On a mission to stop a rattling rear end

[ProductUser]

My motorcycle sounds like a sewing machine and the valve train rattles like a bag of marbles when the oilhead gets hot. Those are just characteristics about the bike I enjoy. I do envy your persistence to resolve the rattle; however, that rattle may just be a part of the Z3 charm.

BTW -- my roadster rattles and creaks, too. I just enjoy the sounds the machine makes in motion. It's just music to me.

[s8ilver]

Is the spare tire 100% secure? I've got a clunking sound in my Coupe and can't figure it out for the life of me. All my bushings are newish, as are the shock mounts. I suspected bumper weights or something to do with the spare tire and/or carrier, but haven't torn into those yet. I did replace front speakers, and that definitely helped the clunking .

Edit: I just read through your entire post and some of the links. I guess my Coupe doesn't have weights. Oh well, I'll turn the radio volume up another notch on the way home today.

[Schreier]

My motorcycle sounds like a sewing machine and the valve train rattles like a bag of marbles when the oilhead gets hot. Those are just characteristics about the bike I enjoy. I do envy your persistence to resolve the rattle; however, that rattle may just be a part of the Z3 charm.

BTW -- my roadster rattles and creaks, too. I just enjoy the sounds the machine makes in motion. It's just music to me.

Oh there are other sounds and rattles in the car that I am fine with, it just sounds like something is deathly wrong with it. But I've looked over both front and rear suspension and can't see anything "deathly" broken. The car tracks just fine. So I guess that means it's OK anyway?

Is the spare tire 100% secure? I've got a clunking sound in my Coupe and can't figure it out for the life of me. All my bushings are newish, as are the shock mounts. I suspected bumper weights or something to do with the spare tire and/or carrier, but haven't torn into those yet. I did replace front speakers, and that definitely helped the clunking .

I probably should have mentioned that I removed the spare tire, its carrier, and assorted hardware. Combine that with the bumper weights being removed, and I'd say there's quite a bit of weight savings in the rear! Or maybe I've just made the car terribly unbalanced now.

[s8ilver]

Oh there are other sounds and rattles in the car that I am fine with, it just sounds like something is deathly wrong with it. But I've looked over both front and rear suspension and can't see anything "deathly" broken. The car tracks just fine. So I guess that means it's OK anyway?



I probably should have mentioned that I removed the spare tire, its carrier, and assorted hardware. Combine that with the bumper weights being removed, and I'd say there's quite a bit of weight savings in the rear! Or maybe I've just made the car terribly unbalanced now.

I'm considering removing mine too. If I ever got a flat, I don't think the spare clears M front brakes, I can't put a rear wheel on the front, and I certainly don't trust 1999 rubber. I'm only allowed to get a flat on a rear tire a couple miles from home. That's my only justification in keeping it.

My wife and I had had an intense "off" on a highway a couple years ago in her Accord. We hydroplaned, rear went light and we did a 270 on the highway and went backwards down an embankment into oncoming traffic. Somehow, no one was coming the opposite direction on I70, which is quite rare. The only damage was a missing front license plate and a front tire was pulled off the rim. I got the donut out, and of course it was flat. Somehow a tow truck showed up about 5 minutes later. I later learned that he would hang out around that stretch of the highway as our maneuver was quite common due to standing water. Police and fire showed up too (many people in our direction saw what happened and someone called it in). They were trying to figure out if they should write me a ticket, but determined I didn't do anything wrong and let us go on our way. All the fiasco cost me was $10 to have the tire put back on the rim the next day.

[Schreier]

So I finally solved that rattle!

There were two sources. Neither had anything to do with the gas tank straps.

1) The car was fitted with the wrong brake pads in the rear. The pads need to be equipped with a metal clip that keeps the pad attached to the pistons in the calipers. The previous pads didn't have the clip, so the pads would become detached from the brake pistons and would clatter around in the caliper. I got new pads that had the clips, and this fixed the problem!

2) The parking brake on the left side had too much slack in it, causing the expanding lock (34416868624) to knock around in the parking brake assembly. This was 100 percent my fault, because I must not have adjusted them correctly after I disassembled them doing the all the work on the subframe. So in other words, in trying to solve a rattle that didn't exist (gas tank straps), I inadvertently created another rattle. To solve the rattle, I tightened the nuts at the parking brake handle to take up the slack and remove any play at the locks. I also made sure both parking brake adjustment screws were equally extended (5.4mm of the inner screw exposed). As a bonus, the parking brake works much better and takes a fewer "clicks" to engage.

All warning lights are off in my car, the subframe has all new bushings, the gas tank straps are refurbished, and all the rattles are gone. I'm one happy camper!

[ProductUser]

Persistence certainly payed off. Nice job!