Hi all,

I have noticed as my 15 RX350 has aged the soft touch plastic seems to be creaking as they flex against each other. It happens over even the smallest imperfection now. Seems more prominent on the driver side back door specifically but I have heard it from all doors. What can I do to solve the problem?

Jim

 

Are you certain the noise is actually coming from your door panels? I do not recall anyone previously reporting this as an issue.

 

Yes, I am positive it is from the door panel(s). I can recreate the same sound by applying slight pressure to the area where there is a seam (where two portions of the material meet) and the same creaking sound occurs. Cruising on smooth roads there is no noise it seems that it only occurs when the car passes over bumps...

Jim

 

You may want to pull your door panels (often called "door cards" in the repair industry) off and have a look at the fir tree-type plastic fasteners that hold them in place. As time goes by, these plastic fasteners can weaken, get loose, and sometimes even crumble into pieces, thereby allowing the door card to move around slightly in some areas. I have always been able to find a variety of new fir tree-type fasteners at NAPA, Advance Auto Parts, etc. Earlier this year I had to replace a couple of microswitches in the driver's door latch assembly in my wife's 2006 Jaguar XK8 convertible. This meant removing that door card, and I when I did so I saw that some of the original factory fir tree-type plastic fasteners had indeed weakened and/or broke. I took one with me to NAPA and matched it up with a bag of about 15 of them for less than $7.