[cameron66]

I know quite a few Insignia users have had issues with creaking noises from the centre radio console area of the dash, and in front of the gear lever area.
Mine has been very bad since new in this respect, at varying levels of annoyance depending on temperature etc. Dealer has tried twice without much noticable improvement at all.
I tried to reduce the creaks myself a few weeks ago, but was wary about removing the complete radio and instrument surround at the time, I did manage to improve things a little but it still creaked badly when going round bends or over a rough road etc.

So I had another go this evening, and this time managed without much difficulty to remove the complete centre radio, display and top vents surrounds. It is actually all the small components which snap into the main surround, such as the Led displays, and especially the climate control unit and also the way the top vents click in that's making all the creaking.

There are quite a few components which make up the centre unit, and they all just click into place, unfortunately VX have positioned no anti-creak tape whatsoever anywhere to reduce plastic on plastic touching.

When the unit is removed, its instantly obvious what's been causing all those horrible creaking sounds, as just picking it up or moving it without really trying to flex it causes loads of creaking noises.

What I did was unclip and remove all the various components and place lots of small very thin strips of self adhesive tape between the plastic sides where they slide and click back into place. Including the airvents which just click into the surround too. Everything just clicks together.

I found the ideal thing is strips of sticking plaster, the fabric kind, luckily the wife had a roll of the stuff and its ideal, its quite thin too which is important. The end result after 2 or 3 hours of painstakenly positioning these strips is a centre console without a singe creak, total silence.
Even when I flexed it slightly prior to refitting, no noise at all.

1. I find it easier to just pull off the side panels first below either side the gearlever which goes over the side carpet. They just pull away.

2. Then the ashtray and the small ashtray trim surround, it has plastic clips at the rear on either side near the bottom edge which are quite easy to break, when you pull this from the bottom edge to release it, sliding it in a upwards motion at the same time will help it unclip easier. The rest of the trims clip off much easier.
If you break one or both of the securing clips, its an easy matter just to put 2 small small strong double sided adhesive pads to hold it in place when you put it back. It holds in place fine. Its £9 if you want to replace it.

3. just pull away the passenger side long dash trim which goes all the way round and fits into the ashtray trip your've just removed,

4. Now remove the small drivers side dash trim. Its held by one spring clip at the top right, and has locating protusions down its left edge, but once you pull and release that one top right clip it just lifts away out of the locating pegs on the left edge. I used a smooth plastic spatula just to raise it slightly so I could grip it, to pull it off, it comes away easily.

5. Now those trims are removed it reveals 4 small torx bolts, 2 either side, which need to be removed, be very careful you dont drop one of the bolts down inside the dash, you may have great difficuly finding it, and the last thing you want is a small bolt floating around in the lower dash somewhere making a noise...lol
The whole unit is now loose, but its still held in place by 2 spring clips at the top which just clip into the dash, so carefully pull the top vent part away towards you sufficiently to release the 2 spring clips.

6. There are 5 connecting plugs at the rear. Be careful you dont catch the front of the surround trim while turning it to remove the plugs. All the plugs are released by carefully squeezing in the locking tab on the side of the plugs and carefully ease them out.

The whole thing will now just lift away, and taken into the house for disamantling further. I'm not going to discribe how to do this as its pretty much simple! everything just clips together, you may need to just ease plastic side out a touch to release the clips, its very easy.
Once dis-assembled put plenty of very small pieces of tape spaced out along surface where components touch, and then reassemble everything in reverse.
Hopefully your creaks are gone, but you can tell if there's any slight creaking left by just flexing it slightly before you put it back in.

It would also be wise to just check that the now exposed screws and bolts behind the radio console are all secure too. There's also a few screws near the ashtray area which were quite loose on mine, so may be worth just checking they are secure too.

Dont forget that the small Ashtray surround trim is the last trim to be fitted, followed by the 2 black side panels of course.

For anyone getting the odd creak under the gearlever, while the 2 side panels are off, just place some small pieces of tape between the plastics where they touch, I also had to put a tiny dab of silicone rubber on the 2 securing clips on each side which seemed to creak a little when pressed slightly. You will notice that the sound proofing material only comes a small way up the sides under the carpet, so I added a little more felt to improve it a bit more.

Not a proper How-2, but it may give some idea of how to solve those annoying creaks, if you dont have any console creaks... then lucky you!(-
If a Mod wants to move this, delete it, or whatever, no problem, but thought it may be useful to someone who may be suffering this problem.

[Gorfinkle]

Nice one Cameron (-, looks like all that hard work paid off, you can now tell VX you have found a solution to the creaking, and charge customers £50 to fix :D

BTW would your method work on my creaking knees? lmfao

[cameron66]

Nice one Cameron (-, looks like all that hard work paid off, you can now tell VX you have found a solution to the creaking, and charge customers £50 to fix :D

BTW would your method work on my creaking knees? lmfao

Though not difficult at all, it can actually take quite a bit of time to do, though I'm rather slow and fussy anyway...lol but this creaking has been doing my head in since day 1.

I was going to let the car go, and get something else, but decided overnight, in fact I did'nt get a lot of sleep thinking about what to do, ie. whether I was doing the right thing. So in view of the fact I had not yet handed over any money but was due to pay over a 1K order deposit this morning, I phoned both the dealer who had made a offer for the Insignia, and the BMW dealer where I was buying the new car from, and told them I was putting it off at least for the moment.

Not the best time anyway as we go on holiday again on Saturday, which is one of the reasons I thought I'd have another bash at curing this creaking, and I mean its was very noticable creaking indeed. The dealer even said to me, that all plastic creaks.. and its normal, and to be expected to some degree. Pathetic.

Just need a couple of remaining mechanical issue's to get sorted when they have the re-work fixes come into stock, and I may even, given time get to like this car...LOL So I'm really pressuring the dealer to get these 2 issues fixed ASAP, and have opened a case number with VX support again to see if they can give the dealer a kick up the bum. I just hope that no one on here ever has the issues I've had with mine. All cars can have minor problems, but its the fact that they have fixed so few of them in the time I've had the car that was getting to me a little. IOW ongoing same probs. Even the most patient person has a limit. (-(-

[cameron66]

Turning the radio up is too easy Mitch..:D

In any case you would still need it up quite a bit to drown out the creaking anyway, it was so bad, well almost.

Re. Keeping car.
Yes for the time being anyway, I was still not 100% sure what to do, one part of me really fancied spending some cash and getting this BMW I had almost set my heart on. I'd had a test drive and verbally told the salesman over the phone when phoned him that I was going ahead in buying it, and aranged to go in a 9.30am Saturday to sign the paperwork and pay over the 1K deposit they required to order it, but it may take a few weeks to be delivered.
One problem was that the dealer wanted my Insignia in on Tuesday, as he had someone who may be interested in buying, and I suspect he wanted to ensure the mileage did'nt climb much higher for the price he had offered for it.
So I was supposed to take it in on Tuesday with all the paperwork.

Over the last 36 hours I've been trying to convince myself I was doing the right thing. I had hoped to borrow one of the sons company cars for a couple of weeks until the the new car arrived, but he has let a couple of staff who dont normally have the use of a car borrow them for their holidays, so I would have to hire a car to tie me over as we go on holiday ourselves next Saturday, so that did'nt help either. I was also undecided whether I could justify spending another 10k which I would have to add to the money from the Insignia to pay for the new car, otherwise I would have had to settle for 2to 3 year old model which I did'nt fancy doing, a bit like going backwards.
Also the issue was whether the wife with her bad knees would be able to get in the BMW easily as it was quite a bit lower.

Anyway, I had very little sleep friday night thinking about it, as once I'd paid over the deposit it would have been too late to change my mind, so in the end I phoned both the dealers yesterday morning and put them both off at least until after our holiday.

So in answer to your question matey.... after all that, yes I'm keeping it a bit longer, In all honesty if I had'nt had all these negative vibes from day 1 with the Insignia I'm almost certain I would not be typing this and I'd be as happy as the other guys are with their new motors. It was just starting to get to me a little, I just cannot seem to get things fixed at the dealers, things thats been issue's for 3 months now, and still outstanding, which TBH was reducing my enthusiasm for the car a wee bit to say the least.

So the car is still going in next week to have its bumpers resprayed as arranged, I've now fixed the creaks 100% which I'm really pleased about, and that was really bl**dy annoying me. That just leaves the bumper to be realigned when they get those special clips in stock so they can do the re-work fix on it, and they are also waiting for the VX rework fix to come through which hopefully will fix that loud noise when its first started after standing, something to do with oil draining when standing so the hydrolic Cam pulley adjusters can do their job properly,
It sounds just like a chain is catching the side of a metal case or similar when its first started after standing some time. I'm hoping once I can get those last couple of issues sorted I may be more content with the car, and I need'nt spend any more money.

I've really given Vx customer support some stick this week and they have promised to get it all sorted some time after Sept 9th which is when the parts for the re-work fixes are esitimated to arrive in at the dealers.

So to keep the reply short to 11 words. :D (-(-

'Yes I'm keeping the Insignia'. at least for the time being.:)

--------------------------------------------------------------
I told you at Evesham how indecisive I was. I dont think I've met anyone worse than me for changing their mind, and not knowing which way to jump.

Now just just over 3 months and entering 4th month, so would'nt your patience have worn a little thin by now had you been in the same position, and your new car still had some of the faults it had when you picked it up.?

[joemailey]

Glad your keeping the car mate, while for a while longer anyway :)

[cameron66]

UPDATE TO CREAK FIX, When Refitting

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We fixed a friends Insignia this afternoon that has suffered from a creaking centre radio console which started shortly after he had it in April this year, The dealer has not managed to fix his properly either, his was actually worse than mine, as it creaked every time you pressed a radio button or buttons on the climate control, unless you pressed extremely lightly.

Anyway... when you come to fit the unit back into the car, I found it was much easier this time to not clip the the 2 parts together, but to fit the bottom half with climate control etc. in first, as its much easier to handle, and its also much easier to put the plugs in at the rear, you can then secure that in using the 4 bolts that came out.

Insert the plugs back into the top half with the airvents, and just push it back in, it has two spring clips at the top, and there are 2 at the bottom which clip into the bottom half. I assume this is the way VX intended the order to be when re-assembling, trying to refit in one piece and put the plugs in can be quite awkward, so re-assemble separately.

If you can pull away the top vent assemble from its clips, this has got to be the best way to remove the units too, rather than joined togther, though its not too awkward to remove as a whole unit, depends how easy that top half is to release from its 4 clips, also need to ensure you dont mark the dash in the process.

Further info.
If the right hand black panel has a tendency to creak when you press on it, which mine did slightly, before you clip the small dash trim back in, (the one nearest the steering wheel, slacken off the top bolt, and put a little pressure on the panel below the trim and re-tighten the bolt, just doing this cured that last slight creak noise for me.

[liz86]

you would hate my car then cameron lol creaks, scrapping and squeeks galore in mine but i do what mitch says, just turn the radio up :D

[cameron66]

Glad your keeping the car mate, while for a while longer anyway :)

Thats nice of you matey..lol I decided it was too near our holidays, and I was very undecided anyway, so thought it best to not do anything for a few weeks. I'm always doing things on impulse and then regret it after..lol

If they can get this startup noise sorted which seems louder than ever, and the bumper mis-alignment, which is only a minor issue, I may well consider keeping it, it would certainly save me some money. I shall see how it goes while were on holiday, its really nice having a almost totally silent car now.:) You would not believe the difference it makes not having it creaking away everytime I went round a bend or hit a rough bit of road, or slight ridge in the road.

[Rockh]

Said this elsewhere but will put it here too.
Those who have the Navi version with the LCD display need to be very careful when taking the console out as the screen will hit the gear stick when you pull the lot forward to remove the plugs. Use something to cover the gear stick to prevent a trip to the dealers to get it replaced at probably quite some cost.....

[john57]

UPDATE TO CREAK FIX, When Refitting

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We fixed a friends Insignia this afternoon that has suffered from a creaking centre radio console which started shortly after he had it in April this year, The dealer has not managed to fix his properly either, his was actually worse than mine, as it creaked every time you pressed a radio button or buttons on the climate control, unless you pressed extremely lightly.

Anyway... when you come to fit the unit back into the car, I found it was much easier this time to not clip the the 2 parts together, but to fit the bottom half with climate control etc. in first, as its much easier to handle, and its also much easier to put the plugs in at the rear, you can then secure that in using the 4 bolts that came out.

Insert the plugs back into the top half with the air vents, and just push it back in, it has two spring clips at the top, and there are 2 at the bottom which clip into the bottom half. I assume this is the way VX intended the order to be when re-assembling, trying to refit in one piece and put the plugs in can be quite awkward, so re-assemble separately.

If you can pull away the top vent assemble from its clips, this has got to be the best way to remove the units too, rather than joined together, though its not too awkward to remove as a whole unit, depends how easy that top half is to release from its 4 clips, also need to ensure you dont mark the dash in the process.

Further info.
If the right hand black panel has a tendency to creak when you press on it, which mine did slightly, before you clip the small dash trim back in, (the one nearest the steering wheel, slacken off the top bolt, and put a little pressure on the panel below the trim and re-tighten the bolt, just doing this cured that last slight creak noise for me.



Well done, Cameron to you and your friend in finally getting rid of the mind destroying creeks from the dash board of both of your NEW Insignia's.

But is it not a total piece of nonsense of Vauxhall/Opel, to have a 66 year old customer, having to go to the bother you did, to cure a problem that they are highly paid to sort out at the design stage, or manufacturing stage, or as a very last resort, after sales service stage.

How on earth can a manufacturer be so incompetent as to be so inept in a very basic and historic, problem as releasing brand new cars with creaking dashboards, when as you have proved, it is so basic a process to totally avoid.

Having had ten new cars and four second hand cars, in my 35 years of driving, I have never been so Pxxxxx Oxx with a new car before actually getting hold of it, as I am with this, my first ever Vauxhall.

I can only hope, that once I finally get the car, I am pleased with it, however I cannot believe that I could ever have faith in Vauxhall again, should the car fall short of what I would and should expect from a new car and what I have in experience, received from the various manufactures I have dealt with over the last 21 years of receiving fault free new cars.

[cameron66]

Well done, Cameron to you and your friend in finally getting rid of the mind destroying creeks from the dash board of both of your NEW Insignia's.

But is it not a total piece of nonsense of Vauxhall/Opel, to have a 66 year old customer, having to go to the bother you did, to cure a problem that they are highly paid to sort out at the design stage, or manufacturing stage, or as a very last resort, after sales service stage.

How on earth can a manufacturer be so incompetent as to be so inept in a very basic and historic, problem as releasing brand new cars with creaking dashboards, when as you have proved, it is so basic a process to totally avoid.

Having had ten new cars and four second hand cars, in my 35 years of driving, I have never been so Pxxxxx Oxx with a new car before actually getting hold of it, as I am with this, my first ever Vauxhall.

I can only hope, that once I finally get the car, I am pleased with it, however I cannot believe that I could ever have faith in Vauxhall again, should the car fall short of what I would and should expect from a new car and what I have in experience, received from the various manufactures I have dealt with over the last 21 years of receiving fault free new cars.

John dont let my experience with this particular car put you off VX, at least not until you have had a chance to drive your new car, hopefully your's will be perfect, and have no such problems. I've had 3 new VX cars previously and I never had a single problem, only time they went into the dealers was for normal services. There are many owners out there who have had no problems at all.

I should emphasise I am a fussy person, and like things 100% right, which is why I chose my good wife...lol. It was probably my turn to get the not so perfect car, though in truth I suspect dealers know very little about this model yet, as they seem unable to fix the issue at one attempt and sometimes even more.
When I collected my car despite the fact the dealer will ask you to sign a declaration that the car has been pre-inspected and is in a new 'Blemish Free' condition, thats what mine said anyway, I still did my own inspection, which you naturally do.
The car had over 70 miles on it, a total of 5 chips to the front, one chip on the passenger door handle, and a half inch + red paint mark on passenger mirror which later came off with Tcut, and mis-aligned bumpers.

There was also a noticable scratch which someone had tried to cover up on the mat black trim surround which goes around the radio console. So you see it was not a good introduction to my new Insignia, I just wish I'd not taken delivery, and refused it which I nearly did.

I had already been waiting a while for the car, and did'nt fancy waiting again, so I stupidy agreed to let them try and fix the issues. As compensation they fitted a free set of Vx rear parking sensors.

The scratched trim surround was ordered, and that was replaced about a month later, it took the mechanic and his colleagues about 3 hours to fit, as they had never taken one apart before, I had to wait, as they did'nt have a courtesy car available. Thats when I started to notice that the creaking had got worse, also I started having problems with the climate control LED display going off.

They appeared to have fixed the display issue, which was more than likely the plug to the unit not being in properly, they have not succeeded in reducing the creaking, saying they cant hear it. My wife and I can hear it so they must all be deaf..lol In a straight line its pretty quite unless you go over a rough road, but every bend sufficient to introduce any side forces and it would creak away and then stop once clear of the bend. I personally found it very annoying.

I dont enjoy having to have ago myself, but figured it could'nt be too complicated to fix or to at least improve it a little. I had many years as a TV/Video engineer and later involved in the design side with my own business, so reckoned it was worth having a try, and most importantly I have time on my side, which mechanics dont always have, unless its their own car.

The big problem at the moment with owning a Insignia is that there are no spares whatsoever in the UK for them, and its taking weeks and sometimes months to get the parts from the german factory for some reason. It has been suggested its due to the fact VX/Opel have little money and suppliers are demanding money upfront before they will deliver parts, not sure if thats true or not. So they are only buying parts to build the cars thats been ordered. I dont really know whats happening, but I know owners on forums who's cars have been off the road for several weeks due to awaiting parts.

I ordered the small trim which goes around the ashtray (only £9) due to the fact I broke the small securing clip off it when I first attempted to rid myself of this creaking about 6 weeks ago, it still has not arrived yet. The couple of self adhesive pads I used to hold it in place looks like being a permanent feature. :(

I'm told there are re-work fixes for the remaining issues I have, but parts according to the dealer are not expected in the UK until after the 9th of Sept, thats what they told me anyway, However you will be pleased to hear that all these re-work fixes have already been implemented on the car build lines, so new cars coming along wont have these issues. For example they started fitting extra clips to the bumpers from the 27th of July.

The issues I've had should have all been fixed within the first week of getting the car, but for example its taken 3 months for them to find out what was causing the loud noise when I first started the car when left standing, and though they now know what it is, they still cannot do it until VX send them the re-work fixes. (parts to fix it)

So in conclusion as this is turning into a full blown book instead of a simple reply... :D The problems are accerbated further by the lack of knowledge on the model by VX dealer mechanics, and also by the non-existance spares situation.

Dont let it worry you..... yours will be fine! A few of us have just been unlucky. Sorry about the length of this. Shall have to put it into a book! (-

Take care matey. All the best.

[cameron66]

you would hate my car then cameron lol creaks, scrapping and squeeks galore in mine but i do what mitch says, just turn the radio up :D

I'm sure its not that bad Liz... yes perhaps there is something to be said about having the cd or radio on.

The trouble with me is I like it right, and would probably be the sort of person to buy a car from, but the worst to sell a car to. :D
Having said that, as stated before My previous 3 new Vx cars only saw the dealers when it was time for a service. Never had a single issue with them.

However I am the type of person who if forced to make a bodge job, even if the bodge job worked 100% and was safe, so fixing it properly by replacing the part probably would'nt make any real difference. I would'nt rest until in my mind it was fixed properly. IYKWIM. Paranoia... perhaps.(-

[bud1970]

Personally i think it's bl**dy ridiculous that you go out and spend about 30k on a new car and have to put up with all those creaking noises. if it was me i'd be leaving the car back on the forecourt telling the dealer "fix it or i want my money back!"

just my two cents worth........

[hackjo]

We haven't got our new Insignia yet so I can't comment on that model specifically but what you have experienced sounds very familiar.

To be honest, every model of car I have had, regardless of manufacturer or age, has suffered with interior creaks and rattles. I used to go mental over them, driving along in fear of going over a bump and hearing that noise that seemed to tell me my choice in cars was poor and I had bought a lemon.

Years on, I no longer bother so much - creaks and rattles seem to be a feature of every car, even so called prestige makes!

I wouldn't write off a car or manufacturer based on these little niggles, annoying though they are.

[rosco]

We haven't got our new Insignia yet so I can't comment on that model specifically but what you have experienced sounds very familiar.

To be honest, every model of car I have had, regardless of manufacturer or age, has suffered with interior creaks and rattles. I used to go mental over them, driving along in fear of going over a bump and hearing that noise that seemed to tell me my choice in cars was poor and I had bought a lemon.

Years on, I no longer bother so much - creaks and rattles seem to be a feature of every car, even so called prestige makes!

I wouldn't write off a car or manufacturer based on these little niggles, annoying though they are.

i havnt had one creak or rattle yet and im on 1500 miles..... maybe my10 spec cars are sorted?

[Happy42]

Hi Guys,

Had my elite now for a few months and still no creaks :)

11k so far and love it to bits :D

[Slider]

Two months in, no creaks or rattles, but very little mileage. I did have to take my car in to have the wheels balanced.

[cameron66]

We haven't got our new Insignia yet so I can't comment on that model specifically but what you have experienced sounds very familiar.

To be honest, every model of car I have had, regardless of manufacturer or age, has suffered with interior creaks and rattles. I used to go mental over them, driving along in fear of going over a bump and hearing that noise that seemed to tell me my choice in cars was poor and I had bought a lemon.

Years on, I no longer bother so much - creaks and rattles seem to be a feature of every car, even so called prestige makes!

I wouldn't write off a car or manufacturer based on these little niggles, annoying though they are.

I dont have any noises at all on my current car, and noises were not the reason I decided to let my Insignia go. I've been a more keen fan of VX cars than many users on here, I've bought 4 brand new Vx cars and all were good cars. Also I would not have paid to become a full member of this site and other VX forums if I had not been a keen fan of VX cars.

Its a culmination of endless issues which resulted in my decision to change makes... on this occasion anyway. Unless you have had as many probs with a new car as I did with this one I dont think you can really say how you would feel or what you would do.

In conclusion, I would'nt regard a car that requires a replacement gearbox, or a fractured engine mount, faulty hydraulic cam pulley's, or the climate control LED display not lighting half the time to name a few issues I had as being minor issue's would you?

Unfortunately... with the particular car I had, I was quite simply very unlucky. Even the dealer said it was a bit of a rogue car, which is why my own local dealer said he would not make an offer for it, hence the reason I chose a dealer who was not local.

[Melbury]

I know quite a few Insignia users have had issues with creaking noises from the centre radio console area of the dash, and in front of the gear lever area.
Mine has been very bad since new in this respect, at varying levels of annoyance depending on temperature etc. Dealer has tried twice without much noticable improvement at all.
I tried to reduce the creaks myself a few weeks ago, but was wary about removing the complete radio and instrument surround at the time, I did manage to improve things a little but it still creaked badly when going round bends or over a rough road etc.

So I had another go this evening, and this time managed without much difficulty to remove the complete centre radio, display and top vents surrounds. It is actually all the small components which snap into the main surround, such as the Led displays, and especially the climate control unit and also the way the top vents click in that's making all the creaking.

There are quite a few components which make up the centre unit, and they all just click into place, unfortunately VX have positioned no anti-creak tape whatsoever anywhere to reduce plastic on plastic touching.

When the unit is removed, its instantly obvious what's been causing all those horrible creaking sounds, as just picking it up or moving it without really trying to flex it causes loads of creaking noises.

What I did was unclip and remove all the various components and place lots of small very thin strips of self adhesive tape between the plastic sides where they slide and click back into place. Including the airvents which just click into the surround too. Everything just clicks together.

I found the ideal thing is strips of sticking plaster, the fabric kind, luckily the wife had a roll of the stuff and its ideal, its quite thin too which is important. The end result after 2 or 3 hours of painstakenly positioning these strips is a centre console without a singe creak, total silence.
Even when I flexed it slightly prior to refitting, no noise at all.

1. I find it easier to just pull off the side panels first below either side the gearlever which goes over the side carpet. They just pull away.

2. Then the ashtray and the small ashtray trim surround, it has plastic clips at the rear on either side near the bottom edge which are quite easy to break, when you pull this from the bottom edge to release it, sliding it in a upwards motion at the same time will help it unclip easier. The rest of the trims clip off much easier.
If you break one or both of the securing clips, its an easy matter just to put 2 small small strong double sided adhesive pads to hold it in place when you put it back. It holds in place fine. Its £9 if you want to replace it.

3. just pull away the passenger side long dash trim which goes all the way round and fits into the ashtray trip your've just removed,

4. Now remove the small drivers side dash trim. Its held by one spring clip at the top right, and has locating protusions down its left edge, but once you pull and release that one top right clip it just lifts away out of the locating pegs on the left edge. I used a smooth plastic spatula just to raise it slightly so I could grip it, to pull it off, it comes away easily.

5. Now those trims are removed it reveals 4 small torx bolts, 2 either side, which need to be removed, be very careful you dont drop one of the bolts down inside the dash, you may have great difficuly finding it, and the last thing you want is a small bolt floating around in the lower dash somewhere making a noise...lol
The whole unit is now loose, but its still held in place by 2 spring clips at the top which just clip into the dash, so carefully pull the top vent part away towards you sufficiently to release the 2 spring clips.

6. There are 5 connecting plugs at the rear. Be careful you dont catch the front of the surround trim while turning it to remove the plugs. All the plugs are released by carefully squeezing in the locking tab on the side of the plugs and carefully ease them out.

The whole thing will now just lift away, and taken into the house for disamantling further. I'm not going to discribe how to do this as its pretty much simple! everything just clips together, you may need to just ease plastic side out a touch to release the clips, its very easy.
Once dis-assembled put plenty of very small pieces of tape spaced out along surface where components touch, and then reassemble everything in reverse.
Hopefully your creaks are gone, but you can tell if there's any slight creaking left by just flexing it slightly before you put it back in.

It would also be wise to just check that the now exposed screws and bolts behind the radio console are all secure too. There's also a few screws near the ashtray area which were quite loose on mine, so may be worth just checking they are secure too.

Dont forget that the small Ashtray surround trim is the last trim to be fitted, followed by the 2 black side panels of course.

For anyone getting the odd creak under the gearlever, while the 2 side panels are off, just place some small pieces of tape between the plastics where they touch, I also had to put a tiny dab of silicone rubber on the 2 securing clips on each side which seemed to creak a little when pressed slightly. You will notice that the sound proofing material only comes a small way up the sides under the carpet, so I added a little more felt to improve it a bit more.

Not a proper How-2, but it may give some idea of how to solve those annoying creaks, if you dont have any console creaks... then lucky you!(-
If a Mod wants to move this, delete it, or whatever, no problem, but thought it may be useful to someone who may be suffering this problem.

That looks like a real big job but well worth sorting, I myself didn't have this problem with either the centre console or the dash but another creak arrived
following a recall job.
The recall was to ascertain if there was a water ingress to the front passenger door ( I had no suspicion of this nor was there any to my knowledge) but on completion of this check I later found the inside Grab-handle creaks on handling. I suppose you could say its little to moan about
compared to the Dash/console problems which should have been rejected off the assembly line by some form of quality control.
I must say I was anticipating some kind of a xxxx as soon as I knew the door trim would be undone. Apart from this I have been lucky that my car went down the line before boredom set in. Yes I will now try to rectify it myself
and should I fail then you will never know!

[hackjo]

Don't know if this is indicative or not, but we sat in a MY2010 Insignia SRI today when I picked up some paperwork from the dealer and I gave the centre console and trim a good prod and poke. No creaks at all, it seemed very solid, a bit like an Audi. On both the older demonstrators we test drove, the creaks were there.

In fact, the general build quality on this newer one was absolutely superb.

Maybe they have improved them on the newer cars?

For comparison, my first, very early 05 Astra Sport Hatch had loads of faults. My later 08 one has been faultless (although its centre console trim creaks!)

I'm expecting loads of rattles and creaks on our Insignia (due December) and I'm prepared to fix them myself! In most cases it just seems to be padding the affected areas out.

Our 2004 Renault Clio is the king of rattles!

[rosco]

think youll find my mk2 cav is...

[chris66]

think youll find my mk2 cav is...

i beg to differ. i have a steel band playing in my n/s door. its ok after 60 though, the wind noise drowns it out:eek::D:eek:

[hackjo]

Here's an interesting one - my centre console doesn't creak - but the area around the climate control buttons and ashtray often clicks when you pull off. You can make it click by pushing on the bottom of the raised centre console part, under the climate control.

Any ideas of how to stop this?

[afisher]

No such noises from mine. Might be better build quality these days.