Door noise now both?

[rubyg]

Second time went for the noise when you hit a bump,the dealer will not change anything he said no adjustments.
By compairson the new Smarts at the dealer if you try to pull with the door closed is very virm , on mine is some play and now you dont have to slam the door for perfect closing so the salesman conclusion is the rubber gasket that goes arround and since is not broken no replace grr...
This makes a reason the gasket when new makes the door firm.
Anybody find a durable repair on this issue?
Thanks

[JPaul]

Questions: why does the latch on the tridion frame has a graduation? To tighten the door when the rubber seal has settled?

That may answer your question...

[smark]

Originally Posted by rubyg

Second time went for the noise when you hit a bump,the dealer will not change anything he said no adjustments.
By compairson the new Smarts at the dealer if you try to pull with the door closed is very virm , on mine is some play and now you dont have to slam the door for perfect closing so the salesman conclusion is the rubber gasket that goes arround and since is not broken no replace grr...
This makes a reason the gasket when new makes the door firm.
Anybody find a durable repair on this issue?
Thanks

Try and spray silicon around the door gasket. Frameless window cars always make noise. The door is lightweight, and skinned with plastic. Mine been making noise since last November. If you can jiggly the door while its closed. Then it might need adjusting. I had mine service too at the dealer, didn't help.
Good luck.

[saronian]

The door latch (pictured above by JPaul) is adjustable. Very small movements can make a significant difference, and when the positioning is just right, the doors are silent over 90% of bumps. If you make the adjustment too tight, then the doors are hard to close, too loose and the doors rattle.

I found on mine they needed adjustment in both the vertical and horizontal direction. It takes parients, but they can be adjusted to solve the door noise.

[JPaul]

Had the car serviced this AM and the door latch was moved in a thad. See the graduation and black marks (if you can on those somewhat fuzzy phone pictures, compare to post #2).

On the way home, I noticed that the doors aren't squeaky as much while driving on bumps and they seem tighter.

[mike-in-sa]

On most cars the culprit is the door hinge. As it wears the door sags a little and the adjustment is off. Periodic adjustment of the latch is not too hard. My driver side only took 10 min or so. 12,000 miles so far.

[rubyg]

I had an idea if you can find something like a gigant rubber band and install this on the inner lip off the gasket in this way you increase the size of the door seal but the question is what diameter of plastic or rubber.?

[prash]

I use Krytox GPL205 lubricant on all my door seals. I started using it on my retractable roof to lubricate the seals and now use it on the smart. It is expensive but it is good for the seals and stops the noise. Also last longer than silicon spray or silicon grease. I think many of the large auto manufacturers recommend this on convertible top seals. It is made by Dupont. There is a lot of information about it on the web.

[a2jack]

Originally Posted by mike-in-sa

On most cars the culprit is the door hinge. As it wears the door sags a little and the adjustment is off. Periodic adjustment of the latch is not too hard. My driver side only took 10 min or so. 12,000 miles so far.

Mike, I agree. With past cars it has always turned out to be the door hinge that needed adjusting. That said, I have opened up great balls of snakes trying to reset the doors. (I finally learned to trace a line around the hinge mount with white pack to remember where I started ) )

JPaul, can't make out your pix. I see a mark on the lower Allen screw but the marks are too blurred to be useful. As this is just the latch plate I can't see how this would effect the up and down alignment of the door.

Anyone know the procedure the dealer uses to align the door in the frame when he gets complaints of the door banging over bumps ? A2Jack

[JPaul]

Originally Posted by a2jack

...
JPaul, can't make out your pix. I see a mark on the lower Allen screw but the marks are too blurred to be useful. As this is just the latch plate I can't see how this would effect the up and down alignment of the door. ...

It's not about the up/down position of the door, but the in/out.
Here is a better picture with details. Note that the latch plate has graduation. Originally, the longer lines were exactly aligned. Now, the latch plate has been moved slightly to the left of the picture (towards the inside of the car), and it's half a graduation off center. (This is the driver's side). That way, the door closes in a tighter way, possibly compensating for the door rubber seal having been flattened after one year of use.
Does it make more sense now?