[ga9213]

My new to us F25 xDrive35i has a creaking noise when taking driveways at an angle and the car flexes over bumps. It sounds like it's coming from the upper b/c pillar area in the roof. I've lubricated all the seals for the windows, doors, panoroof and played around with opening/closing the pano roof to confirm it doesn't seem to be the glass making noise. It's definitely not the center divider that folks seem to have a problem with in the winter... I've tried pressing on everything I can find and cannot find anything loose.

Is there a common area of noise/flexing that folks have found/resolved on these?

I thought for sure it was the seal around the glass for the sunroof but I wedged a card and towel in around it with gummi pfledge to lubricate the seals and that didn't do it. It's not terrible, but I'd like to resolve it. Any help is appreciated.

[frisbeeguy]

Not a normal issue, usually that area should be silent. Either loose trim or possible creaking issues on the sunroof frame itself...which is very rare. you could try pulling off the b/c pillar(s) trim and try to identify noise that way...but there may be a potential of having to drop the headliner.

Edit: another potential area is sunroof mechanics...you have 2 pull off 2 rubber strips from inside the car to see the mechanics.

[ga9213]

How easy is it to take off the upper B/C pillar trim? Looks like it's tucked under the trim panels on the lower portion, assuming those need to come off first? Just pull snaps?

[frisbeeguy]

yeah, lower trim for b panel has to come off....just pull hard from bottom to undo snaps then slide down to disengage clips. move seat all the way forward before doing this.

For B pillar: https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...rests/EPxgeLFj
and
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...rests/1MIdWovC

For C pillar see: https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...sts/1VnYfQbYwN

from there..you can drive w/o the trim to try to replicate sound/pinpoint it.

[ga9213]

Got it figured out...and it was the door seals. I went over every seal with gummi pfledge including the seals that are on the very outside of the door frame (not the weather seals) but the felt seals...I think those were what was making the noise as when I pushed on the door from the outside I heard those squeaking.

Did the inside and outside of every single seal though, and now it's quiet.

Now I just need to figure out how to make the plastic trim on the seats stop squeaking. Have a feeling that will take an act of God.

[bpwj76]

Originally Posted by ga9213

Got it figured out...and it was the door seals. I went over every seal with gummi pfledge including the seals that are on the very outside of the door frame (not the weather seals) but the felt seals...I think those were what was making the noise as when I pushed on the door from the outside I heard those squeaking.

Did the inside and outside of every single seal though, and now it's quiet.

Now I just need to figure out how to make the plastic trim on the seats stop squeaking. Have a feeling that will take an act of God.

Had the same issue with mine. The gummi pfledge works for about a month. I wound up putting teflon tape where the felt seal (felt is wearing off) meets the car. It's been four months now and no noise.

The edge of the teflon tape collects dirt however. Does anyone who has done this have any suggestions on how to keep that from happening?

[ga9213]

Originally Posted by bpwj76

Had the same issue with mine. The gummi pfledge works for about a month. I wound up putting teflon tape where the felt seal (felt is wearing off) meets the car. It's been four months now and no noise.

The edge of the teflon tape collects dirt however. Does anyone who has done this have any suggestions on how to keep that from happening?

I'm going to also try some ceramic coating on the door jam's paint to see if slickening up the paint allows the seals to not squeak as much.

Also, took apart the center armrest and found out how to remove the seat plastic. Used silicone lubricant on all the contact points and put it back together and still a minor amount of squeaking but that's a whole lot quieter too.

I should probably do a DIY thread.

[bpwj76]

Originally Posted by ga9213

I'm going to also try some ceramic coating on the door jam's paint to see if slickening up the paint allows the seals to not squeak as much.

Also, took apart the center armrest and found out how to remove the seat plastic. Used silicone lubricant on all the contact points and put it back together and still a minor amount of squeaking but that's a whole lot quieter too.

I should probably do a DIY thread.

Yeah my X3's center armrest creaks pretty bad when someone is resting their arm on it. I put some felt on the latch and that has knocked out about 90% of the creaking. Initially I thought it was the two little rubber bumpers at the front of the armrest rubbing when closed. I put teflon tape under them and that didn't do anything. Then I noticed when I pulled up on the latch and held the armrest down with some pressure, the noise completely went away. That's how I discovered it was the latch.

[ga9213]

on mine it wasn't actually the latch it was the plastic tray flexing and creaking against the center armrest trim. There are 3 screws at the bottom under the rubber tray. Remove those and the whole thing lifts up. From there I just sprayed some silicone lubricant (plastic and rubber safe) on a rag and wiped down all the contact points. Zero noise now.