Coupe - rattle - pillar behind driver's right ear (E86-UK)

[stevo///m3]

Even mine has a few wee ones now. Like the driver side A pillar every once in a while. I just give it a bash and it stops

Oh, and the driver door lock pin. That's quite annoying :x

^^^this!

I worked out that if I drove with the doors unlocked, the rattle stops :? Sometimes you can lock the doors again (like when you come to a stop) and it's still OK, gone. Sometimes not. It's not a great solution, does anyone have any different tips for this? Can you just pull the pin/cover/button thing off and wrap some foamy stuff in there?

As for the pillar in the coupe at the front edge of the little driver's rear portal window (I know that's not what it's called... - and you should see that word in German...), how do you stop an occasional rattle there? There's, like, a grey fabric-covered.......cover there over whatever's behind it - behind your right ear. Unless you're left-eared, of course

I've tried "massaging" that grey cover a bit, but that's not worked so far I haven't tried to take the cover off - is that easy? Does anyone have any tips/experience for this?

Stevo

 

[mj2k]

B pillar cover pulls up and out, my E86 had the same rattle. Found very little on the web & thought I was one of the first to be doing it. When I say, me, I mean my friend as I'm useless with trim removal without breaking things.

You will most likely break one of the two clips it is attached with & I cannot recall if there is no part number on realoem, or if the number is wrong...either way, you feel a little screwed. I do have a part number that fits, but believe it is in the office - I'm not back in the office until Tuesday next week. Mark @ Soper worked with me through trial & error, so might be able to help out directly if you call him. Realoem might have been updated, this was over a year ago.

For me, this wasn't the source of the rattle - underneath the pillar is very very little that could rattle! Mine was solved by changing all of the clips that hold the plastic cover in place, the one underneath the rear side window. You will need to remove the B pillar anyway to remove this part. Again, the part number is not correct for these clips - think I have some spare ones of these in the garage I can post to you - will check later.

 

[cossied]

If it stops with the doors unlocked I wonder if it is the petrol filler cover. I took mine apart and greased it.

 

[stevo///m3]

OK, both useful comments, thanks. I'll investigate further and see how it looks over the bank holiday. It's not the most annoying rattle but I'd rather sort out a minor niggle if possible. I'll report back.
Stevo