Concerns - Popping/Creaking Noise from Sunroof

[TimT]

Took it in finally today to my local Kia and they untightened a few bolts that seemed to create alot of the noise and sprayed some silicone or whatever their warranty manual bulletin thingie tells them to do. That seemed to work for most part, one of the gaskets(?) was messed up and is gonna be replaced under warranty in a few weeks. When driving the remaining slight noise that came seemed to come pretty much from the area of the gasket so hopefully once that is changed the fix would be final.
I also gave them the link to this topic and they got quite a few ideas to try out incase this does not work, unfortunately because it is not under warranty in normal circumstances, they cannot do it quite free of charge. The same dealership also sells Opels (Vauxhall) and Cadillacs and said that it is very odd that the warranty manual for Kia only gives them the instruction to spray the rails or whatever if creaking does happen to exist. Everything else goes under the point of "quiet noise or vibration that does not affect the quality of driving or using the car" and is not covered by warranty.

 

[Paul J. McCain]

Checking in, I have this exact same issue. Only problem I've really noticed with the car after two weeks of driving. Sure is annoying though when the radio is off. Thanks for the tips in this thread, I think I'll try the DIY "repair" with the screw tightness first!

 

[boilernc]

Finally took my 2019 GT2 in to the dealer after all the DIY fixes failed to work for me. On day 11 now at the dealer (Hendrick Kia in Cary, NC) - they have improved it but not solved it completely. Was told yesterday they had a second 2019 come in exhibiting the same exact problem and Kia corporate was sending a master technician out to look at both cars today or tomorrow....

 

[Kamauxx]

Finally took my 2019 GT2 in to the dealer after all the DIY fixes failed to work for me. On day 11 now at the dealer (Hendrick Kia in Cary, NC) - they have improved it but not solved it completely. Was told yesterday they had a second 2019 come in exhibiting the same exact problem and Kia corporate was sending a master technician out to look at both cars today or tomorrow....

I brought my car to Hendrick back in September and they wanted me to make an appointment to leave it with them so they could rip it apart and experiment with ways to fix it. Instead, I spent 2 minutes and silenced it with a strip of silicone.

 

[boilernc]

I brought my car to Hendrick back in September and they wanted me to make an appointment to leave it with them so they could rip it apart and experiment with ways to fix it. Instead, I spent 2 minutes and silenced it with a strip of silicone.

I tried so many things to avoid taking it in - and 11 days in I can't wait to get it back! Out of curiosity where did you put that strip?

 

[Kamauxx]

I tried so many things to avoid taking it in - and 11 days in I can't wait to get it back! Out of curiosity where did you put that strip?

You may have seen it already. If not maybe you can use this to show them what areas to focus on.

Sunroof Rattle Fix

 

[boilernc]

You may have seen it already. If not maybe you can use this to show them what areas to focus on.

Sunroof Rattle Fix

Oh duh I did see that. I tried the piece of felt in the spot you showed where the "foot" rests in that depression in the track when in the roof is closed...unfortunately didn't work for me. I tried greasing the seals, tried loosening/tightening bolts. Whatever it is has to do with something expanding - it only rattles when the ambient air temp is above 40F and when the roof is fully closed.

 

[Kamauxx]

Oh duh I did see that. I tried the piece of felt in the spot you showed where the "foot" rests in that depression in the track when in the roof is closed...unfortunately didn't work for me. I tried greasing the seals, tried loosening/tightening bolts. Whatever it is has to do with something expanding - it only rattles when the ambient air temp is above 40F and when the roof is fully closed.

Unfortunately there appears to be more than a few different culprits causing the roofs to rattle.

Hopefully the master tech is able to figure it out. You might be getting a new sunroof. If they are able to fix it without replacing it be sure to let everyone know what they did. I'm sure there are a lot of people here who would love to know.

 

[boilernc]

Unfortunately there appears to be more than a few different culprits causing the roofs to rattle.

Hopefully the master tech is able to figure it out. You might be getting a new sunroof. If they are able to fix it without replacing it be sure to let everyone know what they did. I'm sure there are a lot of people here who would love to know.

I will definitely post an update here when I know more...

 

[boilernc]

Well after two different stints at the dealer (being without the car for a total of 12 days) including a Techline case and a field tech coming out to look at my Stinger I'm no further than I was originally I'm really not wanting to let the dealer continue to experiment with it - especially since I was less than thrilled with their service dept. I was told they completely removed and reinstalled the sunroof as well as placed Styrofoam pads in specific points to isolate the sunroof structure. Rattle is still exactly the same. I may try a few things myself again in the next day or two.

 

[Kamauxx]

Yea at this point there's no downside to you getting in there and experimenting on it yourself.

There's also 4 or 5 other Kia dealerships in the triangle if you want to give Kia another chance.

 

[Olexandr]

Atm we have warm weather wave here and noises are back.


Ok, I tried to do all that and HAVING SOME PROMISING RESULTS! Removing plastic cover was easy, just need to be a bit patient, can be easily removed. Then I tried to unscrew left screw. I don't have proper Torx T25 tool so used just hex key tool and almost broke it trying. That screw tighten with some enormous force or need proper tool... I didn't notice if it budge, but after my tries and tool broken, looks as it helped — noises are gone immediately after the procedure. 2 days passed since, I hope it last (fingers crossed).

Do you have a video of a rattle/popping sound this fixes? I try to figure out if this is my sound or not. Here you can listen to it Cloudup

 

[Marc Collins]

Do you have a video of a rattle/popping sound this fixes? I try to figure out if this is my sound or not. Here you can listen to it Cloudup

So, I have the exact same ticking that occurs as soon as the car moves...even very slowly on smooth pavement. It is actually more noticeable at slow speeds than when there is a bunch of road and wind noise. It can be eliminated (or successfully masked) by closing the headliner on the sunroof.

If your car only exhibits the problem when you are above a certain speed, the dealer will claim it is detritus in the sunroof tracks that needs to be cleaned. They wasted my time and theirs going down that path, even though I open my roof so infrequently it was spotless inside. They then used some grease application around the entire roof area that accomplished zero.

I also have the completely unrelated problem of large creaks/snaps/pops that occur when the car has been left out in the sun (greenhouse effect of temperature differences presumably because it happens in cold or warm ambient temperatures). They are much more noticeable, but intermittent and usually goes away after the interior air of the car becomes conditioned closer to the temperature of the outside air. It is not affected by the headliner.

Either issue is 100% gone as soon as you open the sunroof even 1 mm.

They are both incredibly annoying because if it's cloudy and the headliner is closed, the car has no undue noises.

 

[G-78003]

So, I have the exact same ticking that occurs as soon as the car moves...even very slowly on smooth pavement. It is actually more noticeable at slow speeds than when there is a bunch of road and wind noise. It can be eliminated (or successfully masked) by closing the headliner on the sunroof.

If your car only exhibits the problem when you are above a certain speed, the dealer will claim it is detritus in the sunroof tracks that needs to be cleaned. They wasted my time and theirs going down that path, even though I open my roof so infrequently it was spotless inside. They then used some grease application around the entire roof area that accomplished zero.

I also have the completely unrelated problem of large creaks/snaps/pops that occur when the car has been left out in the sun (greenhouse effect of temperature differences presumably because it happens in cold or warm ambient temperatures). They are much more noticeable, but intermittent and usually goes away after the interior air of the car becomes conditioned closer to the temperature of the outside air. It is not affected by the headliner.

Either issue is 100% gone as soon as you open the sunroof even 1 mm.

They are both incredibly annoying because if it's cloudy and the headliner is closed, the car has no undue noises.

Actually closing a headliner does nothing in my case, except for the fact it gets a bit less noticeable because you have something blocking the incoming sound a bit. So it's still there as long as the front sunroof glass part is closed and intact.

 

[Olexandr]

So, I have the exact same ticking that occurs as soon as the car moves...even very slowly on smooth pavement. It is actually more noticeable at slow speeds than when there is a bunch of road and wind noise. It can be eliminated (or successfully masked) by closing the headliner on the sunroof.

If your car only exhibits the problem when you are above a certain speed, the dealer will claim it is detritus in the sunroof tracks that needs to be cleaned. They wasted my time and theirs going down that path, even though I open my roof so infrequently it was spotless inside. They then used some grease application around the entire roof area that accomplished zero.

I also have the completely unrelated problem of large creaks/snaps/pops that occur when the car has been left out in the sun (greenhouse effect of temperature differences presumably because it happens in cold or warm ambient temperatures). They are much more noticeable, but intermittent and usually goes away after the interior air of the car becomes conditioned closer to the temperature of the outside air. It is not affected by the headliner.

Either issue is 100% gone as soon as you open the sunroof even 1 mm.

They are both incredibly annoying because if it's cloudy and the headliner is closed, the car has no undue noises.

Actually closing a headliner does nothing in my case, except for the fact it gets a bit less noticeable because you have something blocking the incoming sound a bit. So it's still there as long as the front sunroof glass part is closed and intact.

 

[Marc Collins]

Actually closing a headliner does nothing in my case, except for the fact it gets a bit less noticeable because you have something blocking the incoming sound a bit. So it's still there as long as the front sunroof glass part is closed and intact.

I am sure mine will get to that state of noisiness soon. It was completely quiet for about a year and the ticking is just getting continuously worse over time.

 

[SoCalPearl]

My sun roof would make noise when closed and opened, but would make the most noise when tilted. Took the dealer the entire day to figure out that the slide rails are actually cracked somehow. They are replacing the entire assembly under warranty.

 

[Marc Collins]

My sun roof would make noise when closed and opened, but would make the most noise when tilted. Took the dealer the entire day to figure out that the slide rails are actually cracked somehow. They are replacing the entire assembly under warranty.

Please describe the exact sounds yours was making with cracked rails. Is it the ticking from @Olexandr's recording above? Or something else (like the infamous popping/creaking from expansion/contraction)?

 

[SoCalPearl]

Please describe the exact sounds yours was making with cracked rails. Is it the ticking from @Olexandr's recording above? Or something else (like the infamous popping/creaking from expansion/contraction)?

Sounded like it was loose? As if it was bouncing apart from the vehicle and not a part of the vehicle. It did sound just like @Olexandr's recording. My easy way to recreate the sound is as if you were to lightly bounce a water bottle on a desk repeatably.

 

[Marc Collins]

Sounded like it was loose? As if it was bouncing apart from the vehicle and not a part of the vehicle. It did sound just like @Olexandr's recording. My easy way to recreate the sound is as if you were to lightly bounce a water bottle on a desk repeatably.

That's what @westcoastGT had done a long time ago and reports that it worked and the problem has not recurred. So, if yours is the same, maybe KIA will actually wake-up and start doing this to solve the problem instead of hoping people will go away after a useless "lube job."

Question for you and @westcoastGT, is there any physical evidence of the cracking--that the rest of us can look for or that we could point a dealer to? So it doesn't take all day or five visits to get to the discovery...!