Rattles are a major issue in this car

[jflogerzi]

The rattles have really gotten bad on my car. I think I have the following rattles

-Center Dash rear radio or center A/C vents(This one is bad)
-Rattle from driver side dash speakers
-Rattle some where on passenger side(not sure where)
-Rear deck popping/rattle( will try the WD-40 fix tomorrow)

This amount of rattle is just not acceptable on a car like this and considering how new. I though I could wait till the first oil change, but I don't think I can. Anyone else experiencing rattling issues?

[roddy]

Originally Posted by jflogerzi

The rattles have really gotten bad on my car. I think I have the following rattles

-Center Dash rear radio or center A/C vents(This one is bad)
-Rattle from driver side dash speakers
-Rattle some where on passenger side(not sure where)
-Rear deck popping/rattle( will try the WD-40 fix tomorrow)

This amount of rattle is just not acceptable on a car like this and considering how new. I though I could wait till the first oil change, but I don't think I can. Anyone else experiencing rattling issues?

Center dash... yep. 2 actually. one is where the plate snaps in around the head unit (should be an easy fix with some foam tape). The other one is farther in. It sounds like a wire or something tapping on the top of the head unit or the ducting coming to the dash vents. I haven't tried to do anything with it yet.

DS dash speakers... not yet.

Somewhere on pass. side... Fixed mine. My wife felt that it was coming from the door/rocker area but I thought it was coming from further back. This was a weird one to find... the sound was hit or miss, and didn't seem affected by bumps in the road (like most rattles are). This one seemed more affected by wind, as I could hear it more on a windy day or when passing a large truck on the highway. In my case, it was the rear pass. side plastic liner in the wheel well. The plastic clips that hold it in weren't holding it tight enough, allowing it to slide around a bit an causing an intermittent rattle sound. If this sounds like your problem, the solution is simple...find somewhere to get neoprene (rubber) bolt washers (found 'em at Home Depot). Take the wheel off, and one at a time, pop the clips out and place 1 rubber washer under the head of the clip, then pop it back in. problem solved. IIRC, you will need nine 5/16" and two 3/8" for each side of the car. I picked up a bunch of extras as this whole car seems to be held together with these loose fitting clips.

Rear deck... Don't have this one yet.

Rear bumper area... When I installed an aftermarket exhaust, I picked up another rattle (more of a buzz) that would happen as I was letting the clutch out and giving it some throttle on take off (ie leaving a stoplight or backing out of a parking space). This one turned out to be a combination of things. One was the reverse light housing. This one was fixed with the rubber washers again. There is a plastic clip on each side of the housing and one 3/8" rubber washer under each fixed it. Also, the wiring harness for the reverse lights runs up and over the tailpipe on the driver's side, and was making contact with body metal directly above the exhaust cutout. I took some of the slack out of the harness, and that one is gone too.

Sorry for the long winded post, but I hope it helps. I should get around to doing a DIY, as I'm sure I'm not the only one that finds this car a bit of a rattle trap. It is a car built to a price, and it shows. I don't mind though, as it gives me something to do. There is a certain level of satisfaction in hunting down these little issues and fixing them myself.


Edit: I had initially referred to the wiring harness as being the one for the tail lights...wrong. It is the reverse lights.

[czar07]

do you want a 1200kg nimble car with rattles or a luxobarge with no rattles?

[pixel67]

How bout a 1200kg car with no rattles? That would be nice. I personally find this thread useful and would encourage the author to post a DIY thread. I will be headed down this path with mine and am waiting for my fatmat to arrive.

[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by czar07

do you want a 1200kg nimble car with rattles or a luxobarge with no rattles?

While I agree, I still don't like it. I like my cabin to be quiet expect for either music, some road noise or the sweet music the boxer engine makes. Rattles drive me nuts and any car I will ever buy, better not have them period. Weather its an econ box or a high end expensive car.

[Asphalt]

Originally Posted by czar07

do you want a 1200kg nimble car with rattles or a luxobarge with no rattles?

Are you serious? Nimble car, econobox, luxury, extreme sport it doesnt matter. These cars are all EDIT "personal" investments we are making. They should all have a standard of quality that should last a few years at least. Quality is barely lasting 4 months in this car. This car is only a "track/autocross/racing car" for a very small percentage of consumers. Meaning the quality should still outlast many cheaper cars. I actually am part of that "track/autocross/racing car" percentage and I still feel we should be a long ways from rattles appearing.

[CMOS]

There seems to be some confusion, light cars might experience road noise due to less sound buffering. The clicking, popping and rattling is a sign of poor build quality. This is neither a submarine nor a blackbird, what you see is what you get.

[mact]

Originally Posted by Asphalt

These cars are all investments we are making.

Cars ≠ investments.


With that said, I don't have a single rattle in mine.

[xwd]

I'm at around 2600 miles and no rattles thus far thankfully.

[Rob_g]

The dealership fixed the rear deck rattle on mine and replaced a tailight. Then that night I got the CEL... just can't win! :happy0180:

Rob

[TOMIMOTO]

I guess the op has never owned or driven a Subaru. You should take a ride in my 2000 Impreza 2.5RS.

Or hell, take a ride in a brand new $38k WRX STI. It may not be acceptable to most, but its a Subaru quirk.

If you wanted a quiet car you should have bought German.

[bjhines]

I have a BMW and it has a few noises. The approach throughout the BMW is similar to the Roddy's methods.

More rubber, more foam, more screws with fewer plastic clips. More sophisticated inner door liners, more rubber surrounds for moving parts, more seals and overlapping lips, more springs to keep slack out of moving parts. You can do this to your BRZ as well, just buy the appropriate hardware and go at it.

[Subie]

Originally Posted by TOMIMOTO

I guess the op has never owned or driven a Subaru. You should take a ride in my 2000 Impreza 2.5RS.

Or hell, take a ride in a brand new $38k WRX STI. It may not be acceptable to most, but its a Subaru quirk.

If you wanted a quiet car you should have bought German.

It's not just a Subaru quirk. No matter how bad my BRZ is, my Scion tC was much worse. If you want to talk about rattles, buy a second-generation tC.

[CMOS]

I never understood why people put up with this, these cars were crushed on seismic tables for hundreds of hours to make sure every panel fits "just so" in order to avoid any improper clearances and resonance. What everyone here is experiencing is incorrect alignment and misshaped panels, didn't Toyota already acknowledge the issue? How else could you explain the need to trim, punch and weigh down specific areas of the car to make these go away? Do you think that the factory is incapable of making the speaker trim not rattle or did some of the pieces come up a few tenths of a mm short from the engineering sample? Trunk makes popping noise because of division by zero or did someone fudge the weld coordinates? The reason why they mail you eleventy surveys is so that you complain and they make adjustments, they're not going to drive every car off the line for 10,000 miles, you're lucky they checked if you have transmission fluid (if).