tl;dr Sharing for people with the same issue: M3 driver's seat squeak is due to misaligned/rubbing seat rails. Proper fix is properly align the rails, less ideal/maybe temporary fix is add grease.
I've had an annoying creaking noise in the driver side seat that seems to come and go in my 2022 M3LR. It seems to be the loudest at low speed when taking corners, and occasionally I could get it to creak when stopped by just moving back and forth in the seat. I took it into service and SC said they adjusted the frame rails and reinstalled the seat, but it didn't help. I agreed that it was likely the frame rails though, since moving the seat forward or backward even just a hair, and then restoring the seat position would quiet the noise for 5-10 mins. The only thing moving would be the seat in the frame rails.
Tesla's next attempt to fix it was with mobile service, who decided it was my aftermarket rear floor mats that were causing the issue. This is ludicrous; the sound is too loud to be cause by rubber floor mats, it's a very metallic noise, and why would moving the seat forward backward fix it temporarily? The service rep was useless and had no explanation for these points. He even gave me the "some amount of noise is normal" BS.
Next I tried to diagnose the issue myself. And I'm kicking myself for not looking at this earlier, because the problem was extremely easy to find. I first noticed that the paint on the inside of the lower rail on the was worn off on both sides of the driver's set. (The passenger side rails show no sign of scraped off paint) This implies that the driver's side fixed rails on the floor are too wide or the seat rails are too narrow. As a result of this alignment issue, the two rails rub where they shouldn't be making contact, and create the noise.
Here is a view picture of the driver's side, left side rail, looking from the back seat.
I was actually able to pull the back of the seat enough to get it to squeak and get video (skip to 20s to see the rubbing movement):
I confirmed this was the spot making noise by taking a bit of 3 in 1 oil and drizzling it in where it says "rubbing here" in the photo above, but making sure not to adjust the seat since this can artificially quiet the noise. Oil make the squeak immediately went away. My guess is the oil won't last long; a heavier grease might fix it permeably or at least for a long time. But I'm tempted to make Tesla readjust the rails or even replace the seat, since the wear shows that something is out of adjustment. Thoughts?
Regardless, hopefully this post might help someone in the future with the same issue.
I've had an annoying creaking noise in the driver side seat that seems to come and go in my 2022 M3LR. It seems to be the loudest at low speed when taking corners, and occasionally I could get it to creak when stopped by just moving back and forth in the seat. I took it into service and SC said they adjusted the frame rails and reinstalled the seat, but it didn't help. I agreed that it was likely the frame rails though, since moving the seat forward or backward even just a hair, and then restoring the seat position would quiet the noise for 5-10 mins. The only thing moving would be the seat in the frame rails.
Tesla's next attempt to fix it was with mobile service, who decided it was my aftermarket rear floor mats that were causing the issue. This is ludicrous; the sound is too loud to be cause by rubber floor mats, it's a very metallic noise, and why would moving the seat forward backward fix it temporarily? The service rep was useless and had no explanation for these points. He even gave me the "some amount of noise is normal" BS.
Next I tried to diagnose the issue myself. And I'm kicking myself for not looking at this earlier, because the problem was extremely easy to find. I first noticed that the paint on the inside of the lower rail on the was worn off on both sides of the driver's set. (The passenger side rails show no sign of scraped off paint) This implies that the driver's side fixed rails on the floor are too wide or the seat rails are too narrow. As a result of this alignment issue, the two rails rub where they shouldn't be making contact, and create the noise.
Here is a view picture of the driver's side, left side rail, looking from the back seat.
I was actually able to pull the back of the seat enough to get it to squeak and get video (skip to 20s to see the rubbing movement):
I confirmed this was the spot making noise by taking a bit of 3 in 1 oil and drizzling it in where it says "rubbing here" in the photo above, but making sure not to adjust the seat since this can artificially quiet the noise. Oil make the squeak immediately went away. My guess is the oil won't last long; a heavier grease might fix it permeably or at least for a long time. But I'm tempted to make Tesla readjust the rails or even replace the seat, since the wear shows that something is out of adjustment. Thoughts?
Regardless, hopefully this post might help someone in the future with the same issue.
