DIY: Stop That Awful Trunk Squeaking

2003 Tiburon GT 2.7 V6

My Tib has made a HORRIBLE trunk squeaking since I bought it. It was driving me crazy. I searched around here for a while but havn't been able to find a solution. I've heard lots of other people with the same problem as well. It's not the trunk rattling that many people report, there is already a DIY for that. It's a persistant squeaking noise that happens basically anytime the car is moving. It's not just over bumps, but bumps do make it worse. I read about some people fixing this by tightening their spoiler bolts, but this didn't help mine at all.

So I had my girlfriend drive a little bit while I layed down in the hatch, and was able to isolate a few spots where the noise was coming from. It seemed to be coming from just above the stock sub, but on both sides, and down near the bottom of the taillights. When I would push up on the hatch hard, the noise would go away. So I shoved a couple paper towels onto the rubber contact points, near where the hatch seals, and this completely fixed the noise. It looks like after time these rubber stoppers harden and squeak as they make contact with each other.

So I found a permanent solution and made it into a DIY for others with this problem. There's probably more than a few ways to fix this, but this is what worked for me.

Materials:
-Scissors
-Heavy Duty Double-Sided Outdoor Tape
-Felt Pad
-(Optional) Felt Circles


1. Here's a shot of everything I used. Also, I found some leftover felt circles that you use to put on the bottom of couch legs for a hardwood floor or whatnot.





2. Here are the spots that I isolated where the squeaking was coming from.







Also, these spots where the rubber stoppers on the hatch come down onto.






3. Using any cleaner, clean off all of there areas really good so that the tape sticks well.





4. Line up the felt pad with the rubber stoppers to get an idea of how big to cut your felt squares.





5. Make a few snips to determine the size of the square.





6. Cut out the squares, and line up with the rubber stoppers. I cut mine bigger to make sure no rubber can make contact.






7. If you have those felt circles, find a good size for this spot, or if not cut a felt piece to fit here as well.





8. Take all your felt pieces inside and begin to take off the advesive backings. This adhesive is definatelly not strong enough to stick to the rubber by itself, I tried doing that at first and they fell off as soon as I opened the hatch.





9. Peel back some double-sided outdoor tape, and stick the adhesive side of the felt on it.

10. Cover the entire adhesive side of the felt with the tape.





11. Cut off the excess tape, this is what you should have. Make these felt/tape pieces for all the stoppers.





12. Bring the pieces you made out to the hatch, and peel off the tape backing.





13. Firmly place and push the felt pieces onto the rubber stoppers.






14. Here are all the spots I covered, finished.

Left side.




Top left side.




Lower left side.




Right side.




Top right side.




Lower Right side.




All done! Remember that you may have to shut the trunk a little bit harder to fully close it. Just watch the light and make sure it goes out.

Well thanks to you for doing this...mine's starting to have the same problem, I think. I hear it in the back and have no idea where it's coming from, so I'm definitely going to check this next weekend!

I vote for a sticky on this one for those of us who are too cheap to buy new stoppers right now. Mods?

BTW, just noticed you only have 21 posts...that new, and you're already contributing in the form of DIYs, look at you! Thanks for the contribution and welcome to NT!

this works!

gonna try to get this thread more attention. thanks for the DIY!

oohhh...somethign i can do next time i go home and see my car. thanks for the write up =P

Glad it helped ya! God that squeaking was awful sounded like I had 10 dieing mice in my hatch

yes! it was horrible, like a metal-on-metal noise every time you hit a bump

was a lot worse in the cold, probably because the rubber hardens or whatnot.

anyways, this should be stickied!

I would like to say that before doing this, unless you can find black felt cause, personally, that green felt looks god awful, try a silicone spray or reconditioning spray for rubber. It should give a little more life to the rubber stoppers or allow them to slide on each other without squeaking.

Definitely a good find on what is causing it though.

Cant wait till spring to fix this annoyance thanks for the fix.

Nice DIY!

Added to proper section.

I tried this last night and when i was done my trunk would not close. I tried only putting the felt on the bottom rubber bumper and not the top plastic one and it still would not close. The felt that i have is the exact same as yours. When you said "begin to take off the advesive backings" did you mean to take off that backing or just the plastic covering.

^^^ just slam that sucker dude. bet you can get it closed . i'm very interested in this as well, i have this problem alot. i'd be interested in a less noticeable way to fix this, ideas?

Just the adhesive backing of the felt. And pretty much what faus said, just gotta close it harder now. I have felt on the top and bottom and no problems closing with a little more force. Also, you could try lowering the rubber stoppers that adjust the height of the hatch. They're on the top, little rubber nubs that stick out, you just twist them to lower or raise.

Im sure you could find black felt somewhere, or you could buy new stoppers altogether from the Hyundai dealer. I think they squeak so bad from hardening over time.

I bought mine new and it squeeked for as long as I can remember, but i guess it didn't squeek so bad when i first got it, otherwise i probably wouldn't have bought it so i guess it probably is the rubber drying out over time. I saw this in another thread a long time ago, i thought they were talking about the little knobs that adjust the height that you mentioned. I can't see your pics right now at work. I'll give it a try sometime.

Nice DIY i just did it and it worked i used felt circles 4 altogether...

- jlb23

Excellent DIY but I'm with JPGreco - all rubber in the car should be maintained with silicone spray. Just spray a bunch on a cloth and rub it on the rubber. Will stop door/hatch/sunroof squeaks, prevent sticking, and keep the rubber from drying out.

Awesome DIY, thanks for figuring this out people.

For anyone having a problem getting the wires out I'll post a picture soon.
Basically on the end that connects to the car there are three metal ends of each of the wires, above them there is a small linear plastic piece resting on each of them about half way inside the connector. push the plastic piece as you gently pull the wires and it will come out. Anyone that needs help PM me it honestly took me about 2 hours because i kept going back and forth between reading people's comments and worrying I was going to break something (which I definitely was going to do the way I was trying). It shouldn't take more than 10 mins if you do it right the first time.

very nice DIY, thanks for the pics!

The streets are crap where I live, so thanks for this one!

Something else to use if you cannot find felt stickers is the self adhesive velcro circles you get from craft shops

nice diy. im glad my trunk hasnt started making noise yet!

I did this today and it works great.My hatch squeaked and rattled so bad it was almost embarassing.I got te felt at wal mart,in the craft section there are sheets of all different colors,I got a black sheet about 9" x 9" for around 40cents and some industrial strength double sided tape.The felt sheets don't have adhesive backing but if you use really good tape it won't matter,it'll stick really good.

glad it helped. Mines still held up fine since I did it, although I replaced the ugly green felt w/black ftw

Has anyone tried the silicone spray? and did it work? I would prefer spray rather than cut felt but I'll seriously go as far as to sell my soul to get rid of the squeaks! =) Anyone have the link for the rattles in the trunk area