please stop the squeak in my car
July 4, 2011 11:45 PM Subscribe
we have two plastic parts in a motor vehicle, both made of polypropylene GF20. when the car drives on rough track a squeak noise is created. we are doing everything in design we can to avoid movement between the two parts. but regarding the plastics, is there a typical engineering method used to prevent the parts squeaking when rubbing against each other?
Stainless steel shim?
posted by flabdablet at 12:48 AM on July 5, 2011
posted by flabdablet at 12:48 AM on July 5, 2011
Some sort of lubricant, certainly. Powdered graphite is another possibility. There are also lubricants made from teflon. Or you could use a teflon shim.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:56 AM on July 5, 2011
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:56 AM on July 5, 2011
Is anyone making dry lubricants out of fullerenes yet?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:58 AM on July 5, 2011
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:58 AM on July 5, 2011
PTFE shim? Do the mating surfaces have some sort of registration shapes on their mating surfaces to keep them from shifting? How are you so sure that these 2 parts are the source of the noise?
posted by jon1270 at 3:52 AM on July 5, 2011
posted by jon1270 at 3:52 AM on July 5, 2011
You can buy sheets of teflon in different thicknesses. Or a rubber bushing of some kind?
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:58 AM on July 5, 2011
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:58 AM on July 5, 2011
My car has a strip of felt-like stuff on the edges of the dash "skin" that prevents squeeks between it and the "hull" of the main dash.
If one piece clips into the other, and the clip can't be made tight enough to stop the squeeking, try loosening up the clip and placing a ring of closed cell epdm foam around the ring like a gasket.
posted by gjc at 6:29 AM on July 5, 2011
If one piece clips into the other, and the clip can't be made tight enough to stop the squeeking, try loosening up the clip and placing a ring of closed cell epdm foam around the ring like a gasket.
posted by gjc at 6:29 AM on July 5, 2011
Nylon washers or shims are durable (and inexpensive!) and will eliminate the squeaking.
posted by tmt at 6:48 AM on July 5, 2011
posted by tmt at 6:48 AM on July 5, 2011
I'd go with PTFE shim or if that's too thick, use a UHMW polyethylene tape.
posted by buzzv at 10:10 AM on July 5, 2011
posted by buzzv at 10:10 AM on July 5, 2011
Response by poster: thanks for all of the answers. i was hoping for something material specific, as this is a production car. adding lubrication is what we do currently, but it is at a cost - and also it is an unreliable manual operation so car makers dont like that sort of stuff.
posted by edtut at 10:44 PM on July 5, 2011
posted by edtut at 10:44 PM on July 5, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by zippy at 12:13 AM on July 5, 2011