I just finished the last door on the topless shark.  In most cases with the coupe I had the windows either all the way up or all the way down.  With the convertible it is nice to put the windows part way to redirect the wind.  So I finally had to get into the doors to see what makes them tick.

There are many things in the doors that can rattle including the latches and miles will cause almost all of the nuts and bolts to come loose.

I followed these steps.

1. First I tightened the door latches so that the doors close tight.  On the coupe this included shimming out the door gaskets near the top of the door to cut down wind noise at high speeds.

2. The outside door handle on one side was loose.  The theft protection panel by the door lock needs to be removed to access the handle and the window rolled down.  There are two hex bolts that are tough to get too, but tightening these fixes a loose door handle.

3. The bumper guides in the top of the door had lost their rubber parts. These I repaired them from parts I found at the hardware store - some stick on rubber bumpers and some sticky felt was much cheaper and $30 each that these cost.  At first I thought that this would fix the whole problem but even adjusting them tight, while it made the window action up and down smoother it did not take away the rattle when the window was part way down.

4. I tighten all of the bolts holding the window mechanism and put blue Loctite on all of them.  If they came loose now we will not be able to blame Porsche.  There is an adjustment at the bottom of the window regulator that can be moved up a bit since the window keeps running down and putting pressure on the door even after it is disappeared into the door.  I am sure that the constant flexing is not that good for future metal fatigue.

5. There are a number of wires (and vacuum tubes on the older models) that can rattle.  These had been rerouted inside both of my doors.  They are supposed the run alone the top of the door with clips holding them in place. On my 78 Porsche had added some padding below the wires - this was missing from the 86.  I added in a couple of strips of foam and some tie straps. Every little bit helps.

6. While in there I took the opportunity to lubricate every thing including the power door locks.  The power door locks will fail it they get stuck and cause the doors to unlock.

7. The final thing that made the most difference was the replacement of the two plastic runners on the vertical bar.  These have very tight tolerances and very small contact areas.  The new ones are tight when installed and immediately remove all of the play in the windows.  Part numbers 928.537.260.02 and 928.537.289.02 (these are right hand for the left 01). The parts cost less than $30 a door and are available from our good friends at DEVEK or your local dealer.  I was able to get the left side tightened up using a toothpick in the rubber portion of the lower guide to tighten the tolerances and a tie strap of the upper guide.  But given the low cost of these parts, ease of replacement and the end results it is well worth the investment on new parts.

8. Both doors were missing the plastic inner liners.  These act as moisture barriers and can block moisture that gets inside the door during rain
storms. The inner portion of the door panel is made of material that simply melts and rots under wet conditions.  I made a new moisture barrier out of some 4 mill plastic again from the hardware store.


As a result the windows no longer rattle when first rolling down and operate like a Mercedes through the entire cycle.  There is no rattle or play when the windows are partly down.

There are many adjustments on the window position.  When installing the new parts be sure to test the operation before putting the panel back on. I counted at least nine adjustments that can be made when installing the windows so these need to be balanced

Pictures to follow - sure is nice to drive the car and not hear a lot of
rattles when I hit a bump. Now it is one to sanitizing the trunk.

Dan Brindle

======================

John,

Someone wrote a tip a year ago that never ended up in Greg Nichols Tips.

To remove the play in the white plastic guides, simply use an electrical tie wrap. If it ever wears out replace it with a new tie wrap.

I did this fix a year ago and it is still fine.

Earl Gillstrom '88 S4 5 Speed 102K

                          

92853725902 lower left slide    92853726002 lower right slide        92853728902 upper left slide     92853729000 upper right slide

==========

Hi,
talking about my GTS on this list made me think I still needed to fix that window rattle at the driver side. Well, I did. Took about one hour to try my newest idea and it worked just great. Here's what I did:
I removed the interior door panel (step by step procedure on my web).
Then verified that the 92853725902, the lower left side slide, was the culprit. Window half way up you clearly feel a lot of play in the windshield.
I took off the part by release the two 10mm bolts. These bolts are held in the slide, so no need to remove them completely. They stay in the slide.
I made 3 small shims, 10mmx5mm of very thin sheet metal. Turned the loosened slide 180 degrees, located the rubber bit, pushed these shims behind the rubber bit which is supposed to compensate any play. Here's a link to the part: 92853725902 lower left slide.jpg  Easy to do.
Then turned the slide back into place, tightened the 10mm bolts again and tested. Perfect!
Next is put the panel back in place and close up.
I hope it lasts another 17 years with this mod. It sure beats replacing the complete slide :)
regards
Theo
1992 928gts Midnight Blue (2006-)
1988 928s4 Cherry Red (1999-2006)
The Netherlands
http://jenniskens.livedsl.nl
http://928gts.jenniskens.eu