# Door Handle Draft



## Atom660 (Jan 4, 2006)

Hi 
I am new to the forum but I do have an 05 XTrail. The only problem I have noticed since the cold weather started is the large amount of cold air that comes in through the door handle,window controls/armrest and the speaker grills.I mostly notice this at highway speeds .Does it bother anyone else???
Thanks 
Andrew


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## Rockford (Jan 28, 2005)

I have not noticed this. I live near Toronto and do plenty of highway driving.
I mostly sit in the driver's seat and never in the back. I assume you mean the driver's seat anyway.
The '96 Tracker I'm used to, now THAT is drafty. Hell, it's downright windy in there! Anything much below -10 and the heater can't really keep up. And this is with the hard-top on. No, the X-trail's a Lexus compared to that.


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## Atom660 (Jan 4, 2006)

Actually the drivers seat and the passenger seat, both have the cold air.I haven't had to sit in the back :thumbup: yet!!

Thanks
Andrew


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## molly (Oct 31, 2014)

Hay, we have this problem!! Had it on the previous Exxie, too! The cold air also comes in through the door speaker on the driver side....makes for some chilly drives when a cold wind is blowing across the highway, haha. Anyone else have this issue, and can it be fixed? Note: I am NOT very handy with fixing car stuff.


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

molly said:


> Hay, we have this problem!! Had it on the previous Exxie, too! The cold air also comes in through the door speaker on the driver side....makes for some chilly drives when a cold wind is blowing across the highway, haha. Anyone else have this issue, and can it be fixed? Note: I am NOT very handy with fixing car stuff.


All cars have some sort of barrier underneath the door panel, whether that's a unitized metal panel with gaskets which supports the window regulator or just a plastic "vapor barrier" that covers the holes. I don't know what's on an Exxie, but if you have air leaks in the door, you can always pop the inside panel and cut-and-duct-tape some extra plastic.


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

This is what it looks like. 
View attachment 8584

View attachment 8585


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

otomodo said:


> This is what it looks like.


The attachment seems to have issues, I'm getting a "no permission" error.


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## molly (Oct 31, 2014)

otomodo said:


> This is what it looks like.
> View attachment 8584


I can't see it either!


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

molly said:


> I can't see it either!


How about now 









20150201_151243.jpg







drive.google.com


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

otomodo said:


> How about now


Much bettah. That big chunk of plastic is what Nissan calls a "vapor barrier", and you can see it wouldn't exactly be airtight even if the glue was perfect. It's not intended to be, but in a climate like the colder parts of Canada, adding some duct tape to the slots and holes and maybe some foam where the electrical harness goes through it should go a long way to keeping the drafts out.


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## molly (Oct 31, 2014)

VStar650CL said:


> Much bettah. That big chunk of plastic is what Nissan calls a "vapor barrier", and you can see it wouldn't exactly be airtight even if the glue was perfect. It's not intended to be, but in a climate like the colder parts of Canada, adding some duct tape to the slots and holes and maybe some foam where the electrical harness goes through it should go a long way to keeping the drafts out.


Well, that's above my pay grade, haha.... I'll show the photo to someone and see what it would take timewise to "fix", if we decide to keep it for awhile. Hubby was trying to wedge a glove in there the other day! I was worried the door would fly open at 105km! It is only an issue with a crosswind; cold without wind doesn't do it, thank gawd. I don't see any barrier around the speaker, though.


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

molly said:


> Well, that's above my pay grade, haha.... I'll show the photo to someone and see what it would take timewise to "fix", if we decide to keep it for awhile. Hubby was trying to wedge a glove in there the other day! I was worried the door would fly open at 105km! It is only an issue with a crosswind; cold without wind doesn't do it, thank gawd. I don't see any barrier around the speaker, though.


Unless the speaker is cracked it should be wind-tight, but there's a foam gasket underneath it that might be deteriorated or missing. Oto can tell you better than I can, but judging by the screw holes, it looks like popping the panel should be a 5 minute job with a drill-driver and a plastic prybar. Then it's just find the gaps and tape-tape-tape.


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

I felt that breeze with other cars; that's not a xtrail thing. 
Yeah, it's a 5 min. job to take it apart, after uncliping the top handle trim, there's a screw holding the panel. 
It's not sealed tight, there's holes for the open handle rod and lock button rod. 
Every winter that i owned the car, i was saying to myself that on summer, I would disassemble the whole interior to fix the freezing doors, but once the weather got warmer, i parked the car and ride the motorcycle instead.


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

instead of replacing the vapour barrier with another piece of plastic ( which is fine/affordable/easy to do) you can step it up a notch and buy something a bit better such as i did two years ago. Frost King pipe insulation. Click the link, zoom in, rrad the description. $40 at Lowe's, 

12-In x 1/8-in thick x 15-ft
Insulation is self adhesive tape
Insulates and stops vibrations
Insulation R-value 3
I removed all four of my Xtrail door's factory plastic vapour barrier and just cut to size this Frost King wrap , peel-cut-stick. Was very simple, use an exacto knife or scissors/sharpened pen knife. Cut around the speaker, the door pull handle, any screw holes, etc....very simple. 
Not gonna say it will make your Xtrail warm and cozy that you can drive with your heater off, just adds a bit more insulation from the cold and of course blocks the leaky pass thru air drafts. Might even add a wee bit of outside noise reduction but t isn't intended for that. https://www.lowes.ca/product/pipe-w...ing-18-in-foam-plumbing-pipe-insulation-28929 . Now i will say that 15 feet is a bit much . I think i used about 6 feet in total. The rest sits in my storage shed. But hey, it may come in handy elsewhere in the home or in another vehicle. 
Now for those that have the finances you can buy sound deadening material very similar to what the better cars, trucks and vans have behind the door panels. I have taken apart hundreds of vehicle door panels on just about every make and model sold in north america ( Auto Glass technician here) and i first starting seeing the factory applied sound deadening material in the middle to upper price ford vehicles back in the early 1980s. The same stuff is applied to vehicle floor boards , before the underlay and carpet is installed. That is put there to minimize road noise and give a more quite and less vibration. But it aint cheap. That's why i went with the Frost King. If i had the spare cash i'd rather buy the proper sound deadening matt. Amazon.ca : Sound Deadening Mat


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