Wind noise on drivers window

[Rolla]

Well I have a 2000 C2. When driving on the highway at 70 there seems to be a lot of wind noise like air leaking in from around the windows. Is there a way to adjust the height of where the window stops or is this just another window regulator gone bad? Thanks in advance.

[1schoir]

Well I have a 2000 C2. When driving on the highway at 70 there seems to be a lot of wind noise like air leaking in from around the windows. Is there a way to adjust the height of where the window stops or is this just another window regulator gone bad? Thanks in advance.

Rolla:

There are four rubber plugs located on the door bottom surface. To adjust the height of where the window stops, you must first remove (pop out) the two OUTBOARD plugs.

Then, reach through the holes with an E6 Torx driver and turn the screws, one at a time until you achieve the desired adjusmtent. To keep track of how much you have adjusted, mark the top of the window with masking tape or, preferably with a wax pencil, tracing the top surface of the window where it meets the seal at the top. There is a little more than 1/2 inch of adjustment through this method.

Note that the Torx adjustment screws are on an angle, raked back at an angle similar to the rear edge of the door. Here's a photo that should help you get oriented:

Note: The green arrow shows the outboard plug that must be removed, at the forward part of the driver's door. The red arrow shows the very edge of the inboard plug (which should only be used to adjust the inboard/outbard angle of the window by means of loosening and then shifting each leg of the window regulator).

With a little patience, you should be able to minimize or eliminate the wind noise.

Regards, Maurice.

[Rolla]

Thanks Alot!!. I will have try this out when I get home.

Well I have a 2000 C2. When driving on the highway at 70 there seems to be a lot of wind noise like air leaking in from around the windows. Is there a way to adjust the height of where the window stops or is this just another window regulator gone bad? Thanks in advance.

Rolla:

There are four rubber plugs located on the door bottom surface. To adjust the height of where the window stops, you must first remove (pop out) the two OUTBOARD plugs.

Then, reach through the holes with an E6 Torx driver and turn the screws, one at a time until you achieve the desired adjusmtent. To keep track of how much you have adjusted, mark the top of the window with masking tape or, preferably with a wax pencil, tracing the top surface of the window where it meets the seal at the top. There is a little more than 1/2 inch of adjustment through this method.

Note that the Torx adjustment screws are on an angle, raked back at an angle similar to the rear edge of the door. Here's a photo that should help you get oriented:

Note: The green arrow shows the outboard plug that must be removed, at the forward part of the driver's door. The red arrow shows the very edge of the inboard plug (which should only be used to adjust the inboard/outbard angle of the window by means of loosening and then shifting each leg of the window regulator).

With a little patience, you should be able to minimize or eliminate the wind noise.

Regards, Maurice.

[1schoir]

Thanks Alot!!. I will have try this out when I get home.

Joel:

Any progress? Did you run into any glitches?

Regards, Maurice.

[Drift]

Awesome response!

Did it help?

I drove an 02 C2 and the driver's side a pillar sounded like I was at 200 mph (80 mph actual.)

[Rolla]

well it did sort of help but now as I look at it more I see that comparing my driver's side to passenger side I see the gap between the window and the rear window is much larger then the other side. The drivers side has a gap almost the width of my thumb. where the passenger has a very small gap so I am going to try the nuts there to move the window back. THanks again.

[Rolla]

Well ok I think I had the wrong idea. Is there a way to adjust the window front to back ? it seems that I can only find angle and up and down. Thanks in advance.

Here are some pics of the issue.

Drivers side

Passenger Side

Edited November 18, 2007 by Rolla

[1schoir]

Well ok I think I had the wrong idea. Is there a way to adjust the window front to back ? it seems that I can only find angle and up and down. Thanks in advance.

Here are some pics of the issue.

Drivers side

Passenger Side

Joel:

Judging from the photos you supplied, there is a remote possibility that you can make enough of an adjustment to the window without removing the door panel.

Since it appears that you have a larger gap at the top rear of the front window than at the bottom rear of the front window, you can try to "pivot" either just the front or both of the window regulator legs by the following method: Pop out the two INBOARD rubber plugs found under the door bottom on the driver's side. The very edge of one of these two plugs is pointed out by the red arrow in the previous photo that I posted. Once you remove the two INBOARD black rubber plugs, you will have access to the single (10 mm?) nut that holds the base of each of the two window regulator legs to the bottom of the door.

Note that each window regulator assembly has two legs (that are raked back at an angle similar to the rear edge of the door) and that each leg is fastened 1) at the bottom as described directly above, and 2) near the top at one of the two points pointed out by the red arrows in this photo:

At each of these two points, the top of the regulator legs are helt in place by small bolts. What you are trying to do here is to "pivot" the window regulator legs on these two attachment points by moving the bottom of the legs forward, without having to access the small bolts (which would require removal of the door panel).

I would first try to loosen the nut at the bottom of the FORWARD leg and then move the stud (that is pressed in to the base of that window regulator leg) TOWARD THE FRONT as much as possible, then tighten that nut on the stud again. Then operate the window and see if you have gotten any improvement.

Be very careful not to shift that stud (and therefore the leg that it is attached to) in towards the center of the car or out away from the side of the car, as that will affect the corresponding angle of the window as it travels up and down. The angle that you want to avoid altering with this attempt is the one that would cause the flat pane of the window to angle further in towards the inside of the cabin or further out towards the outside of the cabin as it travels up.

You may have to also do the same for the rearmost leg of the window regulator as you just did for the forward leg, to keep the window even.

By doing this (either just the front leg or both), you may be able to get the gap at the top rear edge of the window to get smaller, because in effect the window will be "raked" back further.

You may then have to again tinker with the up and down adjustments through the other holes and the torx screws, as I described in the previous posts.

If this method does not work, you will have to remove the door panel and make the proper adjustment by loosening each of the two clamping jaws that hold the glass in place and then sliding the glass towards the rear so that you end up with the same gap as you show at the rear of the passenger's side window.

Keep us posted with any results.

Regards, Maurice.

[Rolla]

Well ok I think I had the wrong idea. Is there a way to adjust the window front to back ? it seems that I can only find angle and up and down. Thanks in advance.

Here are some pics of the issue.

Drivers side

Passenger Side

Joel:

Judging from the photos you supplied, there is a remote possibility that you can make enough of an adjustment to the window without removing the door panel.

Since it appears that you have a larger gap at the top rear of the front window than at the bottom rear of the front window, you can try to "pivot" either just the front or both of the window regulator legs by the following method: Pop out the two INBOARD rubber plugs found under the door bottom on the driver's side. The very edge of one of these two plugs is pointed out by the red arrow in the previous photo that I posted. Once you remove the two INBOARD black rubber plugs, you will have access to the single (10 mm?) nut that holds the base of each of the two window regulator legs to the bottom of the door.

Note that each window regulator assembly has two legs (that are raked back at an angle similar to the rear edge of the door) and that each leg is fastened 1) at the bottom as described directly above, and 2) near the top at one of the two points pointed out by the red arrows in this photo:

At each of these two points, the top of the regulator legs are helt in place by small bolts. What you are trying to do here is to "pivot" the window regulator legs on these two attachment points by moving the bottom of the legs forward, without having to access the small bolts (which would require removal of the door panel).

I would first try to loosen the nut at the bottom of the FORWARD leg and then move the stud (that is pressed in to the base of that window regulator leg) TOWARD THE FRONT as much as possible, then tighten that nut on the stud again. Then operate the window and see if you have gotten any improvement.

Be very careful not to shift that stud (and therefore the leg that it is attached to) in towards the center of the car or out away from the side of the car, as that will affect the corresponding angle of the window as it travels up and down. The angle that you want to avoid altering with this attempt is the one that would cause the flat pane of the window to angle further in towards the inside of the cabin or further out towards the outside of the cabin as it travels up.

You may have to also do the same for the rearmost leg of the window regulator as you just did for the forward leg, to keep the window even.

By doing this (either just the front leg or both), you may be able to get the gap at the top rear edge of the window to get smaller, because in effect the window will be "raked" back further.

You may then have to again tinker with the up and down adjustments through the other holes and the torx screws, as I described in the previous posts.

If this method does not work, you will have to remove the door panel and make the proper adjustment by loosening each of the two clamping jaws that hold the glass in place and then sliding the glass towards the rear so that you end up with the same gap as you show at the rear of the passenger's side window.

Keep us posted with any results.

Regards, Maurice.

Maurice

I cannot thank you enough for all your help on this issue. I ended up having to pull the door trim off to adjust the thing. There I found the main reason for my pain. Broken glass. So it seems whoever put the replacement in went lazy on adjusting it. I think I have it 90% now just a few more hours of adjusting it and it should be good to go :-D. Thanks for all your help.

Joel

[1schoir]

Well ok I think I had the wrong idea. Is there a way to adjust the window front to back ? it seems that I can only find angle and up and down. Thanks in advance.

Here are some pics of the issue.

Drivers side

Passenger Side

Joel:

Judging from the photos you supplied, there is a remote possibility that you can make enough of an adjustment to the window without removing the door panel.

Since it appears that you have a larger gap at the top rear of the front window than at the bottom rear of the front window, you can try to "pivot" either just the front or both of the window regulator legs by the following method: Pop out the two INBOARD rubber plugs found under the door bottom on the driver's side. The very edge of one of these two plugs is pointed out by the red arrow in the previous photo that I posted. Once you remove the two INBOARD black rubber plugs, you will have access to the single (10 mm?) nut that holds the base of each of the two window regulator legs to the bottom of the door.

Note that each window regulator assembly has two legs (that are raked back at an angle similar to the rear edge of the door) and that each leg is fastened 1) at the bottom as described directly above, and 2) near the top at one of the two points pointed out by the red arrows in this photo:

At each of these two points, the top of the regulator legs are helt in place by small bolts. What you are trying to do here is to "pivot" the window regulator legs on these two attachment points by moving the bottom of the legs forward, without having to access the small bolts (which would require removal of the door panel).

I would first try to loosen the nut at the bottom of the FORWARD leg and then move the stud (that is pressed in to the base of that window regulator leg) TOWARD THE FRONT as much as possible, then tighten that nut on the stud again. Then operate the window and see if you have gotten any improvement.

Be very careful not to shift that stud (and therefore the leg that it is attached to) in towards the center of the car or out away from the side of the car, as that will affect the corresponding angle of the window as it travels up and down. The angle that you want to avoid altering with this attempt is the one that would cause the flat pane of the window to angle further in towards the inside of the cabin or further out towards the outside of the cabin as it travels up.

You may have to also do the same for the rearmost leg of the window regulator as you just did for the forward leg, to keep the window even.

By doing this (either just the front leg or both), you may be able to get the gap at the top rear edge of the window to get smaller, because in effect the window will be "raked" back further.

You may then have to again tinker with the up and down adjustments through the other holes and the torx screws, as I described in the previous posts.

If this method does not work, you will have to remove the door panel and make the proper adjustment by loosening each of the two clamping jaws that hold the glass in place and then sliding the glass towards the rear so that you end up with the same gap as you show at the rear of the passenger's side window.

Keep us posted with any results.

Regards, Maurice.

Maurice

I cannot thank you enough for all your help on this issue. I ended up having to pull the door trim off to adjust the thing. There I found the main reason for my pain. Broken glass. So it seems whoever put the replacement in went lazy on adjusting it. I think I have it 90% now just a few more hours of adjusting it and it should be good to go :-D. Thanks for all your help.

Joel

Joel:

Glad I was able to help. Bummer about the broken glass. Amazing what surprises you can find when you trust someone else to work on your car!

It will feel satisfying nonetheless when you're driving on the parkway and notice how relatively quiet you have succeeded in making it. Plus, you have gotten to know the workings of your car that much better, which always keeps you one step away from the dealer and, it's one more thing they can't "snow you" on.

Good job in sticking with it and getting it done!

Regards, Maurice.

[Rolla]

Yeah. I am still not there I think I need to adjust the front of the glass up some because there is still window noise but we shall see at least the gaps look right now.

Joel

[1schoir]

Yeah. I am still not there I think I need to adjust the front of the glass up some because there is still window noise but we shall see at least the gaps look right now.

Joel

Joel:

To avoid too much trial and error on the front of the glass issue, try the trick I mentioned before. When the window is all the way up, mark the outside surface of the glass window with either masking tape or a grease pencil, by tracing along just where the rubber seal meets the window.

Then, when you lower the window slightly, you'll be able to see instantly how much you have to adjust to get it snug all around.

Regards, Maurice.

[Rolla]

Maurice,

Yeah I have tired that but where I am at it seems to be on the fine line between quiet and wind noise is maybe 1mm so now I need to draw the line again and tweek it little by little :-D.

Joel

:renntech:

[SNaray8442]

I don't have any female torx bits, will any hex sockets work?

[1schoir]

I don't have any female torx bits, will any hex sockets work?

SNaray:

If you are referring to the E6 Torx screws that adjust the window position on the window regulator, a regular (1/4 inch drive) 5mm socket will work in a pinch, and will not strip the fastener. Also, remember that they are on an angle (as explained in the post above) and not straight up and down.

Regards, Maurice.

[SNaray8442]

Got it, thanks. You guys weren't kidding about that taking patience, whew.