by "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
Published 12/21/2017 at 13:56
by "Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
Published 12/21/2017 at 13:56
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STARS: 1
My 335xi had developed a couple of super annoying persistent rattles in the dash that were bugging the hell out of me. These were the sort of rattles that feel like every single vibration can set them off a-rattling. I hated them so much. Now they’re gone!
I don’t need my car’s interior to be absolutely positively 100% rattle-free, but I at least want to be able to drive down the road and not have every single bit of road texture make a bunch of irritating-ass noise come from the dash. So I went about trying to isolate the noises.
The first noise source was the center speaker grille/vent cover in the middle of the dash. Many people on the BMW forums mentioned this thing rattles like crazy so I wanted to try and fix it. My first attempt at prying it up with a trim tool was unsuccessful. I tried again with what felt like way more force than was safe and was eventually able to pop the clips holding it to the dash.
From here, I first tried to quiet it down with some little stick-on felt pads that you stick on the end of chair legs so they can slide on your hard floors. This didn’t quite do the trick so I went back and instead lined the 3 flat edges of the underside of the thing with stick-on flat foam weather stripping tape.
It didn’t immediately go silent, but after a day or two for the foam to settle, this seemed to do the trick with finally quieting the racket down from the damn center speaker grille. But after a couple cold days, a different rattle presented itself that seemed to be coming from where the dash meets the windshield, right behind the gauge cluster.
I remembered from my attempts to silence the infinite interior rattles of my old Mazdaspeed 6 that folks on the forums for that car suggested wedging foam backer rod (a.k.a. gap filler) between the dash and windshield.
I picked 3/8" diameter backer rod thinking I shouldn’t go with something too thick, but when I went to wedge the backer rod between the windshield and dash, it turned out that the gap between the dash and the windshield was actually kinda big, and that below this point there was a larger kind of sub-shelf that the backer rod basically fell down in to. Here is an extremely detailed MS Paint diagram of this lower area.
I went for a drive after adding the backer rod, and the dash was still rattling from the same spot. I had thoughts of using my trim tool to try and fish the backer rod out and replace it with a thicker one, but magically after a couple days the rattle went away and hasn’t come back!
Even though it’s been maybe a week now since I banished this final rattle, every time I drive my car and the dash doesn’t rattle all the damn time, I’m like, ahhhhhhhh this is so soothing. I guess I didn’t realize how much I hated those rattles even though I knew I hated the rattles. I hated them even more than I was aware of.
There are actually a few other random interior noises that I’ve quieted down in the past with similar techniques, but the dash rattles had completely consumed me and made me pissed at my car. But now, when I hit a bump or some particularly shitty section of crumbling Wisconsin roads, I get a thwack from the tires, and maybe a muted creak or tick noise from assorted parts of the interior, and that’s it!
It’s glorious, I tell you.
"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
12/21/2017 at 14:15, STARS: 0
Oh man, this is so satisfying. My car is mostly rattle-free, but my kids’ car seats have rattles when they’re not sitting in them. But when they’re empty, the seats have whole areas where thin plastic is separated from structural plastic with
styrofoam
. It’s maddening, and not really easily solved except for having my kids in the seats at all times haha.
My solution has been to listed to really loud music after dropping them off at school, which also serves as a stress reliever, bonus.
Our Volvo has a little dash rattle that ONLY comes out when the car is cold (not winter cold, it happens in the summer too) and only
sometimes,
and it goes away after a few minutes. It’s unfathomable.
"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
12/21/2017 at 14:25, STARS: 0
I really need to seek out and kill the ones in my car...
"AM3R, lost another burner" (am3r17)
12/21/2017 at 14:29, STARS: 0
I have this maddening rattle coming from the passenger seat/door. I must figure it out and kill it, it’s making me go crazy in the early mornings when I’m driving the 335i to the gym.
"ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability" (italianjobr53)
12/21/2017 at 14:29, STARS: 0
Oh man are interior trim rattling annoying!
I would get a rattle occasionally, but couldn’t figure out what was causing it. Took apart the dash a bit but still could not find it. Decided to just drive with it rattling.
A couple of days later, I look at the sun-visor and see that it is not in it latch. It was hitting it and causing the rattle (:
I felt so stupid after that.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
12/21/2017 at 14:33, STARS: 0
I had a rattle coming from my passenger door. Turned out the aluminum trim strip was a little loose at the spot where it joins the door card towards the front of the door. I stuck a felt chair pad on the spot on the door card behind the part of the trim strip the guy is holding in this pic.
"AM3R, lost another burner" (am3r17)
12/21/2017 at 15:20, STARS: 0
I’ll pick up one of those little strips ASAP. It’s been driving me mad!
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
12/21/2017 at 15:28, STARS: 0
I used something kinda like this:
"Roundbadge" (Roundbadge)
12/21/2017 at 15:52, STARS: 0
My Tacoma had a Sony head unit in it when I bought it. I figured the never-ending rattles were just because of the chintzy dash adapter and just accepted them for a few years. Eventually the rattles became maddening, but I kind of stopped caring about them when the stereo quit working altogether.
I bought a new JVC and whilst installing it, realized that the old mounting bracket was completely broken. It’s so much quieter now and I’m much happier.