Creaking/Popping noises from above. help!

[boosted1g]

I remedied the same noise by using felt tape on the grab handle backing, not grease. Hasn’t come back. It is not a difficult DIY. Wrap the ends in 1-2 loops of felt tape and reassemble. Did this before Christmas and noise hasn’t come back.

the tape the service advisor was referring to is on the ends of this piece around the screw hole. This photo is after I peeled off the existing tape and before I used the felt tape. the factory tape is on the elevated t-shaped moldings on each end.

Drove about 100 miles with this fix in place and what a massive improvement in cabin noise.
A few occasional sounds from front of sunroof, but all of the popping sounds are gone!

 

[95oRANGEcRUSH]

I got around to doing all my grab handle backing plates yesterday. They are now dead quiet. Figured I’d add some comments and photos to hopefully help the next person.

First, I didn’t remove the scuff and B pillar trim pieces. Instead, I pulled back the body seal enough to where I could pull the headliner down slightly and put a hand underneath it. It has enough flex to allow this and also not cause it to deform.

The next couple photos are of the front, driver side grab handle backing plate with the cloth tape @Snowwhite recommended. I went around each end twice with the tape and poked a hole where the grab handle screw goes through. They do have a specific orientation; on the drivers side the end with the arrow and “in” stamped went towards the windshield and the end with the “#2” went towards the rear of the car with this entire side facing up towards the roof. The calendar of manufacturing dates went facing down toward the floor. I found the orientation reversed for the passenger side; arrow and in faced the rear and #2 faced the front with the calendar still facing down.

Next photo is of the backing plate with tape behind the headliner. You can see the holes I poked. Then photos with grab handle and body seal reinstalled.

Finally, a photo of the pick tool I used from my cheapy radio shack soldering kit. I used this to fish my backing plate with tape back into position behind the headliner. Kinda hard to explain, but, you can enter through the headliner holes, grab onto the hole in the taped backing plate and slide it into alignment. Then it’s just a #2 Phillips to screw in your grab handle screws and you’re done.

 

[RM7]

I got around to doing all my grab handle backing plates yesterday. They are now dead quiet. Figured I’d add some comments and photos to hopefully help the next person.

First, I didn’t remove the scuff and B pillar trim pieces. Instead, I pulled back the body seal enough to where I could pull the headliner down slightly and put a hand underneath it. It has enough flex to allow this and also not cause it to deform.

The next couple photos are of the front, driver side grab handle backing plate with the cloth tape @Snowwhite recommended. I went around each end twice with the tape and poked a hole where the grab handle screw goes through. They do have a specific orientation; on the drivers side the end with the arrow and “in” stamped went towards the windshield and the end with the “#2” went towards the rear of the car with this entire side facing up towards the roof. The calendar of manufacturing dates went facing down toward the floor. I found the orientation reversed for the passenger side; arrow and in faced the rear and #2 faced the front with the calendar still facing down.

Next photo is of the backing plate with tape behind the headliner. You can see the holes I poked. Then photos with grab handle and body seal reinstalled.

Finally, a photo of the pick tool I used from my cheapy radio shack soldering kit. I used this to fish my backing plate with tape back into position behind the headliner. Kinda hard to explain, but, you can enter through the headliner holes, grab onto the hole in the taped backing plate and slide it into alignment. Then it’s just a #2 Phillips to screw in your grab handle screws and you’re done.

Is there glue/adhesive on the door seal?

 

[95oRANGEcRUSH]

Is there glue/adhesive on the door seal?

Nope. When you reinstall it you’ll feel a noticeable click feeling. Super simple.

 

[95oRANGEcRUSH]

Follow up:

Coming up on 3 weeks since I’ve wrapped my grab handle backing plates. Car is still dead quiet, no noise at all. One of those weeks my car was outside 24/7 in 75-100 degree temps with zero noise from the grab handles.

 

[Intrepid007]

I got around to doing all my grab handle backing plates yesterday. They are now dead quiet. Figured I’d add some comments and photos to hopefully help the next person.

First, I didn’t remove the scuff and B pillar trim pieces. Instead, I pulled back the body seal enough to where I could pull the headliner down slightly and put a hand underneath it. It has enough flex to allow this and also not cause it to deform.

The next couple photos are of the front, driver side grab handle backing plate with the cloth tape @Snowwhite recommended. I went around each end twice with the tape and poked a hole where the grab handle screw goes through. They do have a specific orientation; on the drivers side the end with the arrow and “in” stamped went towards the windshield and the end with the “#2” went towards the rear of the car with this entire side facing up towards the roof. The calendar of manufacturing dates went facing down toward the floor. I found the orientation reversed for the passenger side; arrow and in faced the rear and #2 faced the front with the calendar still facing down.

Next photo is of the backing plate with tape behind the headliner. You can see the holes I poked. Then photos with grab handle and body seal reinstalled.

Finally, a photo of the pick tool I used from my cheapy radio shack soldering kit. I used this to fish my backing plate with tape back into position behind the headliner. Kinda hard to explain, but, you can enter through the headliner holes, grab onto the hole in the taped backing plate and slide it into alignment. Then it’s just a #2 Phillips to screw in your grab handle screws and you’re done.

Did you have to fight very much with getting the backing plate out? I found mine to be very well stuck to the headliner. It will take a fair amount of prying to get it lose, further complicated by the small space in which to work. I also noticed when I removed the grab handles that there are what appears to be alignment tabs on the underside of the backing plate. (see photo) . Did covering these with tape create any issues in reassembly?


Thanks for the detailed how-to description. It gave me the courage to finally give this a shot!

 

[95oRANGEcRUSH]

Did you have to fight very much with getting the backing plate out? I found mine to be very well stuck to the headliner. It will take a fair amount of prying to get it lose, further complicated by the small space in which to work. I also noticed when I removed the grab handles that there are what appears to be alignment tabs on the underside of the backing plate. (see photo) . Did covering these with tape create any issues in reassembly?
View attachment 74183

Thanks for the detailed how-to description. It gave me the courage to finally give this a shot!

Glad you’re tackling this!

First, I did NOT have much trouble getting my backing plates out. The adhesive KIA uses was very minimal and it was very pliable/tacky. I would kind of compare it to when you first Elmer’s glue 2 things together and then try to pull it apart a minute or so later; there is a bond between the two items because the glue has set a bit, but, with a little force it comes apart easily.

Those little tabs were wrapped by my tape. What I did was I used the tool in my photos to press the tape around each side of the tab. You could use a flat head screwdriver as well to essentially press the tape hard against the tab so the tape takes the shape of the tab.

If you look closely at my photo with the wrapped backing plate installed behind the headliner, you can somewhat see the new shape of the tab with tape. It still lined up fine and didn’t present any issues with install.

 

[Timothy1_17]

I got around to doing all my grab handle backing plates yesterday. They are now dead quiet. Figured I’d add some comments and photos to hopefully help the next person.

First, I didn’t remove the scuff and B pillar trim pieces. Instead, I pulled back the body seal enough to where I could pull the headliner down slightly and put a hand underneath it. It has enough flex to allow this and also not cause it to deform.

The next couple photos are of the front, driver side grab handle backing plate with the cloth tape @Snowwhite recommended. I went around each end twice with the tape and poked a hole where the grab handle screw goes through. They do have a specific orientation; on the drivers side the end with the arrow and “in” stamped went towards the windshield and the end with the “#2” went towards the rear of the car with this entire side facing up towards the roof. The calendar of manufacturing dates went facing down toward the floor. I found the orientation reversed for the passenger side; arrow and in faced the rear and #2 faced the front with the calendar still facing down.

Next photo is of the backing plate with tape behind the headliner. You can see the holes I poked. Then photos with grab handle and body seal reinstalled.

Finally, a photo of the pick tool I used from my cheapy radio shack soldering kit. I used this to fish my backing plate with tape back into position behind the headliner. Kinda hard to explain, but, you can enter through the headliner holes, grab onto the hole in the taped backing plate and slide it into alignment. Then it’s just a #2 Phillips to screw in your grab handle screws and you’re done.

I recently was experiencing the same obnoxious sounds from above and pinpointed it to the driver side grab handle. I followed these instructions and it worked beautifully. No more creaks, squeaks or rattles. Much appreciated for the detailed step-by-step!

 

[ldusseau]

I got around to doing all my grab handle backing plates yesterday. They are now dead quiet. Figured I’d add some comments and photos to hopefully help the next person.

First, I didn’t remove the scuff and B pillar trim pieces. Instead, I pulled back the body seal enough to where I could pull the headliner down slightly and put a hand underneath it. It has enough flex to allow this and also not cause it to deform.

The next couple photos are of the front, driver side grab handle backing plate with the cloth tape @Snowwhite recommended. I went around each end twice with the tape and poked a hole where the grab handle screw goes through. They do have a specific orientation; on the drivers side the end with the arrow and “in” stamped went towards the windshield and the end with the “#2” went towards the rear of the car with this entire side facing up towards the roof. The calendar of manufacturing dates went facing down toward the floor. I found the orientation reversed for the passenger side; arrow and in faced the rear and #2 faced the front with the calendar still facing down.

Next photo is of the backing plate with tape behind the headliner. You can see the holes I poked. Then photos with grab handle and body seal reinstalled.

Finally, a photo of the pick tool I used from my cheapy radio shack soldering kit. I used this to fish my backing plate with tape back into position behind the headliner. Kinda hard to explain, but, you can enter through the headliner holes, grab onto the hole in the taped backing plate and slide it into alignment. Then it’s just a #2 Phillips to screw in your grab handle screws and you’re done.

Where can I find either the Tesa tape or an equivalent? I retired from automotive this past May so I have no access to free tape like this anymore. If not Tesa tape is there anything close, like adhesive backed foam/felt that can be cut to size? I've finally had enough of the noise.

 

[Snowwhite]

Where can I find either the Tesa tape or an equivalent? I retired from automotive this past May so I have no access to free tape like this anymore. If not Tesa tape is there anything close, like adhesive backed foam/felt that can be cut to size? I've finally had enough of the noise.

any felt tape will do. hockey stick wrap, felt electrical tape, etc.

like this on amazon

 

[ldusseau]

any felt tape will do. hockey stick wrap, felt electrical tape, etc.

like this on amazon

Well that works because I'm a hockey player! Should I avoid the friction tape, or use regular "non-sticky" tape? I have a roll of white "regular" tape and lots of the black friction tape. I think the white may be easier to see when re-aligning the screw holes.

 

[Snowwhite]

Well that works because I'm a hockey player! Should I avoid the friction tape, or use regular "non-sticky" tape? I have a roll of white "regular" tape and lots of the black friction tape. I think the white may be easier to see when re-aligning the screw holes.

poke a hole in the wrapped tape with the screw before you put it back in the headliner. it'll be much easier to find the screwhole then. You want something that will insulate the two plastics from each other, preferably with a cloth like finish to eliminate the possibility of rubbing noises. I don’t think the white tape will do that. The friction tape is similar to what I put in that link above. That should do it best.