[Buzz]

Door rattles

I'm pretty convinced my rattles come from door seals.

After the first 9mths or so, my '04 93Arc developed maddening 'rattles' which I blamed on poor reassembly after having a door lock assembly replaced (dead solenoid). After months of complaints back to my dealer, they finally took a drive with me and the guy said straight away it was door seals. Reluctantly accepting that he probably knew more than me, I proceeded to treat the rubbers with silicon spray like he suggested and to my surprise, the 'rattles' (that sounded sooooo like metal on metal) vanished. The car was quiet again... for a while. I've found a solution, but one that only lasts a period of weeks before retreatment.

The remaining gripe with this problem is that I still have a car that sounds like it's been thrown over curbs for the last 10 years right after I wash it (unless I spray that stinkin' silicon all over the seals again), and that it reappears (seemingly more frequently these days) on all doors every few weeks.

I've searched for a better treatment - everything from lithium grease to baby powder. Surely all the other (cheap) cars that don't rattle have an approach that works?!

 

[Buzz]

Forgive me - but what are the door seals? What kind of spray should I try? And where should I spray it? Again, forgive me - but I know NOTHING about how to maintain a car or how to take one apart. Thanks for any advice....

The door seals are the rubber strips running around the door and same on car body. There is also a hard plastic seal along the bottom of the door that pushes into soft rubber along just under the door sill.

I was told to use silicon spray (a common product in any auto retailer) but find that it's not a very 'permanent' solution. I think a substance that penetrates the rubber more or that can't be washed off as easily would be better. Like I said, many other cars obviously have an approach that works. I've got strange looks from other guys into their cars when I ask what they lubricate their door seals with.

 

[Buzz]

The early Saturn IONs had felt where the door seals would contact the polymer panelling. Unfortunately, I don't think that's an option for us.

The Saab guy that suggested silicon told me I'd "slit my wrists" if I owned a Citroen. Apparently they also use felt but it dries out quickly and makes a loud 'cracking' sound with the normal amount of body flex they are subjected to. I guess things could be worse. I just don't get why whatever they use on my wife's Barina (aka Corsa) isn't the norm. Same age car, same kms but not one rattle or squeak. She doesn't give a hoot about cars generally and is definitely not fussy about such things, but still comments regularly how my car sounds like a piece of crap when you drive it because of all these sounds.