strange foam on DB9

[pbe624]

Hi all,

when going to the car wash today, noticed little pieces of some sort of foam coming from behind the door post connection to engine compartment on my (2009) DB9... . See also phot.

Not sure what this could be, some disintegrating insulation or some animal eating away some materials... Not visible from wheelarch or from engine compartment...

Any ideas ?
Cheers,
Frank

[pbe624]

Another picture from same spot:

[Jon39]

Hope it is not mice.

Do you take any precautions against mice in your garage ?

I always put a plate of food for them (the type where you never visit the restaurant again), so can tell when they have visited.
Also some tumble dryer perfumed sheets. Don't know whether they help, but someone suggested using them. I quite like the aroma, but supposedly mice do not.

( Hope I am permitted to say that on here. )

[andymadmak]

pbe624 said:

Another picture from same spot:

I'm sorry to say but that really does look like rodent damage

[pbe624]

Hi all,

could be mice as the garage is not always locked... . Is it just some insulation foam or should I be worried about any cables running there... ? Need to replace it ?

Cheers,
Frank

[Getragdogleg]

Its mice, or other small nibbling bds, 100% seen it before with a Maserati 3200 and the little sods ate the seats and moved the foam into the air vents and then ate the wiring and made the car utterly immobile.

Took weeks of rewiring and dismantling to sort out.

Get traps, lots of traps with chocolate and peanut butter as fast as possible before they really set up camp.

[cletracboy]

With poison being unsuitable as you don't want them dying inside the car, glue traps although not very nice are very effective. Much more effective than traps and given the need to control them quickly before they cause more damage, but you do need to be able to check them regularly.

[Crazy_Sean]

You could always get a cat! Mice smell a cat and keep well away.

[milu]

I used glue traps. Agree they’re not nice
I caught 14 in my Alfa a couple years back over about 3 weeks. I was using the car regularly so they just hid away I guess. Didn’t want them dying behind the dash after poisoning so glue boards it was

[Longy00000]

Defo rodents living in your aston and why wouldn't you if your a mouse ??
Anyway you can get some humane traps which are basically just a tilt tube which shuts once its inside. Fill it with chocolate and or oeanut butter and you should get results pretty quickly. Just let the buggers out several miles away they are known to return to their nest from within a mile so a good distance is safest

[rovcallum]

I also suffered some rodent damage over the winter. Mouse traps with peanut butter works great but only if you remove dead mouse regularly and reset the trap….as I reminded my wife.
Anyway, £120 to replace the outer door seal. Nothing else touched….that I know of….yet!

[Getragdogleg]

With the advent of new "greener" technologies many of the components in your car are actually plant based, the sheathing on many wiring looms is now plant based and so are a lot of insulations and even trim.

The rodents know its edible... hence this occurring much more frequently now.

[V12Virage]

If the DB9 is like the Virage, there are plastic-wrapped foam NVH pads behind the front wheel arches and in front of the door pillar. That may well be what you're lookling at. You might need to take the wheel arch out to confirm, though, as there are also wiring looms in the upper portion of that space, if I recall correctly.

[pbe624]

Thanks for all feedback. Put a mousetrap next to the car last night and yes, caught the thief... . As I have a pair of owls living at the end of my garden, I left them some dinner... .

Will set another trap to see if there are more mice eating away at my car... .

Will have garage have a look at it at next annual service. So far, no electric gremlins noted.

Cheers,
Frank

[westhumbler]

Keep re-setting the trap / get some more - you'll be amazed at how many mice you're probably got there.

Although they're a bloody nuisance, please don't use glue boards. That's a horrible slow death to inflict on a creature that's not wilfully targeting your property.

[pbe624]

Thanks,

I am an animal lover but love the DB9 more ;-)

I use an old fashioned wooden trap with metal spring, so instant kill... I think this is the best apart from catching them with a cage and releasing them every day 10km further...

Cheers,
F

[danieldenham]

For years I’ve used poison, then last year a rat made its last bed in my driver’s sill. Holy s*^t did it smell as it decomposed…. Had to remove the sill to free the maggot infested corpse. Now the garage floor is covered with mechanical rat traps and mouse traps. Don’t be smug with just one kill, thinking ‘problem solved’, keep resetting!

D

[Super Sonic]

pbe624 said:

Hi all,

could be mice as the garage is not always locked.
Frank

Mice are very good at opening unlocked garage doors ;-)