While recognizing that very few of us have a hard top, wanted to get some advice on the hard top squeaking (just put the top on for the season here in NorthEast:
Background:
1. When I got the car back in Apr, the only "noise" from the hard top was from the left / driver side notch (above the windshield) - no other noises during the 1,300 mi drive home
2. I "fixed" this noise by applying a thin layer of Gorilla tape
However, I am now getting all kinds of squeaking noises from the hard top, especially around the visor area (where the hard top rubber seals meet the car frame) and some rattling from the back
During its storage, I applied some silicone-based Super Lube (which I use for our pool equipments) on the rubber seals, and my buddy thinks that this Lube may be the culprit as he (also has a 2008 987 BS but no hard top) uses Nextzett Gummi Pflege Stift which is "absorbed" into the rubber whereas Super Lube coats the rubber)
I am wondering whether this (noise) is just a part of a hard top "settling in" vs. Super Lube causing the hard top to slightly move due to its slipperiness on the surface (of rubber seals) - this is my first "hard top" season
Hi
@Hoster987
- Great to see your post, and welcome to the hard top world of the 987 (and 986 too) Boxsters!
A few thoughts:
The reality is that ALL of our hardtops WILL squeak / rattle to some extent; it's the pay to play here and it won't be perfect. (Even my vintage removable BMW E30 hard top squeaks a bit.) I don’t remember how many miles you’ve “mated” this hardtop to your car so far, but they do need time to settle in for the matching edges to ultimately conform to each other. Time may help.
Try and carefully really source the squeak area (which I think you've done). Keep in mind that the squeaks and all that (while you are driving) may be coming from other areas in the car as sound bounces around (you’d be surprised). What I like to do is to carefully jam my fingers into gaps, or press on areas to see if that’s the culprit area or not -- and if the sounds go away or can be modified. (Yes, it’s difficult to do while driving, but that’s the only way to test — unless you have someone else that’s driving.)
The next question is to figure out what is rubbing against what (as that causes the squeak). Is it the source rubber? Plastic? Both? If you have identified the source, then it should be a pretty simple fix once one narrows it down — but admittedly takes time and patience.
I’d probably just remove the SuperLube; I used to use Jack's Lube (Hayward) for my family’s former pool seals, which was thick and safe for seals (probably a lot of silicone). I do like the Gummi Pfledge stick to preserve the rubber — I just have to remember to apply it. Silicone is great to preserve rubber, but NEVER use the stuff one uses to gloss tires — that stuff eats through rubber. Remember: shiny rubber will squeak — and I think the Gummi Pfledge is more matte.
To give you an idea, my newest new-to-me (last year) hardtop squeaks pretty badly, and the surfaces mated against each other for only a part of last winter season. This being said, I identified that it involves the backs of three large black plastic pieces that are rubbing against (I think the frame if I remember correctly?), which makes for very annoying plastic squeaks that's amplified by the hollow area underneath the plastic.
I investigated it last year when I installed soundproofing sheets, and it’s still not resolved. I have ordered a roll of black velvet (flocked) cloth with an adhesive backing, which arrives today. I've used felt in the past on my BMW, which was okay; I think the flocked material is more of a general OEM solution; black Tesa (wiring harness) tape didn't work well. My plan is to initially apply this to the back side of just one of plastic pieces, which should ideally stop the plastic squeak -- but we'll see. The key complication is that the 6 or so fasteners per side are very tricky and are "one-use-only”, and cost a whopping $4 each. In my case, I really hope to perfectly solve this on one side before reassembly and doing the other side (which is worse)! Ideally, the front plastic strip is okay; the one at the rear of the car doesn't seem to be making noise (for now). I’m certainly not looking forward to this, but I just bought a dozen of these fasteners for the job.
My final shot at this, should it not work, I'm going to remove those plastic pieces and spray the backs with Boom Mat material. In fact, I may even going to daub a bit of FlexSeal on the spindles where the velvet flocking may not stick so easily. However, I don't like solutions that aren't easily removable back to stock -- and at least the flocked sheets are removable.
Let us know how you get on with this and I hope this helped!
Thanks for all your feedback and will try to mitigate. Since I had no issues back in April (aside from the driver side notch / slot squeaking), I was expecting no noises but will it comes with the overall experience
