Rattle reduction

[hexagone]

For anyone familiar with driving our cars in cold months, they can be obnoxiously rattly with cheap, brittle plastics in typical 1990's BMW fashion.

I have dynamat on my trunk floor, rear hatch and door cards. Yet still there's a good bit of creaking and groaning when the car goes over bumps and turns.

Besides more soundproofing and felt stickers between plastic surfaces- what have you had success with in soundproofing and rattle-proofing your car??

[Pani]

I'd be interested in hearing about this as well. I may have to take apart the rear trim this weekend to treat some plastic on plastic creaking.

[RacerXTreme7]

I'd like to know where to get a roll of felt sticker approx 1/4~1/8" in width, anyone know where to get such stuff? The plastic on my back hatch is the noisiest.

~Mike....

[fire2]

Do the coupes rattle more than the roadsters? My seats and glove box rattled and after I did the fix for both I have no rattles winter or summer.

[BlackjackM]

No rattles at all in my roady (knocking on wood)

[gmushial]

For anyone familiar with driving our cars in cold months, they can be obnoxiously rattly with cheap, brittle plastics in typical 1990's BMW fashion.

I have dynamat on my trunk floor, rear hatch and door cards. Yet still there's a good bit of creaking and groaning when the car goes over bumps and turns.

Besides more soundproofing and felt stickers between plastic surfaces- what have you had success with in soundproofing and rattle-proofing your car??

One wouldn't think that the plastic would get that much harder with the cold weather - but have noticed the same thing.

But w/re fixing/curing them: this past week I did the window sliders (which made a huge improvement), but while in there, took all the cables and cable tied them to the door metal: a bunch of rattles gone. Likewise, did the seat bushings on the passenger seat - again, a huge improvement... but while was in there, silicone sealed all the actuator cables to the bottommost plastic shell of the seat: yet another collection of rattles gone And the silicone seal has generally been my method of madness for most cars. The general approach has been: if I'll never have to take " 'em" apart - I epoxy the parts together; if they need some play or I might have to take them apart, I silicone seal them into place (or cable tie them); and if I can't restrain them, then I silicone lube the hell out of them so there's no friction and hence no squeak. ... there are two other Z's in town that I've been playing "professor wrench" on (teaching new owners how to care for their Z's w/o going broke via the stealers)... and at this point, with all the silicone seal and lube put everywhere, my 151k miles Z is by far the quietest of the three. [the other big source of rattles cured were all the electronics boxes mounted behind the glovebox - each is silicone sealed into place.]

[JWin]

I pulled out the gauge pod and put felt tape on the top humps where it obviously meets the dashboard. That tightened that up a bit. Felt behind the center AC vent and around the radio head. Most other noises are in the plastic wall behind the seats but I have a roofless Z so it won't be much help

[FinnNiks]

When my interior comes apart and goes back together, I'll be placing some 3M double sided stick tape in some strategic locations! The squeaks and rattles drive me nuts sometimes.

[gmushial]

When my interior comes apart and goes back together, I'll be placing some 3M double sided stick tape in some strategic locations! The squeaks and rattles drive me nuts sometimes.

I wish double sided tape would work here... but with summers in the 115-118F range and for a car that has to live outside: found that the tape would last part of a summer and then give up... that's when I went to the silicone seal.... and so far, so good.

[BMWBergy]

I'd like to know where to get a roll of felt sticker approx 1/4~1/8" in width, anyone know where to get such stuff? The plastic on my back hatch is the noisiest.

~Mike....

Mike, you can buy adhesive-backed velcro in 3/4" wide strips of varying lengths, or larger rectangles, at Hardware stores (Home Despot, Lowe's). Use the 'LOOP' sides rather than the 'hook' sides. All of them can be trimmed-to-fit.

Most self-adhesive felts I've found are too thick - the stuff used on the bottom of chair/table legs to protect hardwood floors. You could probably find alternatives at fabric (Jo-Ann) or craft stores (Michael's) - if you feel secure enough in your masculinity to go into one of those...

[FinnNiks]

I wish double sided tape would work here... but with summers in the 115-118F range and for a car that has to live outside: found that the tape would last part of a summer and then give up... that's when I went to the silicone seal.... and so far, so good.

We don't normally get that warm here in Minnesota, but the last thing I want is a goopy mess in between every panel. Silicone sounds like a good option.

[gmushial]

We don't normally get that warm here in Minnesota, but the last thing I want is a goopy mess in between every panel. Silicone sounds like a good option.

The high summer temps here do funny things to plastics - some become brittle and crack with zero force, some become turn to goo... it is a quite different world from the moderate weather of coastal NH of my youth.

The two images below are from the passenger seat that I silenced last week - nope, the globs aren't pretty... but on the otherhand, they are on the bottom of the seats (where I presume nobody will be looking). The single cable would drum against the plastic base of the seat going over any bump or rough piece of road; the other one would likewise rattle but it took a larger bump to do it. Now neither do anything, but sit there quietly.

W/re goopy messes btwn panels - what I've found is that there are silicone lubes which also contain oil and some that don't: I use the sans oil ones (eg CRC's vs Liquid Wrench's), and have never noticed any residue, either visually or by touch.






Btw: to provide a sense of scale - the black cable sheath is 1/8" in diam, ie, the largest glop is maybe an inch long; and the smaller one is 3/4", ie, they're not the 4" monsters they might appear to be w/o a scale.

[Telecomtodd]

You're going to laugh.

When I put my console back together last time, I didn't put all the 11,000 screws back in. It is installed solidly, but not to the point that there is no give. By allowing it to give a little to the stresses of driving, it has really quieted down. It goes against the thought pattern of tightening things up and battening down the hatches, but as the Japanese have found, you try to see how little you need in the specific areas and find those that need it most, and invest in fastening at those locations. I don't need 400 spot welds to hold my fenders together!

[gmushial]

You're going to laugh.

When I put my console back together last time, I didn't put all the 11,000 screws back in. It is installed solidly, but not to the point that there is no give. By allowing it to give a little to the stresses of driving, it has really quieted down. It goes against the thought pattern of tightening things up and battening down the hatches, but as the Japanese have found, you try to see how little you need in the specific areas and find those that need it most, and invest in fastening at those locations. I don't need 400 spot welds to hold my fenders together!

I wonder if this doesn't depend on the context, ie, we live out on the "gravels," where there is lots of dust, and when it get's btwn two plastic surfaces, it produces copious squeaks... so the answer is to eliminate any motion btwn the surfaces; or lube the heck out of the surfaces so there is no friction and hence no squeaks.

[spacecowboy]

This stuff could also be used, & it's not messy. Also reusable.

http://www.blutack.com/

[BenFenner]

I'm kicking myself for not putting teflon tape between the urethane and metal surfaces on the new RSMs I installed. Had I done that, with maybe a dab of grease for good measure, I'm sure they wouldn't be creaking right now.

[RacerXTreme7]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/390495514260...84.m1497.l2649

Found this, I'll let everyone know my impressions about it after it arrives.

~Mike....

[jajou318]

hexagone found out that the only way to get rid of rattles is to replace the car

[hexagone]

hexagone found out that the only way to get rid of rattles is to replace the car

[Wertles]

Any pics of the dynamatted trunk? It's on my winter project list.

[spacecowboy]

hexagone found out that the only way to get rid of rattles is to replace the car

I drove the 2011 CRV (3,000 on the odometer) to the vet today & it kicked the crap out of me. What ran through my mind was how many miles before it started to squeak & rattle. It's probably going to be replaced with something German next year.

[BraveUlysses]

I'm kicking myself for not putting teflon tape between the urethane and metal surfaces on the new RSMs I installed. Had I done that, with maybe a dab of grease for good measure, I'm sure they wouldn't be creaking right now.

I'm at this point too...added rogue RSMs about a year a half ago and between those, the koni yellows and the poly subframe bushings I have some lovely squeaking that only happens when the left rear wheel hits bumps.

[z3540i]

I just put my favorite playlist on shuffle and turn the volume up just past the squeaky level...problem solved....

But really when i took apart the place behind the seats were the "subwoofer" is used a roll of thin 3m double stick tape between joints! It helped hold the plastic in place and took all of the squeaks and rattles out of that part of the car....

Now just need to do the same for the dash and im good!

[reh1006]

I am a rattle and squeak nut as well and have found that in the New England climate the best fix for me has been once or twice a year spraying all the plastic on plastic joints with a good quality silicone spray. it makes a huge difference on the hatch and rear trim panels and even with the track time doesn't seem to require frequent applications. Under the seats I have found silicone goo and wire tires to be invaluable as well. I won't say that I have no rattles, creaks or squeaks but it certainly has quieted the car down to make it way more pleasurable (and not always be trying to avoid defects in the roads.)

[E.Hands]

I've used rubber electrical tape between some of the interior plastic pieces for noise control, but I still have an odd rattling outside of the car.

It sounds like it is coming from the right front wheel. It's very tin-y sounding every time I hit a bump. There is a small exhaust heat shield on the s54 that I've re-secured, but the sound still persists. (It still might be the culprit.)

Any thoughts?

The heat shield that covers the rightside motor mount came loose(rivets failed) on my car. When I reached it from underneath the car I realized it was the source of a ring I had been hearing while driving.