[seanblee]

I had a problem with wind noise from the front doors on my E92. The resolution was to adjust the window preload; this is effectively the angle of the door glass relative to the body, moving the top of the window closer to the car or farther away. With any job like this, patience is the key - you need to make small adjustments then check what difference you've made, repeating as required.

Tools required
Masking tape (for marking)
Ratchet (I used a 3/8", but a 1/4" should work too)
12"+ extension bar for your ratchet
Hex bit holder for your ratchet
10mm socket
Torx T40 bit (for door striker to body bolts, if needed)
Torx T15 bit
Flashlight
Trim removal tool (or taped-up flat screwdriver)

Prerequisite
Before you adjust the window, you need to check that the door striker is correctly positioned. With the door closed, look down from above at the gap where the door meets the rear side panel. The edge of the door should line up exactly with the bodywork behind it. Check by placing a non-scratch straight edge across the gap in a few places.
If it's consistently out (i.e. the rear edge of the door is recessed or, more likely, proud), you should adjust the striker (outwards or inwards respectively). This is the silver metal hoop attached to the B-pillar that the door lock mechanism engages on.

1. Mark the striker position with tape.
2. Loosen the two Torx T40 bolts just enough to move the striker (less than 1/2 turn).
3. Ease the striker in the appropriate direction, using your tape markings to make sure you move it by the same mount at the top and the bottom. Move it towards the centre of the car to pull the door in or towards you to move the door outwards.
4. Move by about 1mm, then tighten the bolts and re-check the alignment - repeat 2-4 as required.

You can see here how I marked the position with tape.


Method
Once you've confirmed the door is correctly positioned, you can move on to adjusting the window preload. The ideal position for the window is such that, if you close the door onto the first catch (i.e. not closed all the way, but you can't open it without using the handle), the window is just touching the seal at the top. If there's a gap, you should adjust the preload.

1. Open the door and locate the two rubber bungs at the rear corner. The larger is on the rear edge of the door facing you, and the smaller is just underneath the door. Larger is circled red here.
   
2. Use your trim tool or taped screwdriver to pop the bungs out of the door.
3. If you shine your flashlight through the larger hole, you should see the adjuster mechanism in front of you (circled red):
   
   That adjuster is made up of a shaft with a Torx T15 hole in the end (red) with a 10mm locknut around it (blue):
   
   The shaft has a toothed cog on the end that moves along a track to push the bottom edge of the window regulator inwards or outwards, which moves the top edge of the window outwards or inwards respectively.
4. If you shine your flashlight through the smaller hole under the door, you should be able to angle it so you can see the adjuster whilst you're using the ratchet through the larger hole.
5. Use your ratchet, extension and 10mm socket to loosen the nut on the adjuster by about half a turn, just to free the mechanism.
6. Use your ratchet, extension, bit holder and T15 bit to turn the Torx fitting on the adjuster - one way moves the bottom of the window in and the other way moves it out, depending which door you're working on.
7. At this point, it's just trial and error. Make an adjustment, tighten the nut to secure it then close the door to the first catch. If the window touches the seal, it's OK; if not, adjust it some more!
8. Once the window touches the seal, tighten the nut with the 10mm socket then get in the car, close the door and check the operation of the window. If it still runs up and down smoothly, you're done. If not, you might need to back off the preload slightly.
9. Assuming you're happy, put the rubber bungs back in the door then do a road test to confirm the wind noise is gone.

Let me know if you've got any questions...

[dy62180]

Oh nice..... I need to do this ASAP! Thanks op

[ton741]

[dlando]

Thanks!

[Spoolin335]

Awesome! Thanks for posting this.

[bavarian19]

Thanks!

[bavarian19]

So the adjustment on the rear part of the door adjust the window position inside (towards the cabin) and outside (away from the cabin), and the adjustment on the bottom side of the door will adjust the height of the window?

On my passenger side, the upper rear corner of the window (near the B-pillar) is not touching the seal, while the front upper corner near the mirror is. I would assume I have to adjust the bottom bolt to achieve what I am looking to do.

[bavarian19]

Ok. After looking at the DIY now after I pulled off the two circular seals and looked in that this will not solve my issue. Thank you though.

[F104]

Thanks for posting this. Really appreciate the pics. Did this today and made noticable improvement, despite the fairly strong winds here.

I ended up putting the adjusters to the stops on both sides. That resulted in top of window hitting seal in front and rear, but not in the middle 10" or so, slight gap there. But ok, window is a bit down in that first catch position.

I was still getting some noise (at and above 90mph), again from the rear top corner. On my door seal there is a 'hole' in that corner, visible between window and B-post. If you pull the outer side of the seal out, and look with a flashlight towards the B-pillar, you can see the pillar. I stuffed dark grey foam into that space, and also filled the inside of the door seal up to 2" in front of the B pillar. Looks like that improved things too. Anyway, at 100mph these is now hardly any noise from the windows

[tekagga]

Thanks for posting!

[Myaddiction]

Thanks, The dealership told me there was no adjustment for the windows.

[Manxman1950]

Tried this today, as I get wind noise over 60 mph. Unfortunately the adjustment is already maxed out. Next step dealership. It was quite fiddly getting the Torx bit lined up.

[mrjoe]

Hey Guys. I posted this on a different thread but I am curious with a small adjustment that you are talking about...maybe it will fix this similar issue? Let me know.

So I am having an issue with my rear windows (see first part of the video).

The rear windows are getting stuck in the down position only when the window sits all the way down. When it attempts to go back up, it seems to catch on something.

I have found that if i kill the ignition on the car or turn on ACC mode it allows for the window to go up unhindered.

Is there a malfunction in the anti trap? How do i troubleshoot this further / which part is failing?

2006 330i E90 N52 w/ Window Tint

[u2b]http://youtu.be/ZHO7HYthS5I[/u2b]

[AtlantaDude]

Awesome post! Thank you! I'll be doing this tonight when I get home! I get bad wind noise at anything over 40mph. My windows are WAY out of alignment.

[AtlantaDude]

This really helped out, but I'm still getting wind noise. I'm beggining to think my window isn't raising high enough. Either that or the weather stripping is bad and needs to be replaced. Thank you OP. This was very helpful.

[TreyR28]

My door has been extremely noisy with wind noise the past few weeks and I just happened to stumble upon this thread, thanks for the write up, and hopefully this will solve the noise problem

[flexinator]

Wow, this thread is great! I just adjusted my doors, hopefully that is all it needs. Both doors were about an 1/8'' too far out. Great DIY!

[edeag3]

Adjusted the doors today, helped a lot with the noise but it's still there with this cold weather. Will try the windows after I get a hold of an extension.

[PTinVT]

Thanks for posting this. I was contemplating attempting just moving the striker but my wind noise seems to have mostly fixed itself somehow...

[Metzroth]

Thanks for the DIY. I just used it as a reference for door striker adjustment. Got rid of my highway speed and crosswind whistle. Took 5 minutes, don't know why I waited months to do it.

Thanks again!

[Socket]

Great DIY. Thanks for sharing

[BeastMode335i]

Originally Posted by Myaddiction

Thanks, The dealership told me there was no adjustment for the windows.

They told me the same thing!!

Going to try this out this weekend, that wind noise is so annoying!

Thanks for this!