Pillar less rant

[Dand]

Hi there all. I have a c208 CLK which i often turn into Mr ocd over as im on a mission to preserve it as much as possible. My problem is i run a bar and often give friends lifts home after they have had one or two sherberts and after telling them not to countless times not to i still get the "cheers for the lift mate" followed by my passenger door being slammed shut by the window. After about four years of this my passenger side window has developed an annoying rattle which is starting to get on my nerves to the point where i have to drive everywhere with the stereo on. Dose any one know of any D.I.Y. ways i can fix this?

Cheers Dan

 

[tpwuk]

Not so much a "pillar less" rant but more of a "door frameless" rant! The W208 Coupe isn't pillar less, the convertible is though!

Just before letting your friends out of the car, lower your window!

 

[Dand]

Very true. Yeah I resorted to that a few months back and it has helped but the damage has been done ive been looking for a Haynes manual for advice but i cant seen to find one, do you know if they do one for this car?

Cheers

 

[tpwuk]

I don't think they do but you can buy the WIS system from fleabay....

MERCEDES CLK CLASS WORKSHOP REPAIR & SERVICE MANUAL on eBay (end time 20-Aug-10 12:54:24 BST)

And very good it is too! A must have!!

 

[khimani_mohiki]

i had the same problem on my SEC. Took the door card off and kept thumping the bottom of the door until i could identify what was making the noise, turns out the window runner lower bolt was loose.

 

[Dand]

Thanks for the link tpwuk ive been looking all over for something like that as there are quite a few DIY jobs i have in mind for my car over the summer months. Thanks also khimani_mohiki i have a feeling it could be something along those lines. Ooo an Sec, thats one of my all time fave cars. do you still have it?

 

[ianstaley]

Like most of these anoying pasengers, they allways have to shut the door like it weighs 5 tones. perhaps they are used to buying ford's or some other crap. I would remove the door card and check the window frames in which the window rises and falls, it should be a sort of U shaped channel with some sort of material in it, in all probability it will have two or even three mounting bolts on each side, top and bottom of the door, just tighten them up and afterwards make sure the window opens and closes without snags. BUT be aware there is a plastic sheet behind the door card, be very carefull when removeing it and don't forget to put it back. It is to keep the rain and wet off your door card, stops it going mushy. Ian

 

[Dand]

Haha, very true ianstaley. There normally very careful with the car but when they have had a few drinks they kinda forget and its always the top corner they opt for so you can see the window almost bend before it moves cheers for warning us about the membrane type thing. in a previous car i found a tiny overlap on the adhesive part of it lead to a very soggy rear carpet.

 

[Hi-Ho Silver]

Never considered this before. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Hmm, this reminds me of my X1/9, where I found that using the glass to close the doors was the only way to ensure that it didn't foul the rubber seal attached to the underside the roof panel. The X1/9 obviously didn't have the refinement of an auto-drop facility on the door glass to aid closure, which was just as well as the electric windows never worked for more than five minutes at a time anyway...

Have to admit that one of the qualities I like about a well-built car is the fact that you can close the door with a hefty shove and hear it make a satisfying clunk or thud, rather than the tinny, hollow rattle you tend to get with lesser models. Better still, though, were the superbly engineered latches on traditionally coachbuilt cars, allowing the chauffeur to close the door with nothing more than a gentle push - a function now performed by the electronic door closers fitted to various upmarket models.

By the way, not sure it's accurate to refer to any two-door car as pillarless, convertible or not. The pillar is what usually separates the front and rear doors, so a car is only truly pillarless if the front and rear doors form a seal against each other instead. I suppose the nearest we've got this on sale today are the Mazda RX8 and Mini Clubman.