Ideas for squeaking door trim panels?
 

On my 97 SE, if I lean my knee against the inside of the driver's door while driving, the interior door trim panel has a ferocious squeak to it. The passenger door does it too. It's as if the panel is attached poorly. I noticed new cars seem solid and don't do this.

My doors have no doubt been apart a few times for installers to put in new speakers, and probably for the body shop to remove the sideview mirrors for refinishing. I wonder if some attachment tabs might be broken or something.

My questions: Is this a chronic problem for our Bonnevilles? My wife's 2001 Grand Prix GT does it too. Do they all do it, or does it indicate something is broken, like the attachment clips that hold on the door panel?

And does anyone have advice or tips on how to go about making the thing quiet? All advice welcome!
-Mark

The first reaction would be to say...Keep your knee to yourself.. :lol:

On a more realistic note, the door panels are held on with a couple of bolts, one torx bolt and plastic push in holders.

The bolts are behind the upper handle part, where the power mirror adjustment would be, and the other behind the light. The torx is behind the handle, there is a little pop in piece of plastic in front of it.

A good chance the plastic push in pieces are losing their ability to hold well. You can usuallly pick up new ones at the autoparts store. Maybe in the HELP area.

Can you describe where your knee is leaning and where the squeak is coming from.

The part my knee hits is the lower-front plastic part that houses the stereo speaker. I'd like to take the trim panel off and see if the plastic fasteners might be weak or broken, are there any other tools needed to remove the door trim other than Torx tools? I've seen long fork-like prying tools for popping out trim clips, and wonder if I need one of those or not. I'm just paranoid about breaking something.
-Mark

LOL...mine were never off,,,,until recently when I ripped the drivers side mirror off backing out of the garage *$#@!@#.....mine does the exact same thing! Its just a quirk in our bonnies,,,,an otherwise awesome car!

Tools needed: 10 mm socket. Super small screwdriver for removing light. T20 torx. A pair of hands.

Once you take out the two 10mm bolts and the torx, starting at the bottom of the door work your way around with your hands. No need for the pry tool. Then you can see if your plastic pushy things are in need of replacement. BTW...you will have wires to unhook.

Search under Randman1 for posts on exactly how to take the door apart, if you'd like more indepth instructions. I'm tired and can't say those are the best I've done. :lol:

I have a 97 and yes the same nasty squeak as yours in the same place as yours....

This one is interesting to me as I also have a 97, but it's my 95 that squeaks. And understandibly there's a few more parts to squeak.

I'll be resting my knee on it trying to make it squeak tonight.

alot of the squeeks come from the bottom of the door panel rubbing on the sill plate plastic. (and also the plastic at the front of the door opening) I put little felt self adhesive pads along the bottom of the door panel so when you close the door, they provide a gap. No squeek since it is no longer plastic on plastic, but plastic on felt.