do you think the noise might stop after a while of it settling in?

 

[Rob2k68]

Next simple thing to try is wind your windows up fully on both sides then place a small piece of masking tape as high up on the glass as you can then wind the windows down an inch or two and check that the amount of glass entering the seals is similar side to side. If drivers side is a little low then the Audi tech guys can adjust this.

Next possible wind breach is the door frame itself into the body aperture. This is more difficult to self diagnose. Go through it with the dealer and chances are someone else has had this issue too so they can find it on the database which will also tell them how to remedy it. Some things I have seen in the past include taping up the gaps (door shut line) to detect where any wind is entering - usually around the base of the A pillar in the door mirror area. Temporarily removing the seal and replacing with a lump of plasticicine, close the door and measure how much the plasticine squashes down to. This tells you the air gap between body and door so you can then check that its in spec to the working range of the seal. Adding foam or inserts into or behind the seals where seal compression is low.

 

[J4MMYz]

Few people are work say it's a brand new car, it'll be like that until it settles in....


Not sure about that, but I will buy some of that sealant for the seals and see what it does, i'd probably use that stuff anyway since it prevents noises and keeps the seals tip top, for a fiver who can complain.

You can use that stuff around the windows too right? Might do it around those as well.

 

[Dtwm1]

Few people are work say it's a brand new car, it'll be like that until it settles in....


Not sure about that, but I will buy some of that sealant for the seals and see what it does, i'd probably use that stuff anyway since it prevents noises and keeps the seals tip top, for a fiver who can complain.

You can use that stuff around the windows too right? Might do it around those as well.

Personally I'd book in with Audi say in 2 weeks time, if its still there take it in and get a service car and if it sorts itself then cancel it.

 

[J4MMYz]

I'll see how it goes. At least if I try the sealant i'll know if it's the seals making the noise or the windows.

 

[J4MMYz]

Just an update, i've done 800 miles now, washed the car 4 times in that time, and paid some attention to the seals by wiping the wet microfibre drying towel around the seals + in the gaps of them, and either because i've done that or generally because the car is 'running in' it seems to have nearly vanished, it used to be horribly loud, just a loud cracking sound, but now it seems to be barely there - the odd time it happens, but very silent.

Hopefully it will totally disappear. The only thing really annoying me is the plastic trim around where the metal would be on other cars, sometimes rattles right in my ear, especially over rough ground.

 

[JohnM100]

Check the height adjuster for the seatbelt in the B-pillar. I had a rattle at ear height; thought it was the door but turned out that the seatbelt height adjuster was between two ratchet clicks.

John.

 

[steverobertsbbc]

Just an update, i've done 800 miles now, washed the car 4 times in that time, and paid some attention to the seals by wiping the wet microfibre drying towel around the seals + in the gaps of them, and either because i've done that or generally because the car is 'running in' it seems to have nearly vanished, it used to be horribly loud, just a loud cracking sound, but now it seems to be barely there - the odd time it happens, but very silent.

If that's the case, I would definitely recommend using the stuff that BristleHound linked to in post #6. It worked miracles on my creaky doors and hatch!

 

[J4MMYz]

Check the height adjuster for the seatbelt in the B-pillar. I had a rattle at ear height; thought it was the door but turned out that the seatbelt height adjuster was between two ratchet clicks.

John.

Yeah, I checked it but the seatbelt sits in the holder properly, the noise is coming from the joint where the pillar meets the area where the parcel shelf holds onto, if I press about on the pillar near the joint it creaks, the other side doesn't.