Cobra body squeek

[mustangrmyk]

I have seen comments here and other forums about Mustang body noises. I took my '01 Cobra in for service and to have a squeek repaired. After 3 days of driving it around and disassembling the interior, they have come to the conclusion that the right "B" pillar is cracked. They need to weld and repaint it.

The car is not raced or abused and only has 25k on it.

Have any of you seen or heard this before?:shrug:

 

[99COBRA2881]

Id get subframes on the car asap after the repair, something isnt right. I'd ask the dealership doing the work why this happened? If they cant answer take it on up the chain 'til you get an answer.

 

[manystangs]

I've never heard of that problem, but that doesn't mean it wont happen. That really sucks, make sure the find out why it happend.

 

[pj951]

I was able to eliminate a really loud right "B" pillar squeak without welding. The squeak occurred only when turning right into driveways with an elevation change, also when backing out. It really sounded from in the car as if it was coming from around the right quarter glass. It wasn't.


http://community.webshots.com/album/55415893NRJYip


(I tried welding, it didn't help. In my case the squeak was originating from the passenger door striker area inside the quarter panel. I could precisely duplicate the squeak by attaching vise grips on the pinch weld area next to the door striker, then wiggling the vise grips.)

Peter J.

edit: My car had this noise from day 1, it wasn't "cracked". If there really is a "crack" that can be seen, of course have it welded up. My squeak/creak was coming from an inner plate that reinforces the door striker, where about 3 layers of inner and outer panels are sandwiched together, (as the car flexes) pressure on the door striker from the weight of the door exerts pressure on those panels. In this case, lubricating those panels where they are sandwiched together eliminated the metal on metal noise.

 

[mustangrmyk]

Thanks Peter.

This is exactly what is going on. I just visited the dealer's body shop and the manager duplicated the noise by pulling on the striker by hand. There are no visible breaks or cracks.

I'm going to relay this info to him.

 

[silverstreak]

Sounds like a common problem.I have the same noise coming from the right side.I was about to order a rear shock tower brace to eliminate what I thought was body flex.Now I'll look at the door striker.Thanks for the info.

 

[pj951]

The production date of my car is 9/01.

I will speculate that this "resonance" is an unforseen glitch, not a production/assembly problem, the internal spot welding in this area is minimal, probably just enough to maintain alignment of the assemblies and locate the door striker, it's not an area where a lot of structural elements come together.

The fact that I could fully reproduce the resonance with just a pair of vise grips in a particular spot tells me that this is something very localized.

 

[mustangrmyk]

Mine was built 6/29/01 so they're a couple of months apart. May or may not be something common.

The body shop manager said he had not seen this one before but has had other body noise complaints before.

I am supposed to get the car back Monday. I will let you know what they actually did to repair it.

 

[mustangrmyk]

OK, I got the car back today. It was in the shop 7 days. The body shop was able to "tweak" the metal in the door jamb/pillar enough to stop the squeek. No rewelding or painting was needed. Squeek is gone, I'm cool!