SL350 R230 (Facelift) Creaky Roof???

[Nile Griffith]

Hi Kids!!

So here goes. Of late I've been medically forced into driving around with the roof up (chemotherapy). Now being fair the slightest creak or squeak usually grabs my attention and as I'm not a huge fan of having the stereo at full tilt (mainly because the factory fitted system sounds rubbish) it doesn't take a particular loud noise to grab it.

So of late the panoramic roof on my SL seems rather......... creaky. I've tried giving the roof panel a bit of a push from outside of the car when stationary and her indoors reports no noises and it all feels pretty solid. The creaks don't seem to be instigated by a bumpy road, more by shifts in the cars stance, torsional twists if you will. Giving the plastic headliner a bit of a nudge doesn't seem to illicit any comparable response either.

Anybody out there had any similar problems and fixes. I know it might sound trivial to some, but one of the joys of owning the SL is the cabin refinement with the roof up and creaky is well, a bit creaky.

Many thanks in advance.

Nile.

 

[Blobcat]

Lubricate all the seals with gummi pflege and / or silicone lubricant.

Open the roof into the part open position, clean all the seals first then go wild with the lube

 

[Nile Griffith]

Lubricate all the seals with gummi pflege and / or silicone lubricant.

Open the roof into the part open position, clean all the seals first then go wild with the lube

Ooooooooooo' Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr going wild with the lube eh? I thought this was a family show .

I did use some eye wateringly expensive Krytox (Volkswagen) on the seals last year. Don't suppose it would hurt to repeat the procedure.

Thanks for the input.

 

[drmw]

Make sure you cover all the seals! There are many bits that can make the noise - little 1" x 1/2" on the side of the hinges, bits like the top of a drawing pin - every one can make the damn noise. Anything that looks like rubber - krytox it. Open the roof halfway, put something like a bit of wood between the top of the roof & the windscreen then switch off. Last thing - when you go to start again, pull the roof back to drop out the wood - then do where it was sitting! ps - if using krytox, once it has had a good half hour on the rubber, clean it off again (lightly) before you close it

 

[Nile Griffith]

Make sure you cover all the seals! There are many bits that can make the noise - little 1" x 1/2" on the side of the hinges, bits like the top of a drawing pin - every one can make the damn noise. Anything that looks like rubber - krytox it. Open the roof halfway, put something like a bit of wood between the top of the roof & the windscreen then switch off. Last thing - when you go to start again, pull the roof back to drop out the wood - then do where it was sitting! ps - if using krytox, once it has had a good half hour on the rubber, clean it off again (lightly) before you close it

Hey David!

Thanks for the advice on the Krytox. I used it sparingly (not just because of the unbelievable cost). I wasn't too sure about wiping away the residue I must admit and I did leave it in place for a while, until I got hacked off with seeing it particularly on the windscreen rubber.

When this damned heat goes away I'll go give it another going over and take a good look out for those hard to reach parts.

Many thanks.

 

[sl500amgsport]

I have yet to ride in a hardtop convertible without some occasional klonk or rattle emanating as the car flexes.My daughter's SLK is 10x worse than the SL. Somedays totally silent others slight knock or rattle on exactly the same roads/surface, totally random. Mechanic told me it is the same on all convertibles so I stopped fretting over it.

I have music on at low/medium level and no noticeable noise with roof up but then the Harmon Kardon begs to be played, especially with the Alexa/Spotify integration!

Mercedes SL500 R231

 

[Nile Griffith]

I have yet to ride in a hardtop convertible without some occasional klonk or rattle emanating as the car flexes.My daughter's SLK is 10x worse than the SL. Somedays totally silent others slight knock or rattle on exactly the same roads/surface, totally random. Mechanic told me it is the same on all convertibles so I stopped fretting over it.

I have music on at low/medium level and no noticeable noise with roof up but then the Harmon Kardon begs to be played, especially with the Alexa/Spotify integration!

Mercedes SL500 R231

To be honest, up until this point I've been impressed by how relatively noise free the roof has been. I've accepted the odd unsolicited squeak and creak in the past as been par for the course and all part of having a fairly complex fold'y up'y piece of engineering above my head. If anything the main culprits in the annoying squeak stakes, have been the centre console box and both drivers and passengers door boxes (oh and steering bushes, but that another story).

With a little luck getting liberal with the lube might do the trick.

 

[John Laidlaw]

I couldn't wait to get the roof down on my 230 (FL), much quieter! Roof up had more rattles than Mothercare (Even after copious lubing)

 

[sl500amgsport]

Mothercare, now you are showing your age ;-)!

Mercedes SL500 R231