Weirdly my mums 11 plate VRS and my 12 plate have both started doing this at the same time

 

When opening the tailgate after the car has been parked a while preferably overnight and ONLY when first opening the tailgate makes a short grinding noise , like metal on metal.

 

No signs of anything rubbing , have tried lubing the relevant areas to no avail

 

Wondering if maybe the the central locking isnt fully disengaging

Cold? My Octavia does the same.

Could be , my mums is garaged but mine lives on the drive

+1 here, and it only started some weeks ago.  I'm guessing cold weather?

PLEASE EXERCISE SOME CAUTION !!

 

I recall some years ago that someone in our workshop used an aerosol lubricant on the tailgate gas struts (as the car was making noises when tailgate was lifted) - this was done in a moment of thoughtlessness, this instantly knackered the struts, and the tailgate crashed down - so please do not be tempted to do this. Something in the chemical content caused an IMMEDIATE reaction to the sealing within the struts - fortunately no one was hurt.

Cold definitately affects gus struts - they work better above a certain temperature so it could be the weather that is giving you grief. 

Not likely to lube the struts , just the hinges and the lock mechanism

Funny, I have ALWAY lubed struts, on all my vehicles that had them. NEVER had a failure or even heard of them failing, prior to this! Was it a solvent based lube? 

Yeah you should never lube gas struts or the oil compression type with anything, especially WD40 as it penetrates the seals and causes failure. It's like lubing your motorcycle front fork seals. The fail if you do eventually but usually very quickly. Gas struts all make funny noises in the very cold weather. The gas becomes more dense and the strut operated just outside it's normal zone. 

Does sound all the world like metal to metal scraping

 

didnt happen the first two winters either

Does sound all the world like metal to metal scraping

 

didnt happen the first two winters either

 

Semi-agree on the: "didn't happen the first two winters". I think it didn't but then again it may have just been less apparent so I forgot about it.  I guess we'll know when temps go up again.

Richf, it may sound like metal to metal but it isn't. If the door is not twisted, as might happen in an accident, then there is no way you can have metal to metal contact. It would have to be substantially out of alignment for metal to metal contact to occur and it wouldn't close properly or at all you'd find. The only other source of noise is the struts, and it's not uncommon for them to make noise in cold weather and it's usually the same for most makes of car, especially first thing in the morning or late at night when the car has been standing in the cold. After a long drive with the heater on you won't normally notice it if the struts are ok as they warm up. However, the noise shouldn't be too obtrusive. If it is you may have a strut failing or one just about to failed. But then you'd find the hatch starting to be heavy to open and easy to close. If a strut is failing it can be a valve in the strut becoming loose and running out of alignment with the piston rod. But if it goes away in the warm it's not that. 

Think it's just the Hinges! they may (over the years/miles) have got clogged up with crap and the cold isin't helping!

 

Just make sure they are clean, and lubricated! (the hinges not the struts as said above!!)

 

I'm gonna do mine over the weekend as I've notice the noise too!!

Mine creaks like buggery when I open it whether it's cold or not.  Doesn't seem to be sticking anywhere though so just going to leave it alone.

My golf does this and defo the colder temps

I don't think it's the hinges on mine , it feels like the lock not disengaging fully or possibly the struts as they pivot , it's only in the first couple of inches when opening

I'm not worried about it though the car is going in 6-8 weeks anyway

Must be worth investing 5 minutes to give everything a clean around with panel wipes, and then lubricate.

Even just a spray of Silicone on metal & painted surfaces that touch, and rubber dressing or grease on the seals.

 

there are only a few moving parts after all.

Edited 7 February, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

As said in my first post , I lubed everything before I bothered posting

Lovely, but worth trying again with different lube then.

A man with your knowledge and skills will work it out easily enough.

Edited 7 February, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi