91 replies to this topic

[Dave E]

For the last couple of years my rattling drivers side window has been driving me up the wall but being a lazy bugger it's taken until now to do something about it What's more it only cost me the princely sum of £4.49 and a couple of hours

The problem was the plastic lugs that are bonded to the glass have little raised bits to keep things tight and rattle free but these wear out. I know others have done a solution to this that requires removal of the window, heating the lugs while clamping them thus closing the gap, but I really didn't want to take the window out so came up with my own solution.

Start off by having a good look down into the door at the lugs to see how much of a gap have opened up in them. I decided some mini trunking, that'll be the £4.49, had the correct thickness, the stuff I got was 10x16mm, although the bit you'll eventually use is about 1mm thick plus the adhesive strip that was already attached. Pull the two parts of the trunking apart as you only need the bit with the sticky on it.

Wont go through getting the door panels off as it's been covered. To remove the rear rail just undo screw at the top of the rail, then unscrew the two little, erm, screws that hold the lower adjuster. The rail will now be free, I then undid the adjuster (anticlockwise) to remove it from the rail because I couldn't pull the rail out with it attached. If you can get it out without removing the adjuster you'll save yourself the frustrating and for me time consuming job of lining it up and screwing it in, while inside the door.

First off cut the trunking down to size, handily the adhesive strip was the correct width so was a good guide.




I then drilled a hole right at the bottom of the rail to bolt the trunking as a fail-safe but not sure if it's strictly necessary. After cleaning the rail with white spirit I stuck the trunking to the rail with the attached adhesive strip.




Then all you have to do is put the rail back, as I said before the worse thing was the bloody adjuster but apart from that just make sure rail sits in the window lugs and you've got full movement. Also it makes sense to adjust the window while all the door panels are off.




Think that's everything Winding has ever so slightly more resistance but nothing to be worried about, but this does mean no more bloody rattling

Edited by VXT'ED, 20 July 2011 - 06:52 PM.

[techieboy]

What time are you working tomorrow? I'll be around the soon as you've finished.

[Dave E]

Knew you'll be interested in this. It really was easy Matt, I had more problems getting the door panels off than doing the actual job. I expect you to have it done before LM.

[Dave E]

Oh and forgot to say how nice it was closing the door without thinking the window was about to smash

[Pink Princess]

Well done Brill How to

[Ben NA]

Awesome how to! Cheers for taking the time to do it. I'll give that a bash this weekend. That's one of the most annoying things about my car and makes such a racket over bumps, even with the windows up!

[techieboy]

It really was easy Matt, I had more problems getting the door panels off than doing the actual job. I expect you to have it done before LM.

Yeah, I've started those "easy" jobs before. Think that's how my total suspension refresh started.

[Dave E]

If I didn't make a pigs ear of it you'll have no trouble.

[H1 HWK]

Thanks VXT'ed, I've had mine apart before and failed to get much of an improvement (but hands that looked like I'd been juggling barbed wire), will give this a go when I'm feeling brave. What new rattle can you hear, now that you've cured the windows?

[TazN]

I think I'll look into curing my window rattle noises once the weather improves. Currently my pax window can be wound up to any amount so needs the stopper to be tightened and both windows rattle when open/going over bumps and open/closing doors.

Nice little guide, made all the better with that last picture!

Cheers Taz

[FLD]

How handy. That picture shows it all. VERY useful

[techieboy]

Well, in a moment of weakness and obviously, utter boredom, VXT'ED volunteered to pop over to my place and try his fix on my rattly old windows that I've been ignoring in the hope they'd fix themselves, at some point. Clearly, I was never going to turn an offer like that down. We had a slight scare when the little M5x12 screw at the top of the passenger side glass guide rounded off but the application of a big screwdriver and a decent bit of weight behind it managed to remove it (it was threadlocked, just to help things further). So, might be worth making sure you've got a couple of stainless replacements to hand. Better news is that the guide, with the complete adjuster mechanism at the bottom can, with some manipulation, be removed through the top of the door, which made refitting the guide easier. It works!!! I reckon 90% of the rattles from both windows are now solved. Still a slight bit of play in the front glass guides but the beefed up rear guides seem to have pretty much stopped any movement unless I specifically try to wobble them. I think the only occasional rattle I have left on the drivers side window is actually play in the winder mechanism itself which will presumably need considerably more pain to actually sort. Bonus points are it actually feels like a proper window when winding it up/down now and not some loose connection to something in another town and that when shutting the door, it no longer feels like I'm about to get a face full of shattered glass. Well chuffed. Thanks Dave, you're a gentleman.

[starlight]

Just need to fix that whine from behind the drivers seat now

[techieboy]

Just need to fix that whine from behind the drivers seat now

I'm hoping this fix will at least help ease the whine from the passenger seat.

I've now got seemingly the entire range of Vauxhall airboxes in the garage to try and find an acceptable compromise for the other whine.

[Mike (Cliffie)]

Dave, your CV boot is in and will be with me next Tuesday, thanks for the loan. Maybe when we hook up we could look at my windows...

[Dave E]

Matt your more than welcome, I'm glad it worked as well for yours as it did for mine. Cliffie, I'll hopefully be passing in the next couple of weeks so will give you some warning and pick up the boot then and if we've both got time I'll see about that window

[Dave E]

What time are you working tomorrow? I'll be around the soon as you've finished.

do it yourself, it really is very easy and soo worth the effort Come to think of it we could do a "workshop" at the next Beds meet

[hutchy]

Sounds like a great idea, where would one get this 'trunking'?

[Ouchie]

Well, in a moment of weakness and obviously, utter boredom, VXT'ED volunteered to pop over to my place and try his fix on my rattly old windows that I've been ignoring in the hope they'd fix themselves, at some point. Clearly, I was never going to turn an offer like that down.

We had a slight scare when the little M5x12 screw at the top of the passenger side glass guide rounded off but the application of a big screwdriver and a decent bit of weight behind it managed to remove it (it was threadlocked, just to help things further). So, might be worth making sure you've got a couple of stainless replacements to hand. Better news is that the guide, with the complete adjuster mechanism at the bottom can, with some manipulation, be removed through the top of the door, which made refitting the guide easier.

It works!!! I reckon 90% of the rattles from both windows are now solved. Still a slight bit of play in the front glass guides but the beefed up rear guides seem to have pretty much stopped any movement unless I specifically try to wobble them. I think the only occasional rattle I have left on the drivers side window is actually play in the winder mechanism itself which will presumably need considerably more pain to actually sort. Bonus points are it actually feels like a proper window when winding it up/down now and not some loose connection to something in another town and that when shutting the door, it no longer feels like I'm about to get a face full of shattered glass. Well chuffed.

Thanks Dave, you're a gentleman.

Does that mean you didn't have to remove the door panels, just lift the guide rail out after it was unbolted?