2010 330D Doors Creaking

[PatrickB]

Please forgive me asking a question straight after signing up but I am at my wits end. I bought 21000 mile 330D Touring from Gloucester BMW 8 weeks ago. The doors started creaking 3 days after I picked it up and have not stopped since. Its been back 4 times including them keeping it for three days. It has not been fixed at all. They claim its the door seals and have at the least replaced the drivers side seal to no avail. It is worst when the outside temp is above 21 but today i had the heating on high and it became just as bad as if it were a hot day. It is going in tomorrow 19th September and I am wondering if anybody has any advice about it. Its been a miserable 8 weeks living with this including taking it abroad on what was supposed to be dream driving holiday round Europe but was basically ruined by the creaking. Its so loud that I can record it on my iPhone!

I am sick of my dealer not fixing this and am desperate for some help or advice.

I hope I can contribute to this forum at some point. This is my first BMW car, I own an R1100RT bike aswell.

Kind regards in desperation. Patrick.

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Is it just one door? Is it deffo the door(s) thats creaking and not the seat(s)?

[PatrickB]

Hi jack. Thanks for replying. BMW are insisting its the door seals and I suspect that it is. I went there yesterday and threatened to reject the car at which point they said they would replace every door seal on the car under warranty. If that doesn't fix it then I will reject the car because this will be their fifth go at it. To be fair they have been very polite and positive about the whole thing so I really hope it gets fixed.

I will post back here with the outcome.

Best wishes. Patrick.

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

My issue with creaking door-seals is that there must be some alien twisting in the chassis to cause it !! :huh: :unsure:

[PatrickB]

Ha. Let's not go there. I think in fact it is a wind pressure problem because winding down the windows a tad cures it at slow speed. It also disappears above about 75 mph so if it was a floppy chassis that wouldn't happen. I know all about floppy chassis. I drove two different Citroen Synergies over the last 15 years. If you looked in the rearview mirror whilst going over bumps the headrests in the back row were behaving like the flower pot men! I got used to it and could drive the thing really quickly but you were bouncing all over the road. In fact it took me a little while to adjust to the BMW after all that sogginess!

Cheers. Patrick.

[PatrickB]

Just to update this topic. I eventually had all four door seals replaced under warranty which cured the problem. That's the good news. The bad news is that after £3500 miles it has come back!

My dealer has put a warranty call into BMW and is going to get back to me. I'm not very hopeful because when they did replace the seals they basically said there is nothing else that they could do.

I think I may end up having to reject the car which according to my research I am entitled to do even though its been over four months since I bought it. There has only been about 14 days of that period that has been trouble free.

I will update as and when.

Cheers. Patrick.

[mart77]

i would reject the car too if the problem isnt solved.it's a complete mystery as to why it's happening though

good luck

[PatrickB]

Well I did some more research last night and must have used a different search term because I found a thread on the bmwland forum that is full of the same issues. It appears that the fix is a dry lubricant called Carbaflo which comes in a small bottle and costs about £30. I am going to see what my dealer comes up with and then mention this and see what he says. It is actually sold by BMW dealers so they know all about it. It seems that if applied correctly it can be a twice a year application which I can live with. I also found out that this problems afflicts 5 series BMWs and Audi models and Jaguars! Strange that all my Citroens and my partners Fiat Panda didn't have these issues. I hope that this Carbaflo will end my misery.

I will report back as to what happens.

Cheers. Patrick.

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Reject the car Patrick !

[PatrickB]

Its getting more complicated. I have been in a mind to reject the car because its been going on so long. However; I went to Rybrook Warwick BMW to pick up a tube of Carbaflow which is a kind of magical lubricant because I had read on another forum that this has helped. This forum on bmwland has a huge thread all about this door creaking issue. Anyway, while at Rybrook I asked to speak to a tech guy and he said that it is an issue on virtually every BMW on the road. The answer is to clean them with a non silicone or anti silicone cleaner and offered to do just that on the spot. 20 minutes later he came back and agreed that mine was very bad but that they had essentially cured it....and they have. It really is as simple as using the right cleaner. The problem is where the little felt faced piece of seal at the very top of the door meets the metal surround of the door. They also have a mod using a 1cm wide piece of clear tape that they put around all the door openings on the chassis which also helps and he offered to book me in for that. I declined because mine is already booked in next week at Gloucester to be looked at. I'm going to have a conversation with them about the tape.

So it seems that its very easy to correct but incredibly easy to set it off again. The guy at Rybrook said that he has a running battle with the external valet company they use to stop them from polishing in those areas. My car had just been valeted by Gloucester BMW when it started again.

I do expect to keep the car now and I just need to learn how best to clean these seals if and when they start creaking again.

I am kind of surprised that there isn't a forum thread here about it because judging by the other forum it is a world wide epidemic:-)

Best wishes. Patrick.

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Metal-on-rubber abrasion is an epidemic thats true, but there are MANY "old wives tales" on how to cure it... My favourite is put some masking tape on the door where it meets the rubbers!... Looks a cock but works!

[PatrickB]

Yes tape is the answer it seems. I am amazed that BMW haven't engineered a different form of seal. I was shown the same issue on a 1 series in the showroom!

Anyway I'm glad it seems to be sorted and perhaps my experience might help someone els.

Best wishes. Patrick.

[Bimmer Owners Club]

Very interesting so all that bother and it just needed cleaning and a bit of tape?

[PatrickB]

Yes, so it seems. At the moment it doesn't need the tape mod but I am sure it will eventually. I must say I find ownership of this car exhausting. There is always something going on with it. Todays woe is two punctures in 24 hours! I'm a bit suspicious that this is something specific to the run flat tyres. Thats three punctures in 3 months compared to two in my other vehicles in 20 years....

When everything is fine I love the car but that seems to barely last a day.

[Guest Mr.Beemer]

perhaps my creak was not same as yours but i used spray on grease spray on the 2 door hindges for a few days.. the creaking never came back. pretty simple job but annoying noise.. anything else i found the creak to come back after a few weeks..

[PatrickB]

Hi. You are right, that is a different issue but well worth knowing. Thank you.

The answer for mine seems to be rigourous cleaning with anti silicone spray.

Best wishes. Patrick.

[Guest Mr.Beemer]

nice to know you sorted it. .

happy motoring --