My roof squeaks something fierce... Anyone have any suggestions?

 

Here's my cure, from my wife's 09. The dealer lubed the roof after it developed a problem, but that was a short-term solution. Honestly I think that the detailers just got too aggressive.
The magic 'stuff' is McLube spray and McLube One Drop oil. They're available for the marine market, from chandleries and various online sources. Magic. I've used it a lot on boats. I use both products.
1) Cover your seats - cheap insurance. Retract the top and open the hatch. If there is dust or dirt inside the roof or the hatch sills, vacuum it out. Get the remainder with detailers spray and a rag.
2) Clean excess gunk from ALL bits of the track with a Q-tip. I didn't use cleaner or solvent. Wouldn't recommend it. Look hard. Find every bit of the track you can, from the top, from inside. Retract the roof a small amount to get to the aft track bits. Be sure to get in (as best you can) to the diffusers/seals both fore and aft of the glass. The rear is especially tough, barely possible.
3) Do the same for all moving parts of the hatch hinges and the lock flange. There hinge mechanism is pretty complex. Actually quite cool.
4) Use the McLube oil on a Q-tip, to coat the tracks (not the sills, the black track), the hatch hinges and the flange. You don't need a lot of oil, just coat the surface. Excess just attracts dust. Again look hard at the track. Find & lube every bit you can - from inside & out, partially & fully retracted roof.
5) Cycle the roof and the hatch. Repeat the lube process.
6) For the moving bits of the diffusers/seals you can't reach, use the McLube spray with the red tube extension. Both diffuser pieces have hinges. I think that the rear diffuser/seal (between the roof and the hatch) is the source of 90% of the problems. So look closely - anywhere that hard plastic sits against a solid piece of the roof.

The McLube spray dries clean. It will not attract dust and grime. Its possible that the McLube spray would do the whole job. No need for the oil. I'd consider trying that if your car is in a dusty environment. But since Porsche used a more viscous product, I use the bearing oil.

Total time? Maybe 20 minutes
Result? - Silence. No issues.
Oh and don't wear jeans. You'll be leaning over the car a lot, easy to scratch your paint.

Let us all know how it works. Honestly I think most of the dealers don't know how to deal with this problem. They know how to align the roof, but...

Tom

 

Excellent write up. The manual's section for targa top care leaves much to be desired. rep points to you.

 

Thanks Ryan.
Let us know what you do and your experience is, especially if you choose to use the spray only. That McLube is just magic.
So long as the tracks remain clean, you could re-spray the whole thing in two minutes easy.
For me, even the more complicated method was a simple fix.
Love the Targa.
All the best.

 

First thing is figure out where the squeaks are coming from.

On colder days, I get a bit of squeaking from the interface of the glass with the seal at the front of the roof. The flexing of the car causes some friction at that surface when they move against each other very slightly and it creaks a bit there. Other than that, 2 years and 9.7k miles and no real issues.

Now the road surface plays a HUGE role in squeaking. On a smooth highway, I don't hear anything. On really rough roads that feel like exposed aggregate or scoured concrete, or ground down asphalt, there is no hope for not getting some noise as everything in the car rattles that isn't padded. If you had coins in the ashtray they would be ringing like crazy... so one cannot expect the roof to be silent in those situations.

 

Try a bit of the spray McLube on the glass/seal surfaces you describe. My guess is that the noises will disappear.
Since the spray has quite a lot of VOCs in the mixture, it's likely unwise to use it use it on soft gaskets. However on hard plastics, glass, gelcoat, fiberglass etc it's fine.

 

I think the seal I'm talking about between the front of the glass and the front roofline is a soft seal.

 

I wouldn't expect a soft seal to squeak.
Similar to other door and window seals.
Anything's possible I guess, perhaps especially at PNW winter temps. Try some 303 Aerospace Protectant on the soft seals. Great stuff as well.
Still, I'd bet against it being those.
Mine had the same temp correlation until (post above).
Good luck. Sounds like it really doesn't bother you much anyhow.

 

Thanks for the tips guys, now I need to find McLube...

 

Try SailingProShop online. Those guys are great. West Marine works too.
The spray is also known as SailKote. The liquid as SailKote One Drop.
sticky4 - Boathouse, just south of the airport carries both, and the 303 Aerospace Protectant which is great for seals, plastic dashboards, tires etc.
Please do post your experience & results.

 

Follow Up - 90 days after "Fix" described above

Good news.
The roof is absolutely perfect. No squeaks or rattles. Silence.
Note that my Targa roof had been awful. The dealer 'service' lasted a week.
Even on cold mornings now, it is rock-solid-silent.
I have not repeated the process or re-lubed anything in the roof assembly.
Sailkote / McLube Spray and the One Drop Oil seem to be the ticket.

 

Longer-term follow up report.
---------------------------------------
Nearly one year since the cleaning & lube of the Targa roof track (process and materials described above).
Car driven through the Fall. Stored, garaged this past winter. Out again this Spring.
No additional cleaning or lubrication to roof mechanism.
The results are still great. Zero recurrence of squeaks or rattles. Zero.
Best 20 minutes I ever spent fixing a car.

 

Thanks for the followup. I drive mine in the winter (ie damp and cold weather)... still, good to know the process does have an effect.

 

Sweet .. Thanks for followup!

 

Tom,
I followed your instructions and in fact ordered McLube One Drop Pil and Sailkote online. Treated the Targa roof. The result is just amazing. I don't hear a single squeak or rattle anymore. That was a great write-up. Thanks.