Mini Door Buzz Fixed!

[c1ockwork]

Hello All,

I've gotten so much out these forums since I've got my MCS that I felt it's time I gave some info back!

I've been plagued with an extremely annoying door buzz or rattle ever since I got my car nearly 2 years ago. A buzz would be a better way to describe it (it's fairly distinctive noise and those with the problem will probably know what I’m on about), but basically it's a noise that occurs towards the back of the door sometimes when just driving along, but mostly when the stereo is playing and the midbass drivers are pounding away at the door skin. The way to get rid of this particular rattle was to put pressure on the leather clad padding towards the rear center of the door. The moment you put your elbow on the leather padded rest and press towards the door the noise would immediately cease.

I read on the Mini Rattle and Squeak thread (now missing pictures) that the issue was the plastic welding between some of the door components not being welded together properly. This was the case and the root of the problem. There were some BMW line drawings on that thread of where to look, but I never completely ‘got it’ from the drawings (and they’re missing now), so please find below some (crappy, but my camera phone is all I had) pictures of what to do to fix it.

Once you've got the door panels off (instructions in the FAQ), sit the doors on a table with the inner skin facing you. Find the white area towards the rear of the door panel where all the door components intersect. Pull back the felt lining around that area to reveal the round plastic weld spots. Look closely at the weld points and squeeze the front skin of the door (put your hand underneath the door) towards the back of the door skin (i.e. squeeze the door panel together). Do you see the any of the welds move? They shouldn't, but the welds on my door clearly moved a millimetre or two, so the panels were not actually connected and free to vibrate against each other to cause the signature buzzing noise.

The solution was to use a Weller plastic iron (or a soldering iron would fine) to melt half of the round section that forms the weld into the door skin so that the weld held properly. Check each weld on the door whilst you've got it off for a solid bond. Fix any poor welds you find. We found that it was best to squeeze the door together whilst making the weld and keep the pressure on until the plastic had cooled and cured to ensure a tight bond between the surfaces (and reduce any potential further vibrations). Also, when making the weld, only melt one half of the round weld to the door skin. Leaving the other half intact ensures that the plastic around and in the weld stays strong and that the piece being held in place can't be pulled back through from the other side (it has a lip on it that help hold the piece in place).

We finished off the door by hot-gluing around all the joins that we fixed to give them additional strength and also dabbing spots of hot glue on the door skin to resecure some of the felt that had to be removed to access all of the welds.

With the door panels back on; no more buzz! I am sooooo happy! There are still some issues with the edge of the door panel vibrating against the metal door skin at high sound system volumes, but we’ll tackle that shortly by attaching some self adhesive felt to the metal door skin where the door panel contacts the metal door skin, then trimming the excess of carefully with a sharp knife.

Hopefully my descriptions and (poor quality) pictures are adequate to help others resolve this issue. My thanks must go to Craig Doig and the Autobarn Port Macquarie team for their help resolving this annoying issue.

Paul Colledge
Port Macquarie NSW Australia

[Wurzel]

Having had a rattling door the dealer could not fix, (only five pointless vistis). I have just done as you said, NO MORE RATTLE. I love you.

[DaFlake]

Great post! Thanks for the info....