Infuriating, loud interior squeak from minor road imperfections

[SeeYa]

Folks, it's coming from the driver's side rear cabin. I cannot for the life of me figure it out. I've tried jiggling the seat belts, lowering and rasing the seat, looked for something inside the under-floor compartment in the rear, and nothing appears to be loose.

It's in response to bumps in the roads, really just normal road imperfections, and its driving me insane!

Again, just asking, aware it's a huge long shot, but on the odd chance that anyone else has experienced something like this, if there's any advice.

It's a CPO (2019 X6 35i) and I've got an appointment next week to take it in, but just trying to see if there's any crowd wisdom on this one.

TIA!

[RED_Y_]

Check this thread out:
https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1597646

[Clifton]

Agree with RED_Y on this. Also, a quick fix I use is to apply light coat of marine/heavy duty grease on the tailgate L/R contact points. Noise instantly gone and I only have to reapply annually.

[F15_SGM]

It's not the tailgate. It's in the trunk under the floor mat. There's these two metal things on left and right side for cargo net you have to push it flush or it will make that noise.

[SeeYa]

Originally Posted by osmansiddiqui95

It's not the tailgate. It's in the trunk under the floor mat. There's these two metal things on left and right side for cargo net you have to push it flush or it will make that noise.

Got a pic?

[F15_SGM]

[SeeYa]

Yeah, I tried fiddling with those. No effect.

It must be something in the tailgate door. This morning, I got my car washed. (exterior only)

On the way to the car wash, the noise was horrible.

After the car wash the noise was WAY quieter. Not gone, but much much quieter.

[SeeYa]

I tried wrapping the spots in the video that RED_Y_ posted, creak/squeak is still there.

I wonder if I'm dealing with what this guy did in post 6.

[dr_greenthumb]

What about the rear seats, where they fold down, or the connections that hold the seats upright.

Try folding down the seats, and see if it goes away?

[SeeYa]

Originally Posted by dr_greenthumb

What about the rear seats, where they fold down, or the connections that hold the seats upright.

Try folding down the seats, and see if it goes away?

Did that, no resolution.

[Clifton]

Did you try greasing the left and right touch points? Worth a shot...

As to post #6, you can remove those tie-down cleats to see if they are a cause as well.

[SeeYa]

Brief update - oddly I think the tape method is working. I drove to lunch with a colleague, 30 mins each way and it was unusually quiet.

[ErikV55]

Originally Posted by Clifton

Agree with RED_Y on this. Also, a quick fix I use is to apply light coat of marine/heavy duty grease on the tailgate L/R contact points. Noise instantly gone and I only have to reapply annually.

Had this too and wrapped them in electric tape. problem has been solved for 2+ years.

[skoold2003]

My infuriating rattle is in the rear passenger seat. I'm about to just take the damn seat out!

[SeeYa]

Well the infuriating squeak is back.

I think when the car is wet, it doesn't squeak. So this past weekend I got a car wash, then it rained, etc, no issues.

Car has now been dry for 36+ hours and it squeaked like mad this morning.

Sigh.

[Clifton]

Give the grease a try....

10 places to lube and takes minutes.

Left and right contact points on the chassis and tailgate (images 1 & 2)

Latch mechanism (image 3 & 4)

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by SeeYa

Well the infuriating squeak is back.

I think when the car is wet, it doesn't squeak. So this past weekend I got a car wash, then it rained, etc, no issues.

Car has now been dry for 36+ hours and it squeaked like mad this morning.

Sigh.

Have you tried greasing the contact points in the tailgate interface with the rear body? That will effectively make them “wet” all the time. That’s what cured our tailgate rattle.

EDIT: exactly as on east above me. Beat me to it - ha! But that’s exactly like I did.

[SeeYa]

Originally Posted by tlow98

Have you tried greasing the contact points in the tailgate interface with the rear body? That will effectively make them “wet” all the time. That’s what cured our tailgate rattle.

EDIT: exactly as on east above me. Beat me to it - ha! But that’s exactly like I did.

The contact points have electrical tape on them at the points of contact. I can't imagine that they would squeak with electrical tape on them, but what do I know?

I can try removing the tape and putting a small amount of grease on them, but I'm also going to temper my expectations.

[Clifton]

Originally Posted by SeeYa

The contact points have electrical tape on them at the points of contact.

Are you saying you taped all 10 contact points with tape? I'd like to see your setup.

[suitedcboy]

I have UHMW polyethylene tape for years. The last I got was on Amazon as APT brand. It is what many carmakers use as a preformed rectangle on doors and other body part attachment clip holes. I put it on the tailgate contacts and on tailgate where the inside panels touch each other. For the lower tailgate I use Gorilla duct tape and put strips over all the plastic "tongues" and anywhere where the two panel parts for the lower gate touch each other with the UHMW at a few places where the panel has left any teeltale sign it touched. BMW uses the method of pnales that should not touch the body part they attach to due to the attaching clip position having higher profile to give a gap all way around. After time plastic changes/deforms/shrinks and stuff touches. I have pulld the surround trim around tailgate and taped lots of places and any contact between pieces and on select places on any removable piece like tailgate mounted inside lights. I also taped clips and other contacts of the back quarter trims where the speakers are. Several friends call me Monk due to my OCD about squeaks, rattles, and fit of panels. My X5 has 108K and it is squeak free (but probably weighs a kilo more owing to weight of noise arresting tape).
BTW, the upper tailgate squeak is usually going to make itself known when latch closing sequence happens on power tailgate closing.

[SeeYa]

Originally Posted by Clifton

Are you saying you taped all 10 contact points with tape? I'd like to see your setup.

I'll post a pic if I have a minute, but basically all the points in the pics above.

This morning I put some brake grease both on the contact points of tailgate and on the body of the car, and including the metal latch hoop on the tailgate as well as the area where it goes in on the body of the car.

It's still in warranty, I'm going to let the dealer figure it out the first week in January because I'll be headed out of town and I can let them work on it over a few days.

[SeeYa]

Well the greasing was an enormous fail. Squeaks like mad almost immediately out of the driveway.

I'm just going to let the dealer figure it out in January, in the mean time I'll just have to get my car washed every day. 🙄