rattle in the trunk for an E53

[LoyolaLaw10]

Hey -

I apologize that I do not have pictures, but let me try to describe this is greater detail as that may help you.

The first thing to do is to place felt pads over the stoppers on both sides of the top hatch. These "stoppers" are black rubber things located roughly in the middle of each side of the body part of the top hatch (the part it would close over). If you open your hatch and look at the car, they are rather visible on each side in the groove. If you took your car to the dealership about this, it is likely that they attempted to use these to fix the problem. I put a 3/4" adhesive round black felt pad over both; the kind you would put under a chair on a wood floor, for example. That was the first step in solving the rattle problem.

The next part is the tape. The reason the trunk rattles (as I spent about 4 hours trying to figure this out) is that the latching mechanism does not firmly grasp the U-shaped loops which are attached to the body (the "female" part of the latching connection). You can see this by closing your back hatch, and then pulling on it as if you were trying to open it. You will see that it moves a little. If you have someone else do this while you sit in the car, the noise this makes will be identical to the one you hear while driving. Since they are not firmly latched (as, for example, a closed car door is), they (the top and bottom hatch) move a little and hence "rattle" against each other and the body of the car as you hit bumps, accelerate, brake, and turn.

On the back of the E53 there are 3 of these "female" ends - the part the the latch attaches to on the body. If you open the back hatch these will be easy to find. Two are attached to the body on each side of the car about 2 feet below the black stoppers (these are the ones the bottom half attaches to). One is located in the bottom half of the hatch in the middle above the liscence plate (where the top half of the hatch closes on the bottom). What you need to do is get black electrical tape and wind a piece of it over these "female" ends (only the middle part of the "U" where the latch attaches, however, not the sides). I wound the tape about 4-5 times over each female end (like gauze around a wounded arm). Once you have done this (and after the felt is added) close the hatch. You will notice that it is a little harder to open and close (though not difficult) but that unlike before, it is now secure and cannot move or rattle. Now try driving it and see if you still hear that infamous rattle. There is still a very small amount of residual noise, but I discovered that that comes from the cargo cover, as it can move a little as well. I think you will find it 95% corrected.

As a side note I was almost ready to sell this car over this noise (though besides the rattle it is the best ride I've ever had), as no one should buy a BMW and have to deal with things like this. What allowed me to solve this was not only assistance from other people's threads, but also the improvements they made to the rear hatch on the E70, which my dad drives. I noticed all of the above things were no longer in it, and that car does not have the "rattle".

Best of luck.