Top Down Over The Shoulder Rattle

[seventythree]

If you are getting an over the shoulder rattle, which becomes worse when the top is down, lubricate the door latch mechanisms.

The sure sign for this problem is that the rattle gets worse when you put the top down, and the side window not being at the top position makes it even more pronounced.

This rattle is very misleading in that one could swear that it is coming from inside the door.

To fix it, do the following:

1) Using a clean rag, clean up the door latch mechanism the best you can.

2) Using a Q-tip, lightly apply Lithium based white grease all over the latch mechanism.

3) Drive and enjoy!

I have a feeling that the above steps will have to be repeated every now and then. So, applying too much grease will make the following clean up step messier.

Regards

Edited August 30, 2006 by seventythree

[70Sixter]

Thanks for the post, and WELCOME to the club. That's pretty quick for giving info rather than just lurking and absorbing wisdom from us older-timers! :welcome:

[seventythree]

Thanks for the post, and WELCOME to the club. That's pretty quick for giving info rather than just lurking and absorbing wisdom from us older-timers! :welcome:

Thanks for the warm welcom. I see we share the same taste in cars:

[jshaheen]

You, my friend, were right on!

I just did this to my 2000 cab and it fixed the noise I have had since I bought the car 2 months ago.

Thank you for taking the time to post on this problem.

I had no idea what was causing the rattle.

It must have taken you awhile to figure that one out.

[FrayAdjacent986]

I have that same type of rattle... sounds like the window in the door is rattling in there! I'm gonna have to pick up some WLG and try this!

[911-996]

I believe im getting both the door rattle and a highly annoying squeek behind me which sounds like rubber squeeking

Im about to go through and spray some silicone lube to see if i can nail it, has anyone else pin pointed the squeek in the roof?

As for the door, its like a ticking noise when you hit bumps on the road, less noticable than the roof though.

[Charlestonboxster]

I believe im getting both the door rattle and a highly annoying squeek behind me which sounds like rubber squeeking

Im about to go through and spray some silicone lube to see if i can nail it, has anyone else pin pointed the squeek in the roof?

As for the door, its like a ticking noise when you hit bumps on the road, less noticable than the roof though.

I just fixed this problem last week, had been bugging me for a year+.

1998 78k, daily driver.

I had an annoying rattle (only present running over bumps at a certain speed) over my left shoulder coming from the general door latch area, and for me, it was the same disregarding top up or down & window up or down, thus somewhat eliminating both top and window mechanisms as a culprit.

After googling and finding a couple old posts on PCA (with suggestions but no results), indeed, it was the door latch area, but not the door latch itself.

The chrome U post that's attached to the body and that the door latch mechanism latches onto, was very slightly worn out where the latch catches into it.

I removed it by the 2 #40 torq screws, reversed it (flipped it around) and tightened it back up again.

Rattle gone!!!!

The U post screws into a moveable female insert (inside body), so if the rattle is not 100% gone, it can be loosened and re-tightened/re-positioned in a slightly different position (**** German engineers are so anally thorough, it's amazing). So if it still rattles a bit, more adjustment is possible.

This adjustment, instead of or in addition to the grease, may be the solution to that annoying noise.

For google or forum searches: DOOR RATTLE DRIVER DOOR RATTLE DRIVER SIDE RATTLE.

Edited June 17, 2007 by Charlestonboxster

[911-996]

Thx Charleston

Sounds about right, I'll pull it out and have a look at it

Gets annoying after a while

Cheers :)