126 creaking door panel cards
 

Hi all I have not been able to pinpoint and rectify the creaking noises from all the four door panels . I have removed them twice the first time i applied a muslin cloth backing to the pastic contact areas and the second time i added silicon glue to areas where there is movement between the cardboard and plastic ,wood insert tightened .
I would very much like to hear from some one who has been able to erectify this problem.Thanks
mak
300SE 126 80K miles.

Are you sure it is the door panels?

A common creak point in the 124 and 201 is where the seat leather (or 'tex) contacts the plastic trim on the side of the seat cushion (when you are sitting on the seat), creaks and sounds nasty.

Try putting a little silicone grease (aka: plumber's grease) on that area of the seat sides (both sides of both seats) and wipe it off again to see if it changes. Aerospace 303 protectant should also work, possibly silicone spray lubricant on a paper towel, ... you get the idea.

I'd kind of hate to be right with all the work you've put into the door panel though.

My squeaks seem to come from the speaker grills in the doors.

Stop listening to Cyndi Lauper.

I think the door cards in my SDL creek too, I've tried to pay attention and I don't think it's the seats.

-Jason

to isolate the source i removed all the door cards ,the car became quiet ,no rattles ,squeaks or creaks of any kind ; as the door cards are reinstalled the noise comes back. seems as if the wooden board insert and plastic are producing the creaks . the seat cannot be a issue here as the car has velour fabric seats .
mak
300se

3M Product to reduce squeeks
 

I read on one of the Benz forums somewhere that 3M makes a teflon tape, fairly narrow product in size. Someone had mentioned that the noise comes from the door panels contacting the metal of the cars door frame and that the tape placed on the door frame cut out the noise. Just a thought that might be your situation.

Boy, this thread brings back some memories...

On an aging W126, there are a bunch of squeaks and rattles. The majority of squeaks from the doors are caused by the inner door panel plastic rubbing against the plastic sill plates. It is easily remedied by using anti-squeak tape applied to the upper inside corner along the length of the door panel. Basically the full length of where the sill plate fits up into it. Anti-squeak tape is very thin and made out of dense foam, with adhesive backing on one side. I got mine from eBay. After doing this, my door squeaks were reduced about 95 percent!

I have the same issue on my passenger side front door. Makes almost a creak sound.

I recently investigated and found that one of the plastic fingers on the panel that slide down and interlock to the door shell had never been properly installed....this was evidenced by the fact that the white plastic liner was never broken at that point. However even after correcting this, it still makes a creak sound, only not as bad. Need to look at again in more detail.

As to the door sills...I lube mine with 303 Aerospace protectant. Works good, but wears off quickly.

Mercedes Silikonpaste A000 989 84 51 fixes the problem for about 5 years and has to be repeated. It stops the noise 100% and is worth the price. A very small amount is needed. It really does work if applied to the vinyl on the door panel edge.

FIXED
 

yes after all the testing and isolating all the creaks have gone.
The fix was to put paper tape along the bottom edge of the door running the whole length .

its seems the the vinyl door edge rubs against the sill producing the creaks in the top area ,very misleading.
mak
300se

Oh my... my old 1985 380SE had horrible sounding door panels... all of them moaned and creaked. I sold the car like that and even the new owner mentioned it. It was not until later I read on here the cure, about the tape/felt on the lower door panels, or I would have definitely done that!

I once test drove a 1989 300SEL and it was the same way, not as bad though.

Now I have a 1988 300SEL and it does not make these sounds (yet), but when I first bought it, there was a minor creak coming from the right front door panel... only at certain temps. I applied the felt tape and its as quiet as can be. NO sounds from the door panels... in fact the entire interior is amazingly squeak, creak and rattle free! :)

I took an Exacto knife and carefully trimmed off the plastic lip that runs along the top edge of the door sill. That completely eliminates the bottom door edge squeak, and no ugly tape or foam.

Wouldnt it be great to see some pics of where folks are placing the tape to knock out the squeeks ;)

Mine almost definatly appear to be coming from the wood inserts and the noise in the interior is almost maddening. I hope to dissassemble it one time and reassemble it having applied all these fixes.

source of noise
 

I had mentioned the creaks do seem to emanate from the top area and especially the wood inserts .that's why i had glued and re-tightened them .Still creaky!

All the noise stopped after taping the lower running edge of the door panel . This touches the plastic sill plate and causes the creaks .
mak
300se