Noisy Dash - Partial Fix

[noone]

When I first bought my GTI, it had been driven around 9,000 kms in the first 2.5 years of its life. It was kept in very good condition and did not have any cabin noise when driving. After having had the little beast for a couple of weeks and doing the ECU and springs, the whole dash became a mess of creaks and groans (guess I may have driven it a little harder than the nice old lady I bought it from). It got to the point recently where I decided to reduce the tyre pressure down to about 34psi all round to reduce the dash talking and sounding like an old spring bed every time the rear wheels hit any small bump or the road changed Camber quick enough to put a little strain on the chassis.

I noticed that by poking and prodding my way around the dash over the last while, it seemed to be the central console area was the main culprit.

I had some time on my hands, so I started pulling everything at the front off, only to soon decide I was in over my head after only removing a few small panels from the passengers side. After putting all that back (with a screw left over of course) I decided to look at the central dash which was always where I expected to make the most headway.

I removed the top tray (same as is required when installing the Dash Cubby) and the 2 screws (hex) that hold the top of the central dash section in place.

With this section loosened, I pulled back the dash as far as was practical and used a foam tape (from Bunnings, used for door insulation) between all the surfaces that would meet. I put a few sections of non-slip-matt on top of the exposed area before putting the tape around the area the tray would sit in.

After putting it all back together, the majority of the squeaks are gone, mainly the ones that were easily triggered!

As I'm sure there are plenty of areas in the dash that could cause a noise, if you think this may relate to you, then there is an easy test to see if this will help: when sitting in the vehicle pull the tray towards you and push it away from you, if it creaks and groans then this 15 minute, $6 experiment may mean you can put the window up, turn the stereo down and put the typre pressure back to where it should be.

Previously I had other squeaks which sounded like they came from the door / side dash and were repaired by the dealer who said it was an issue with the radiator mounts being loose. This didn't sound right, but I don't know the car well enough to know any better... It sounded like a loose screw sitting in the door or just behind the side air vent.