Will the rattles never cease?!

[blackbeauty]

UGH!!!! the noises drive me batty! there is one that i only hear at high speeds on a highway when i hit a bump. it's loud. i first thought it was the seatbelt. no, that's not it.

just today i think i may have found the culprit!! SUNROOF!!!!
GRRR.....

[jpnut]

Anyone have a windshield rattle that occurs over a bump. I get annoyed but I may just accept it as well.

[elric75]

I recently have developed a small rattle in that area, yes. Or it could be something in the dash or lower down. Hard to tell.

[jpnut]

Originally Posted by elric75

I recently have developed a small rattle in that area, yes. Or it could be something in the dash or lower down. Hard to tell.

I've been scouring the boards, and havent found a solution, I thinking it something inside the dash, right? I am hoping to tinker around the area this weekend and get it together the rattle has got to stop.

[ljnlaw]

Nothing can be more troublesome than a rattle...I had one for 2 months I looked everywhere and finally found my daughters pet rock (more like a pet pebble) and a tic tac in her passenger side rear door which I must have missed due to all of her dvds jammed in there.

[bcb1]

Finally...after weeks of being driven crazy by a faint, plastic-on-plastic sounding rattle, I found it! The sunroof (and/or the sunroof shade cover).

It always sounded to me like it was coming from the rear hatch area. I immediately did the felt discs on the rubber stoppers in the rear hatch - which did seem to help. I probably had that rattle also, but it wasn't completely cured. Still had that faint plastic buzzing/rattle sound.

Next I treated the rear seats with leather protectant. Didn't fix it.

Next I lubed all the door gaskets with Wurth rubber protectant (and about three or four other things). Nope.

Used lithium grease on rear hatch latch, door latches, rear seat latches...Nope.

Had my wife drive while I crawled around the back. Found a rattle in the left rear panel where the CD changer rack is located, a silver metal box at the floor level. Insulated that with foam tape. Still had the plastic rattle noise.

Damn Damn Damn.

Then....eureka. When I was in the back, the sound seemed like it was coming from the front of the car. Weird how sound travels like that. I isolated it -- by process of elimination - to the sunroof area. I put the sunscreen all the way back, raised the roof in the vent position, and put three small pieces of foam insulation tape where the trailing edge of the sunroof meets the car. Instant fix. Now that the rattle is gone, I'm terrified to touch the sunroof. I'm even leaving the sunscreen open in case that was rattling and not the actual sunroof glass panel.

Ahh, sweet silence.

I guess the moral of the story is, don't totally depend on your sense of hearing while you're driving to pinpoint the rattle or squeak. Have someone else drive while you probe and poke around for the rattle.

[tonycajjo]

noises can be deceiving, i'm chasing one right now! funny thing is non of my passengers hear them.

[bcb1]

Originally Posted by tonycajjo

noises can be deceiving, i'm chasing one right now! funny thing is non of my passengers hear them.

I must be hyper-sensitive to squeaks and rattles. Stuff that my wife either can't hear (or ignores) just drives me nuts.

I kinda wish the X5 didn't have such a quiet interior, I wish more tire and road noise came through, because then we probably wouldn't hear half of these tiny little squeaks and rattles!

[daway]

Originally Posted by tonycajjo

noises can be deceiving, i'm chasing one right now! funny thing is non of my passengers hear them.

I have to lmao on this statement! I hear a rattle (plastic sound) when i go over bumps. I know if there is no front passenger the seat belt rattles against the plastic/carpet trim but it always seems to be coming form passenger side. I had the front door panel pop out at times but had some plastic clips replaced.

Still can not find the rattle!!! When my wife drives w/ me she will not help me out and thinks i am nuts...lol She hates when i talk about the X all the time....

[carlgo]

Originally Posted by bcb1

...Ahh, sweet silence.

I guess the moral of the story is, don't totally depend on your sense of hearing while you're driving to pinpoint the rattle or squeak. Have someone else drive while you probe and poke around for the rattle.

I have spent hundreds of hours looking for rattles and sqeaks, wind noise and the like for customer cars and for dealers. We used a headphone device with a wand. People gave me some strange looks and they saw me driving along waving the wand around. Some people, Lexus owners mostly, wanted total silence and of course that was silly and impossible.

A local rancher's wife rolled her new (then) S Class, a car that had been at the dealer many times for a bad rattle. We replaced about every exterior panel, some suspension, interior parts, etc, for around $55K. They were happy because the rattle was fixed.

Once Lexus flew some guys in from Japan to try to find a thumping sound that was barely audible and then only in a left-hand turn up her driveway. They had a bunch of microphones and a black box device. It took them days, but it was a bad sway bar bushing. I had looked at the sway bar and links several times, but couldn't see a problem or get the noise to show itself.

Despite having a lot of experience and resources, I guess I was able to resolve the issue no more than maybe 75% of the time.

Anyway, try to find a listening device. It wasn't too terribly expensive and would work for all your future vehicles. It really helps to locate sounds because it is so directional and has a loudness control (be careful).