How Can I Sound Deaden The Exterior Door Skin?

[Johnny Two Tone]

I'm attempting to get sound deadener on the inside of the exterior door skin of my 2012 Golf but since VW started welding that skin on (instead of bolting it on like previous years) I have to remove the plastic middle door panel (the piece holding the window regulator).

I've checked out this thread here (scroll almost half-way down the page), which gives an explanation of how to remove the window from the regulator so that you can then remove the whole regulator/middle panel section to access the outter skin, but I'm unclear as to where to unbolt the window from the regulator.

Can anyone explain the window removal part to me? I have a 4-door and I'm trying to remove the rear doors' middle panels.

 

[nadams5755]

stuartb added comments on the next pages as to which tools to use. i assume the rear doors will be just like the fronts.

 

[Johnny Two Tone]

^It's not the tools I need, it's knowing where the window needs to be positioned to access the correct point near the regulator to undue the window to remove it.

Stuartb's posts aren't specific enough, as detailed as they seem. I need Haynes Manual specific (there isn't one for the 2012).

 

[quality_sound]

Pull the door panel off then reconnect the window switches. Now look for two round rubber pieces. Pop those out. Now roll the window down (if it was up) until you see a 10mm bolt in each one (should happen at the same time). Loosen, but do not remove those bolts. Now roll the window almost all the way down then lift the window up and out towards the outside of the door.

 

[Johnny Two Tone]

Pull the door panel off then reconnect the window switches. Now look for two round rubber pieces. Pop those out. Now roll the window down (if it was up) until you see a 10mm bolt in each one (should happen at the same time). Loosen, but do not remove those bolts. Now roll the window almost all the way down then lift the window up and out towards the outside of the door.

Hey, thanks.

I assume this was the instruction for the front door since I don't think there are two bolt points in the rear doors (I'll have to double check).

 

[Johnny Two Tone]

It would seem there are no 10mm bolts in the doors of the 2012 year Golf to unbolt the window from the regulator. There only seems to be a plastic do-hicky that I don't recognize or know how to take apart.

 

[quality_sound]

Hmmm, can you post a pic? It might be like the B5 Passats that had what was essentially a plastic dowel on the clip that you had to drive out instead of the bolt.

 

[Johnny Two Tone]

Hmmm, can you post a pic? It might be like the B5 Passats that had what was essentially a plastic dowel on the clip that you had to drive out instead of the bolt.

Oh, I forgot to post the pic that I did, in fact, take.

Though, yes, it is the plastic dowel thing that you've described. I have no idea what to do with it. Now that you've mentioned the Passat I guess I could Google that car for the same thing.

 

[quality_sound]

There are write-ups on PassatWorld for removing the dowel but basically that inner down gets pushed through the lager C-shaped section. Just use a hammer and preferably a punch and tap it through. Once you get the window and the regulator out you'll retrieve the dowels and reinsert them to lock the window in place.

FWIW, I HATE this design as it's a monster pain in the ass and takes longer than the bolt method. It IS pretty easy once you do it a couple of times though.

 

[Johnny Two Tone]

Hmmm, can you post a pic? It might be like the B5 Passats that had what was essentially a plastic dowel on the clip that you had to drive out instead of the bolt.

You were totally right. I read a thread about removing this exact plastic dowel thing from a Passat and followed its lead. It was super easy.

Here's a picture of the inner side of the exterior door panel after being heavily deadened:

Ya, the standing wave diffuser is probably unnecessary, but I've had a couple sets of them for years that I've never bothered using so I figured 'why not'.

I would post a video of the before and after sound of the doors (knocking on the doors) but I've never posted a YouTube video before and don't feel like doing one now. Rest assured the door is a good ten times quieter now and has zero reverberation.

 

[quality_sound]

Ah, good deal. Apologies for the slow reply. The girlfriend was here for the weekend.