Advice needed: Annoying squeaking noise from my Skoda Superb's doors

Despite the installation of new door seals under warranty, the noise continues.

BHPian agrajagarwal recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

This is going to be a long post regarding my horrible experience with Skoda India and Kamal Kishore Skoda Lucknow.

How it all started?

I brought home a Skoda Superb L&K in February 2021.

In a couple of months, I started noticing squeaking sounds from the doors. I had read about this on briskoda as well and was well aware of it being a persistent issue. The same issue with the Kushaq just fortified my belief that it was because of the door seals. Reached out to the local dealer Kamal Kishore Skoda in Lucknow and they said they would do “door adjustment” and give the car back. They did do the “adjustment” and the sound did disappear for a couple of days, before it was back. Escalated the same to them, and they said they would reach out to Skoda India and find a solution. They came back with a reply saying they have been asked to lubricate the seals and observe the car. Lubricated, the sound disappeared only to magically appear again in a couple of days.

This was the breaking point of my patience and I dropped an email to the Skoda big boss, Zach. Got a revert from his team, and the regional manager from Skoda was also looped in. A visit was arranged for a senior level technical person from Skoda to visit lucknow and have a look at the issue. The person did come, and was quick to acknowledge that the doors were in fact very squeaky and that it would be easy to resolve it through a special lubrication. I told him about the previous lubricant tricks that were done with no effect whatsoever but he assured me that he will keep the car under observation for a month after lubrication and if the sounds reappears, all door seals would be replaced under warranty.

Lubrication done, sound gone. The usual flow of events. The only thing different this time was that the sound was back after a couple of weeks (it was monsoon season, so I a guessing that the lubricant would have been washed away slowly).

Escalated the same to Kamal Kishore Skoda and they said they would reach out to Skoda India again. Days went by and there was no update. Finally called up the Regional Manager (Skoda India) again, emailed on the old email thread with Skoda also, and finally got a reply from the local dealership that they will order the parts. I would want to highlight: absolutely unsupportive and non-responsive dealership. The parts took about a month to arrive and were recently changed. The car came back with the new seals, while I went off to delhi for some business related work. Came back, took the car out hoping that finally the doors and interiors would be silent, only to realise that the BRAND NEW SEALS had not been pasted properly and were peeling off. They sound on the driver side is at a disturbing level now. So back to square one. I am attaching some pictures of how “well” the new seals were installed.

Note: Every time I have received the car back from Kamal Kishore Skoda, the car interiors have been smudged with grease marks to an extent that they look disgusting and the car had to be sent for interior cleaning. Kudos to the QC at the dealership end before delivery

I have written to Skoda India again but unfortunately our beloved Zach is not around anymore to help us poor customers.

I am absolutely frustrated with how a premium car costing almost 40 big ones has been a squeak parade since the day it has come home. The sheer drive pleasure is enough to ignore the occasional squeaks but continuous “music” in a premium car is unacceptable. I hope I can get Skoda to finally pay attention to my problem and help me out since I have absolutely no trust in the local dealership Kamal Kishore Skoda.

Attaching some email screenshots and the new door seals.

Skoda makes brilliant cars and they have actually started to make an effort to help the customer out. But it is their dealers who lack any form of customer centric approach and technical know how that is letting them down, at least that is the case in Lucknow at the moment. Being the only dealer around, not left with other options.

Here's what BHPian lapis_lazuli had to say on the matter:

They are lubricating the wrong seals. Please get a spray can of Wurth silicone spray. Lubricate the outermost THIN rubber strip that runs along the outermost part of the door frame. It's half an inch wide. That rubs with the door jamb. Spray a thin coat uniformly along the surfaces and this has to be repeated every 6 months. If you use Krytox, it will last 1 year. Been there, done that. Happy driver  DIY is the way to go in these cases. Don't sweat at the dealership. Not everything is resolvable by ASS, here or even abroad.

Here's what BHPiab dust-n-bones had to say on the matter:

Completely agree on the DIY approach suggested here. No offence, but I think Skoda owners have encashed this 'Zach customer support' too often, for the flimsiest of reasons.

You should probably also highlight all that has gone well. The car seems to be holding up - apart of this door squeak, which admittedly then occupies our minds more than it should.

The dealership has been responsive every time you have reached out, though they are sloppy with their work. To be honest, cosmetic cases like this would end up with the resident 'chhotu' of the shop, the rest follows.

The dealer to Skoda tech support channel works well. Skoda arranges a 'senior tech' visit for this. The RM is involved.

I would say overall, you and other Skoda owners seem to be in good hands. Save the privilege for when you actually need it. Given a Skoda, that's inevitable. Ouch.

Here's what BHPian Akshay1234 had to say on the matter:

This is a known issue with many European cars in our conditions. Its been there on a couple of BMWs since a while too. The easiest solution is to buy something called Gummi Pflege which is available on Amazon I believe. Or a polyethylene tape (transparent). Just lubricate/stick the tape on the area of the car body which the door seals come into contact with, and the sounds should be gone. This may have to be done every couple of months, and as far as I know its the only solution.

Here's what BHPian el_lobo_6061 had to say on the matter:

The issue is the velvet type door seal on top when it gets dusty and rubs against the metal body results in this noise.

This issue has been there in my VW Vento since 2011 and even in BMW X1 since 2018.

Easiest solution is to clean the velvet door seal with a moist cloth to remove all the dust on it.

No matter how many door seals you replace, it wont go away. Its the velvet material at fault in German cars.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.