Fixed: rattle noises in the cup-holder/dash areas

G

GP20

Senior member
My Z4M had constant rattle noises coming from both cup-holder areas. I got the dealer to replace both cup-holders but the noises were still present. I took a short drive without the cup-holders altogether and sure enough the noises were still there. Thought it was the speaker covers or A-pillar plastic covers - nope. Eventually I found the causes for the noises - the plastic side A/C ducts behind the cup-holders.

- To get to the A/C duct, remove the cup-holder following the DIY manual in the forum.
- Once the cup-holder is removed, you'll easily see the plastic A/C duct. You can't possibly miss it.
- Reach in (watch out for the sharp edges), grab the A/C duct and try to shake it and see if it makes any noise. In my case, the A/C ducts were very loose and making loud plastic knocking noises. I simply wedged a couple pieces of felt-tape inbetween the very end of the A/C duct and the opening/bracket support where the end of the A/C duct goes into (hard to explain, but you'll understand it once you see it) so the A/C ducts no longer move around loosely when you try to shake them.
 
Thanks for the info, suspect that this is where my rattle on the passenger side is coming from :thumbsup:
 
My passenger side rattle came from a very weird location: The roof catch at the front, the metal clip there was slightly loose, which meant it was rattling on uneven road. However, I could have sworn it came from inside the passenger door. That is how deceiving rattle locations are.

Completely rattle free car now :thumbsup:
 
why all the hassle? It is the dealer's reponsibility to sort out the rattles. The car is not suppose to present any rattles / unwanted noise and they are obliged to get it sorted for you?
 
My car has just developed a rattle after installing my new exhaust. I've had the exhaust checked and it's certainly not that. I only get it during a certain rpm/frequency range.

Here's a neat trick. Use a sound test frequency sweep for testing stereo equipment to find rattles. I put in the freq. sweep cd and I get the rattle at the same frequency every time. Now I just need a second person to keep hitting repeat on the CD while I look for the rattle. :D
 
ovrkll said:
Thanks for the info, suspect that this is where my rattle on the passenger side is coming from :thumbsup:
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Good luck with it! :thumbsup: On the passenger side it's usually the tweeter grill, A-pillar cover, cup-holder, and the A/C duct. There's another A/C duct in the footwell just behind the glover-box and in my car it was rattling as well. If you have manual seats, check the plastic adjustment handles as well. So far I've been lucky enough that there's no noise from inside the door cover, which would of course be a PITA to get to.

pvr said:
My passenger side rattle came from a very weird location: The roof catch at the front, the metal clip there was slightly loose, which meant it was rattling on uneven road. However, I could have sworn it came from inside the passenger door. That is how deceiving rattle locations are.

Completely rattle free car now :thumbsup:
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I'm jealous. :P And thanks for the tips! I probably have another 5~6 interior rattles right now. I asbolutely HATE rattles as they make the car feel cheap and flimsy. I'm sure my 19" wheels don't help either, and I already have planned to go back to 18" as soon as the 18" BBS RGR's are available again.
 
funkdude said:
why all the hassle? It is the dealer's reponsibility to sort out the rattles. The car is not suppose to present any rattles / unwanted noise and they are obliged to get it sorted for you?
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You might have had better luck than I have.

I've had 3 Z4's for the last 6.5 years. All 3 have had pretty bad interior rattle noises. And my dealers have proven to be completely imcompetent when it comes to fixing rattles. Having looked at the jobs they've done on my Z4's, there's no wonder - the attempted repairs were done quickly and carelessly. I've already fixed quite a few rattle noises in my cars, and there's simply no way the techinicians could afford the same level of attention to the details that I could. They could not afford the time to work on one car for so long and they probably could careless since it's not their own cars. I need things to be done correctly and 100% perfectly on my cars or I'm not gonna be satisfied with it.
 
azroadie said:
My car has just developed a rattle after installing my new exhaust. I've had the exhaust checked and it's certainly not that. I only get it during a certain rpm/frequency range.
Click to expand...

Have you checked the heat shield?

Here's a neat trick. Use a sound test frequency sweep for testing stereo equipment to find rattles. I put in the freq. sweep cd and I get the rattle at the same frequency every time. Now I just need a second person to keep hitting repeat on the CD while I look for the rattle. :D
Click to expand...

Will definitely give this a try! Thanks. :thumbsup:
 
I supppose you guys are right... this again and gain poves that the dealers are useless... sigh. Try driving the car on london roads... I usually have music up load to cover the rattles!
 
GP20 said:
azroadie said:
My car has just developed a rattle after installing my new exhaust. I've had the exhaust checked and it's certainly not that. I only get it during a certain rpm/frequency range.
Click to expand...

Have you checked the heat shield?
Click to expand...

Yes, and unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. Well, let me rephrase that. The muffler shop checked the heat shield. I'll have to do my own check to make sure.
 
azroadie said:
Yes, and unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. Well, let me rephrase that. The muffler shop checked the heat shield. I'll have to do my own check to make sure.
Click to expand...

Did they check it while the car's cold or hot? When the car warms up the exhaust pipes might expand a litte to the point where they start touching the heat shield. Did you install just the mufflers only? Or full cat-back? Bolted on or welded?
 
Just a quick report:

After I stablized both side air-ducts, the bottom air-duct behind the glove box, and another air-duct behind the instrument cluster, I've driven about 20 miles now (most of them on crappy road surfaces that I deal with everyday) all the rattles coming from the dash and the passenger side are gone. I still have several other rattle noises but these noises alone probably accounted for 50% of the overall loudness. I'm happy now and it's definitely a lot less frustrating to drive my Z4 now. I'll tackle the rest of the noises this weekend.
 
I had a go at fixing the rattle that had plagued my dashboard this weekend:

Armed with a cross head screwdriver I attacked all the screws under the dash and in the cup holders and glove box. The dash felt much firmer after and some were several turns loose.

After a quick drive I can certainly notice a big improvement, my remaining rattles come from the roof and I need to track them down :D :thumbsup:
 
I've tracked down most of my rattles - one to go. It appears to come from behind the passengers head (left hand side - it's a UK car). Trouble is that I can't seem to locate it (it could be speakers (10 speaker setup), the plastic trim around the roll hoop or the plastic cover along the top). I can't take a passenger along unless I find an Olympic standard gymnast or a contortionist (wife has banned both). Any ideas?
 
GP20 said:
azroadie said:
Yes, and unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. Well, let me rephrase that. The muffler shop checked the heat shield. I'll have to do my own check to make sure.
Click to expand...

Did they check it while the car's cold or hot? When the car warms up the exhaust pipes might expand a litte to the point where they start touching the heat shield. Did you install just the mufflers only? Or full cat-back? Bolted on or welded?
Click to expand...

I had this on mine when the exhaust was changed. It turned out to be one of the screws holding the heat shield in position. When the exhaust was hot, it just touched and rattled like a bugger....... ( the center one by the exhaust pipe(s) )

I cut about 5mm of the screws and is all nice and quiet again.....
 
I used a product called Krytox made by Dupont Corporation! The product is excellent, the spray can very small can be purchased from Audi or VW.
When I sparayed all moving parts in the cup holders--noise has not returned!!!!!!!!!!!

This stuff is amazing, I have used it on all my rubber seals, doors, trunk, hood, interior plastic parts and it rids those dam rattles :D :D :D :D
good place to spray is the plastic seams with the supplied straw like tube, yesterday I sprayed a section down the seams near the storage door
and rattle is history!

Krytox does not leave a odor, it does not also evaporate like other lubricants--

You can also purchase from yes, GM and others, just make certain it is Krytox.

Bob
 
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