Stoney

Short answer: put 303 Aerospace Protectant (or another rubber treatment) on all the rubber seals around the doors!

Long answer:

I reported earlier about both rattles and creaks (heard like a creaking door when I drive over a trough at an angle, for example). At first, I thought this was the headliner... that is where the sound appeared to come from. But riding in the back seat showed it was the doors that do most of the creaking. Opening them slightly and driving up a driveway at an angle showed that the sound went away. The front doors rattle a bit over bumpy roads.

The dealer went to great lengths to reduce this. They found several rattles and quieted the doors. They worked on the headliner. But after a time, the creaks came back.

Thanks to (I think it was) Larry (LMGotts), I tried putting a treatment on the rubber around the doors. Notice that there is rubber in several places both on the body and on the doors. Don't forget the strip along the bottom of the door, which is hard to see.

After doing this, the sound all but disappeared. I'm sure it will come back, but I know the solution now... and it will remind me to put this protectant on the expensive rubber stripping.

Other treatments might be even better. Aerospace 303 Protectant is good for the synthetic rubber material, unlike Silicone treatments (so I have read, which you have to religiously treat regularly or the rubber becomes drier than if you had never treated it at all). The texture of 303 can be a bit sticky on a dashboard, but not really sticky on rubber.

I think the best treatment would be lubricious and protective of the rubber. Any ideas?

BobT(nolonger)A6

So where does one find the 303???

Stoney

<A HREF="http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=201&amp;prrfnbr=3790&amp;ou tlet=">303 Aerospace Protectant - Quart Product Page</A>
<A HREF="http://www.303products.com/retailers_online.htm">303 Aerospace Protectant for vinyl etc: Retailers On-Line</A>
<A HREF="http://www.properautocare.com/rubsealnotru.html">Rubber Seals - Aerospace 303 Protectant</A>

I'm sure whatever Griots sells for rubber would be good.

o2bnme

303 is great stuff. I use it exclusively now on the vinyl and rubber on my car/boat

LMGotts

Great advice. Not me that suggested it, but boy those can be annoying little things, so good news!

Stoney

<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/a6/msgs/145835.phtml">Wilfred suggests solution to creaks: moisturize the rubber seals</a></li></ul>

Wilfred

my sleeve though. Anybody wanna know how to get slightly better handling on a 4.2? According to the folks at Wheel Works, the toe-in/camber figures that Audi dealers set alignment to doesn't match that of the published specifications. Sure enough, my P9000's had the telltale wear signs to prove their story.

Oh, and, wanna really have a quiet chassis? Silicone paste on the sides of the seats next to the console, plus tilt both front seats forward and tighten the heck out of those screws and put some soft adhesive in there. Also, the armrest console, if it ever gets slammed down without depressing the button on the front, can have a broken slide. Try driving with the armrest up or get it fixed and threaten to kill the next person who breaks it. Finally, put velcro or something soft and not squeaky on the outside of the seat belt release thing-y and where the door jamb thing rotates.

Do all that and you'll wonder why Audi didn't design the fixes in.

*sigh* Maybe I'll get credit this time...maybe not...

Oh, one more thing. The engine gets air-starved easily when the temperature rises. You can actually hear a little bit of ping. I'm trying to figure out an easy way to get more cool air in without breaking my lease. Ideas, anyone?

TXurS6

Buy an extra hood and mount a scoop on it . Way cool!

P.S. Don't forget the Hemi errr... 30V sticker on the side of the sccop.

oops

:-)

I have done the velcro thing. It also helps on the moonroof. I use the soft half of the velcro to prevent any scratches.

phred

I've mentioned this several times over the years, it's a known problem in BMW-land and it has the fix you've mentioned. Although a lot of Beamo owners prefer to use a BMW-branded product called GummiFledge (or something Germanic like that) that they get from service departments, I'm sure it's sourced from a company like Wurth (carcareonline.com sells their products).