Concerns - Popping/Creaking Noise from Sunroof

[Snowwhite]

Guys, this could be it? Even a gentle touch/push on that plastic cover makes loud creaking noise. I'll look further what can be done.
View attachment 89590

that cover just clicks into place. could be yours is out of place.

 

[Snicklefritz]

I think it must be this thread, up there somewhere, someone said that they pushed hard on the surrounding ceiling liner of the sunroof and got a Velcro sort of snap sound back into place and that took care of their problem with crackling from the sunroof.

 

[ivoyan]

that cover just clicks into place. could be yours is out of place.

I think the whole rail creaks (when pushing the cover that sits on top of it). Viewed the whole 50-page thread, lol... but there was a suggestion to place something just below the rail. Will try that next...

 

[Nasscar]

I suppose this issue affects a small number of cars?

I've just hit 40,000km and my car is still dead silent while on the move - no creaks, ticks or tales - just like new.

One of the lucky ones.

 

[ivoyan]

So, my clicking/creaking noise is finally fixed! I've tried few things, reassembling the whole thing a dozen times and here is what was wrong/done in my case:

As mentioned above, my click/creak noise was noticed as soon as I push the rail`s plastic cover from any direction. The same noise was observed when the car bents even slightly, due to any uneven road surface when driving. The noise was only on one side - the passenger's one. I removed all screws and lifted the glass panel only from the passenger`s side (used 2x DW-40 bottles as supports). Pushing/pressing the rail cover, unattached to the glass panel did not produce any sound - all was dead silent. So, my conclusion was that the whole glass panel clicks/creaks. Tried just removing the front 2 screws and driving without them - no creaking, but faced another issue - driving at about 140km/h produces strong wind noise from the gap. So, next I tried putting something soft between the rails and the glass panel's mounting points. Also, as suggested previously in this thread, I put several layers of soft materials that the glass panel should lay on when lowered on the rails. This is needed, so that the glass panel rests in its mounting position without any bending/twisting force applied to it when tightening the screws that fix it to the rails. For the rails, I've used simple window sealant I had laying around, for the mounting points I've used just simple double-sided duct tape (without removing the top side foil). I guess anything similar, having 1mm thickness will do...

 

[Snicklefritz]

So, my clicking/creaking noise is finally fixed! I've tried few things, reassembling the whole thing a dozen times and here is what was wrong/done in my case:

As mentioned above, my click/creak noise was noticed as soon as I push the rail`s plastic cover from any direction. The same noise was observed when the car bents even slightly, due to any uneven road surface when driving. The noise was only on one side - the passenger's one. I removed all screws and lifted the glass panel only from the passenger`s side (used 2x DW-40 bottles as supports). Pushing/pressing the rail cover, unattached to the glass panel did not produce any sound - all was dead silent. So, my conclusion was that the whole glass panel clicks/creaks. Tried just removing the front 2 screws and driving without them - no creaking, but faced another issue - driving at about 140km/h produces strong wind noise from the gap. So, next I tried putting something soft between the rails and the glass panel's mounting points. Also, as suggested previously in this thread, I put several layers of soft materials that the glass panel should lay on when lowered on the rails. This is needed, so that the glass panel rests in its mounting position without any bending/twisting force applied to it when tightening the screws that fix it to the rails. For the rails, I've used simple window sealant I had laying around, for the mounting points I've used just simple double-sided duct tape (without removing the top side foil). I guess anything similar, having 1mm thickness will do...

View attachment 89722

You scare me!

 

[ivoyan]

You scare me!

Hahaha, you don't know what I did on my previous car... Anyway, I wasn't fully satisfied, so I glued a wide M5 washer on each of the inside mounting holes of the passenger rail (3 in total). It's even better now! Thing is, I'm now starting to hear other creaks from around the car, lol...

 

[turboAWD]

So, I ordered some new felt tape to try to "definitely" try this fix this weekend. Got to it today only to discover (kind of verify, it's been a while since I last looked at it) the clicking is ONLY when the sunroof is closed. It's only reproducible when pushing on the very tip of the passenger side. But the clicking is actually coming from the TRIM to the outside (the black piece) held in place by clips. If I push on the trim near the second clip, I can hear a clicking noise.

Tried to take the trim off, and heard a rubber/tape-peeling kind of sound (or maybe tearing) as if that trim was partly glued in at the front? Anyway, before I got to a point where I couldn't restore it, I left it.

I did get the interior trim to "click" a bit when pushing on it - did that once before long ago, so maybe that had also come loose. But there seems to be no actual frame rattle, just a trim clicking/popping sound. Any suggestions on how to best fix that?

 

[Grump]

The dealer broke all the clips on those trim pieces on both sides trying to fix my sunroof, and one side eventually blew off from the car wash dryer. There are 6 clips, but its held on with rubber "velcro", basically pads of stiff rubber fingers that slip together. There's another clip at the front that hooks on, so its a back to front removal. Part numbers 81675J5000 and 81676J5000 if you want to look at google images. Instead of taking it apart, maybe try to create a gap and stuff some 2 sided tape in there.

 

[Fecker]

well, I will have to redo mine. Its driving me crazy. any turn or any twist and it clicks, like its not constant, it just happens 1x. No rattling.

I put a strip of foam sealant on rails ... but what do you say ? do we need to support glass now as well? anyone has more pics ?

 

[my19rattler]

I've recorded a video on the fix:

My rattle is back. I've moved to a much warmer climate, so it could be I'm experiencing more thermal expansion and contraction than in my temperate climate before.

I'm gonna pop the sunroof off and see what's going on this weekend. Might even try @ivoyan's crazy method if re-doing the rubber buffers and greasing the seals doesn't work

 

[Marc Collins]

My rattle is back. I've moved to a much warmer climate, so it could be I'm experiencing more thermal expansion and contraction than in my temperate climate before.

I'm gonna pop the sunroof off and see what's going on this weekend. Might even try @ivoyan's crazy method if re-doing the rubber buffers and greasing the seals doesn't work

Car sitting in hot sun definitely affects mine, even with the mod. I suspect the sunroof unit itself suffers from some contraction/expansion issues in addition to same when it is resting on top of the rails. Although 99% of my issues have always been resolved as soon as the roof is moved off the rails, even just popping the tilt function by the smallest amount possible. When the roof is open, it sits quite solidly and doesn't rattle over bumps (surprisingly), but most importantly, with no contact against the rails (or material cushioning the rails), no ticking or popping or creaking.

 

[BIG-D]

I just had a full paint correction done and my interior and glass and wheels all ceramic coated and imagine my absolute pain to drive my car home sparkling like no tomorrow and now I have a phucking creaking sunroof after 20000km's and NO issues !

Booked it in with KIA after May for crying out loud, for the TSB fix.

Not happy...

 

[Snicklefritz]

I just had a full paint correction done and my interior and glass and wheels all ceramic coated and imagine my absolute pain to drive my car home sparkling like no tomorrow and now I have a phucking creaking sunroof after 20000km's and NO issues !

Booked it in with KIA after May for crying out loud, for the TSB fix.

Not happy...

Help us visualize this. Your saying that applying ceramic and doing outside paint correction caused your sunroof to start creaking? How? What did they do exactly?

 

[Fecker]

Well I applied all the tricks here.
While normal rattling is gone i can still say that when turning and the car is leaning or going through uneven surface and the car is flexing, the will be this sound..as if tension was released. Does it once per turn for example.

Not sure what could be causing this.

 

[my19rattler]

CCar sitting in hot sun definitely affects mine, even with the mod. I suspect the sunroof unit itself suffers from some contraction/expansion issues in addition to same when it is resting on top of the rails. Although 99% of my issues have always been resolved as soon as the roof is moved off the rails, even just popping the tilt function by the smallest amount possible. When the roof is open, it sits quite solidly and doesn't rattle over bumps (surprisingly), but most importantly, with no contact against the rails (or material cushioning the rails), no ticking or popping or creaking.

I ended up taking off the entire sunroof (very easy, as you said) and found out what the issues were.

1. All of the grease in the working parts had dried up

2. The adhesive rubber matting I used on my rails had shrunk in the heat, and started to crack.

To fix this, I did the following:

- Completely removed the rubber matting on the rails, cleaned them with acetone
- Degreased the working parts of the sunroof sliding mechanism
- Regreased all of the working parts, probably to excess, but I don't even use the damn sunroof so I don't care
- Re-applied the adhesive rubber matting to the rails. The main difference this time is I applied a thin layer of grease on top of it, and let the sunroof actually sit on it. In my video, I left a gap, but I'm trying just resting it on the rails for a few weeks. The sunroof is depressed from the bodywork by maybe 1mm.
- Applied CRC808 Silicone Spray to all rubber seals
- Applied Nextzett Rubber Care Stick Gummi Pflege Stift to all of the hard rubber and plastic weather seals around the outer edges of the sunroof, including the side panels of the glass pane. I've had great results with this product to eliminate door weather seal squeaks.

Re-assembled and everything is completely silent. Whereas I had 10% noise before, it's completely gone, even with the cloth cover open and driving over a bumpy surface.

Doing things this comprehensively probably took a couple of hours and I let everything settle and cure overnight before I took it for a test drive, but it was worth the extra labour.

It's been about 2 years since I applied the initial rubber matting, so it makes sense that it was dried up and worn out. Although I'm annoyed Kia obviously doesn't clean and regrease the sun roof during major services, I'm now more than comfortable doing it myself, and replacing the rubber matting on the rails if needed.

Would highly recommend fully taking off the sun roof glass pane (using a friend to help if you don't have the wingspan) as it gives you a way better view of what's going on in there. It gives far greater access to parts that aren't visible if you do the one side/other side method as in my video.

I'd make another video, but if I never see another T25 bolt, it'll be too soon.

 

[Marc Collins]

I ended up taking off the entire sunroof (very easy, as you said) and found out what the issues were.

1. All of the grease in the working parts had dried up

2. The adhesive rubber matting I used on my rails had shrunk in the heat, and started to crack.

To fix this, I did the following:

- Completely removed the rubber matting on the rails, cleaned them with acetone
- Degreased the working parts of the sunroof sliding mechanism
- Regreased all of the working parts, probably to excess, but I don't even use the damn sunroof so I don't care
- Re-applied the adhesive rubber matting to the rails. The main difference this time is I applied a thin layer of grease on top of it, and let the sunroof actually sit on it. In my video, I left a gap, but I'm trying just resting it on the rails for a few weeks. The sunroof is depressed from the bodywork by maybe 1mm.
- Applied CRC808 Silicone Spray to all rubber seals
- Applied Nextzett Rubber Care Stick Gummi Pflege Stift to all of the hard rubber and plastic weather seals around the outer edges of the sunroof, including the side panels of the glass pane. I've had great results with this product to eliminate door weather seal squeaks.

Re-assembled and everything is completely silent. Whereas I had 10% noise before, it's completely gone, even with the cloth cover open and driving over a bumpy surface.

Doing things this comprehensively probably took a couple of hours and I let everything settle and cure overnight before I took it for a test drive, but it was worth the extra labour.

It's been about 2 years since I applied the initial rubber matting, so it makes sense that it was dried up and worn out. Although I'm annoyed Kia obviously doesn't clean and regrease the sun roof during major services, I'm now more than comfortable doing it myself, and replacing the rubber matting on the rails if needed.

Would highly recommend fully taking off the sun roof glass pane (using a friend to help if you don't have the wingspan) as it gives you a way better view of what's going on in there. It gives far greater access to parts that aren't visible if you do the one side/other side method as in my video.

I'd make another video, but if I never see another T25 bolt, it'll be too soon.

Happy for you and sorry it takes this much work to overcome the "features" of a bad design.

I have thought about slathering the grease liberally as you describe, expecting that it would cure that last 10%, but am hesitant because I do occasionally use the roof and the grease will be like a magnet to all dust and dirt encountered when the roof is open. But if you prefer roof closed, no question that what you did is the best approach. It's what the dealers know they can do, but wouldn't to avoid warranty claims (when the dealers are technically responsible for glaring squeaks and rattles).

In a just world, every KIA, Genesis and Hyundai dealer would be forced to do this every year for every car affected as part of normal servicing, with the extra costs tabulated and passed to the engineers making decisions about the design of future panoramic sunroofs. Ha ha...

 

[Fecker]

Hopefully I can find a solution to my issue haha one day

 

[Fecker]

I will be removing the sunroof tomorrow. I think that now after making everything stiff under the glass/rails, the top glass itself cracks. I need to get to the bottom of that !

 

[my19rattler]

I will be removing the sunroof tomorrow. I think that now after making everything stiff under the glass/rails, the top glass itself cracks. I need to get to the bottom of that !

Damn, that's so annoying.

At this point if someone sold a metal or carbon fibre replacement for the sunroof, I'd install it. I never use the damn thing anyway, it's just an annoyance.