Rattling Side Window

[STANLEY, Murray]

How do I fix a rattling side window? The offending window is on the
passenger's side and makes an annoying rattle when it is in the up position
and the soft top is down. The rattling is worse if the window is not quite
at the top of its travel. When the top is up, the window does not rattle at
all. I understand that it is possible to adjust the window alignment to get
better weather sealing against the top, however I am loath to touch this as
the weather sealing is perfect.

I am keen to get this fixed as the window spoiled an otherwise glorious run
into Milford Sound last weekend. The road to Milford on a fine day must be
the best sports car drive in NZ. If you schedule your run to avoid the
buses the drive is unbelievable. Doing the trip in a a saloon car just
would not give the same experience due to the tin roof obstructing the view
of the sheer mountains on either side of the road. The drive through the
Homer Tunnel with the top down is an experience of a different kind. You
get fabulous amplification of the sweet MX5 exhaust note and very refreshing
dousings of driver and passenger from the water leaking through the tunnel's
unlined roof!


Cheers,
Murray Stanley - UK3068

[Chic & Morven]

Murray,

There are a couple of things you can try. If you look at the underside of the
door you will see 3 nuts. These fasten the window rail to the car . Make sure
they are tight (you may actually have some of these missing). If these are ok
then you need some internal surgery. Remove the interior door handle/arm rest
and the bath shaped black plastic around the interior door opener. Pull off
the speaker panel, then the door panel. This will give you access to the bolts
that attach the window to the car. Make sure these are all tight. You will
need to raise and lower the window to make the bolt heads match the access
holes in the body work.

As for the Homer tunnel, it is awsome. We were admiring the scenery so much,
we forgot to put our headlights on. Arrrgggg... Who turned the sun off.

Hope this helps

Chic

[zorruno]

I think you may have to take the door panel off, I have seen the window
fastening bolts fallen out before and the others loose on a '90. I've heard
of others having the same problem. Hopefully it is just the lower window
rail fasteners though as Chic first said.

Taking the door panels off is very quick once you get the hang of it and the
windows can't really rattle if all the fastners are tight. Maybe use a
little loctite on the nuts or fit split washers if you're worried about it
happening again. I've taken my door panels off/on about 20 times - I'm sure
chic has done at least double that number!