erdoc48

I posted in the recent past about a rattle fix that I thought would work definitively, and it involved padding the area around the lock button, but of course, the rattle came back after a couple of days. It was getting rather frustrating as I really love driving the TL, but the specific rattle was driving me nuts.

I removed my glovebox and the plastics behind it...no better.
I removed the upper B pillar trim...no better.
I removed my interior passenger side door panel on several occasions, and thought I had corrected the rattle. These seemed to work for a few days and then the same rattle would come back. I padded the whole back of the panel with 'camper tape' and lined the perimeter of the panel with new foam insulation, all to no avail. It would be remarkably less when it was very hot outside or when I was driving under 30 mph (most notable between 40-55 mph).
I did my lock rattle fix...no better.
I tightened all of my door latches...no better.
I did the external trim fix...no better.

What I finally determined is that I don't have a rattle, but a 'creak'. What's happening is that the pass. side door handle (upper portion) had separated from the underlying plastic and aluminum trim by a small margin (maybe 4-5 mm). I determined this the last time I removed the door panel.



The fix:
-with the door panel off the car, apply some Gorilla Glue in between the upper door handle (see white arrow on the pic above) - this should be applied in the area where the residual glue won't be seen (such as the area hidden when the door is closed)- it's difficult to put a decent amount of glue as there is limited space. I put my glue behind the upper receded area where it intersects the black vinyl of the door panel- don't get this on the aluminum strip! Clamping the parts is difficult, so I placed the door panel face up in my dining room, and used the leg of a chair as a compressive force over the area (put a pad as a buffer between the chair leg and panel) for ~ 6 hours.
- I reinstalled the panel. Result was about 70% reduction in the creak. Still unsatisfied, I pursued the rest of this. There was a very minor creak remaining- I couldn't glue as it wouldn't fit in the very small residual recess (see gray arrow).
-I cut a piece of Velcro fabric which I folded onto itself (adhesive to adhesive) so the fabric is buffering on both sides and placed it between the upper door handle and the aluminum strip (at the gray arrow). It fits the curve of the aluminum, so it's very hard to see.

I now have 100% of this very frustrating rattle gone. My car is supremely quiet again.

If you have a similar rattle it might be this. Our TLs are ageing, and sometimes from repeated hot/ cold cycles, the materials may deform, even a little, resulting in what happened in my case.

I hope this helps.

05_NBP_TL

iTrader: (1)

Dedication

Will help others who have the rattle issues.

erdoc48

No so much dedication as 18 months of PIA frustration. But thanks for the


I've become so adept at removing the door panel, I can do do it in under 3 minutes (from doing it so many times)