I wouldn't recommend using armor-all on the door seals, armor-all isn't meant for that type of rubber it could end up drying it out worse. My Bentley book suggests using only talc or chalk powders on the door seals. It worked well for me.

 

+1 I don't touch armor-all stuff. I use Meguire's protectant which seem to work well. Which talc or chalk powder did you use? That makes sense. I remeber seeing some powdery stuff on the seals when I first got the car.

 

I just used some old unscented talc powder I had lying around that I use on drysuit seals.

 

wow thats a good idea, i'll try that.

 

Why not baby powder ?? I like the smell It's also good on other rubber gaskets like trunk and hood.

BTW, another tip is to use a brush on the felt-nap door seals. That will clean out the junk that may collect in them and freshen up the fuzziness of them.

Then I use a good detail spray - BUT NOT ON THE SEAL ... on the surface around the door where the seal lines up. That seems to silence any rubbing noises. And it doesn't leave behind any waxy residue that could gunk up the fuzzy stuff.

 

Same issue. This interior is the cheapest I've seen in any BMW...thus ultimate decision on my reasoning for voting E39 best BMW ever built.
On felt door seals I use a lint brush. Then I coat with vaseline on felt and the rubbers. Anyone telling you vaseline is bad for your rubber seals hasn't invested the recent research into this debate.
Also the doors panels seem to be hollow and cheaply made. I will be taking them off this weekend and spray foam inside of them or use some sort of padding before I re-attach.
The sunroof metal against glass rattle has to be the most annoying thing next to the rear seat constantly squeaking.
On my list of this weekend's things to fix.


just to add, I've been using vaseline on the seals for 10 yrs. I've never had to even replace the seal in my average 4 yr ownership of any BMW. I have a 10 yr old E39 with 200K+ miles and still good!

 

I'm having the same problem but with my drivers seat...... any ideas other that WD40??

 

I have an 08 BMW 550i and I have the same problem. It creaking all over inside the interior when I come to a complete stop, take off, or make any sort of turns. Drives me nuts when I turned off the radio so I can hear the v-8 meowwwwwwwww. I must say, that is the only complainted I have so far with my BMW, everything else is (knocked, knocked) awesome!! I will buy another BMW again in a heartbeat.

 

Guys - I had this maddening creak eminating from my back seat and spent a large amount of time driving around like an idiot with my head twisted in every direction tying to find it! Mine would creak most when leaving our driveway when the body twists lightly and slightly bumpy roads. Eventually I got in the trunk and had my wife drive up and down the driveway - this really must have had the neigbours perplexed!!

The creak was in da trunk!! If you lie flat on our back on the trunk floor with your head touching the back seat panel (your feet will most probably hang out and it will look like a Mafia hit) and you look straight up you will see a gap formed by the back of the seat and a metal lip - the gap is about 2-3 centimeters wide. If you force something into this gap the creaking stops!! I used a long piece of rolled up cloth that I stuffed in the length of this gap and cut 4 chipboard blocks which I forced into the gap to keep the cloth in place - lo and behold.......my creaky ol 530D became whisper quiet. I know this is not a high tech fix but nobody knows the gap is stuffed with cloth and woodblocks and my car is no longer driving me mad!

 

Cant believe nobody has mentioned the product Gummi phledge I believe its called. German for rubber conditioner or something along those sorts. Google it and you can get it online. NEVER use silicone or wd40 on the rubber seals, you will completely destroy them. Use gummi 2 times per year and your seals are still beautiful and no noise. You can also use this on all your engine rubber hoses-mine after 4 years and 65k miles still have all the hoses in my engine bay absolutely looking new with no dryness or cracking. You also can use this on your rear window exterior seal which tends to crack.

Another source of door creaking is the running board area that has the silver "metal" plate with bmw on it. You can just lift up and it pops off-there are 4 pop-it screws that pop out and then you just push them in to re-attach. Dust and dirt accumulates severely under there and causes all sorts of noise rubbing on the plastic surfaces.

Another thing is to get lithium grease and lube all your power seat motors and tracks.

If it still does not work you can take your door skins off very very easily, it literally pops off as well after you take out one screw and look for anything loose or put some extra padding in there. Creaking drives me nuts but mine was fixed after I took the above steps.