This is a great post, the interior’s metal ticking noises have been driving me nuts. I did what OP showed to do and it helped but it wasn’t the main ticking sound I was chasing. I’ve read every related post that I could find on here and here’s my story:
* I used a flathead screwdriver to pry the areas shown in the trunk/boot (source #1 in the TSB) as OP showed. Then used white lithium grease in those areas. I did this to every metal seam in the upper part of trunk. It helped but apparently wasn’t the main ticking sound I was hearing.
* I removed the rear deck shelf with the help of this video:
* Starting with source #2 in the TSB and OP’s post, I would wedge a flathead screwdriver into the opening then I slowly pulled up on the screwdriver until the cracking sound stopped happening. I didn’t put all my muscle into it, don’t want to break the weld, just enough to make the metal stop creaking/cracking for side of each opening.
* Then I’d spray a plentiful amount of white lithium grease into each opening.
* I did this for every metal seam opening that I could fit my flathead screwdriver into, not just source #2 in the TSB.
The rear deck shelf had more problematic areas and louder metal-ticking noises than the trunk/boot had and my car is quieter than ever now. So quiet that I’m hearing additional little annoying sounds that I never noticed before cuz they are much quieter than the rear deck shelf area/trunk noises were.
The wireless receiver on the rear deck shelf seems snug and quiet in my case. The current sound I’m chasing sounds like it’s coming from somewhere back there, up by the roof liner. Maybe behind the B pillar, I need to take a look there next.
All this time I thought it was one noise coming from one problem area but it turns out it’s actually many noises happening at the same time (from bumps/vibrations/etc) giving me the false impression that it was just one annoying noise.
The problems seem to vary for different people but start with the easy to reach spots like source #1 in the TSB and bending that wireless receiver’s metal clip down to tighten it. If that doesn’t do it then do what I did and also check that wireless receiver that’s on the rear deck shelf’s metal which was fine in my case but is a noise source due to it being loose for other people.