Quieting 126 Squeaky Door Panels

[dave geibel]

I recently restored a 1989 300se. While the car was in the body shop, my body man removed all the interior panels to do a complete paint job. I took all the door panels and the rear dash panel home to clean and redye them. I purchased cleaner/solvent and spray dye from World Upholstery and was very pleased how well my panels came out. My interior is grey, and their dye is right on in matching and very easy to use. It is not cheap, but 1 can goes will easily do 2 coats on each door panel, so it goes a pretty long way.

Anyhow, I took the panels completely apart to properly clean and redye them. I’ve been told that you can quiet down the squeakiness by using everything from leather cleaner to spray on silicone. I’ve tried it on another 126 I owned in the past, and it doesn’t work.

I played around with the panels while I had them apart, and the only parts that actually rub against each other to cause the squeaks are the decorative insert Panels ( mine are the ones with the diagonal stripe design) and the door panel itself. While the panels are off, you can easily see the impression left on the smaller insert panel from the back side of the main door panel.

I went to Sam’s club and bought a large roll of commercial self adhesive Velcrose. The Velcrose is over 1 inch wide, and I used the soft side of the velcose. I cut numerous 3/8” wide strips about 3 feet in length. I then simply applied the soft velcrose to the small panel right over the impressions left by the large panel. I covered every impression mark all the way around the panel. After I finished each panel, I repositioned each inner panel into the main door panel to make sure that none of the velcrose could be seen, then I reattached the panels together with the original panel hardware.

After the car was finally back on the road, I was pleasantly surprised that ALL my door panel squeaks were gone, and have not returned. Now the only problem is that I have to find all the other noises I can now hear from the rest of the car.