Rattle - door pin and B-pillar trim (E86)

[stevo///m3]

Hello you lovely bunch! Looking for a bit of first hand advice from you on a couple of rattles. The car is a coupe (E86) but I think the rattle-fix I’m after will apply to E85s as well.

I've just sorted one of the rattles - probably the most difficult one I suspect – it involved taking off two pieces of trim behind the driver’s right shoulder – couple of piccies later in case that helps anyone other than me.


I’m after some help with the other rattle now.

I suspect will be easy-ish for someone on here. The door button seems to rattle a bit on poor roads or, at least, roads that make the car vibrate because of the poor tarmac. I think it is the door pin itself – i.e. the black plastic cover which protrudes and retracts when you lock the doors. I was thinking of wrapping some felt around the base of it or perhaps wrapping the inside of the (presumably) plastic tube it retracts into when you lock the door.



So the questions are:
- Is that the correct way of doing it – would you wrap the button or the tube?
- How do I access the base of the button or the tube – do I need to take the door card off?
- If I do have to take the door card off, are there any precautions to take with regards to the air bag? Can I just leave that in place by being careful?

Finally, I have one more rattle which I have identified. The cover for the B-pillar, which I took off when solving the first rattle, is attached to the metal B-pillar by two plastic clips. When I removed the B-pillar cover, there was only one clip there. I’ve heard of people buying these off EBay – so, would anyone have a spare one by chance. Piccy below.




Thanks in advance for advice and/or spare clip!

Stevo

 

[Rassi]

The B pillar clip part number is 07147145753

I order most of my parts from Leebmann24, shipping is about 10 euro so obviously not worth it for a couple of clips but if you need more it beats going to the dealer.

 

[patriot66]

My door buttons used to rattle. The black plastic button is threaded onto the end of a short wire rod. Just unscrew them and wrap a few turns of electrical tape around. You will have to experiment with how much tape is required to stop the button rattling but without causing it to bind in the hole.

 

[stevo///m3]

My door buttons used to rattle. The black plastic button is threaded onto the end of a short wire rod. Just unscrew them and wrap a few turns of electrical tape around. You will have to experiment with how much tape is required to stop the button rattling but without causing it to bind in the hole.

Perfect reply, thanks! I did think they might screw off but good to have it confirmed. Top man

Think I might just go for a bag of 10 clips or whatever off Eblag

Stevo

 

[RickRob]

Please post how you got on with this, as I too have an annoying rattle from me driver's side door button.

Thanks

 

[stevo///m3]

Please post how you got on with this, as I too have an annoying rattle from me driver's side door button.

Thanks

So Patriot66 was absolutely spot on - thanks again. I pulled the button upwards, tried unscrewing it initially but I think it just pulls off. Once off the car, I wrapped the base of the button with maybe 2 or 3 rounds of standard black insulation tape and re-fitted it. Is was binding in the hole - the door would lock, i.e. I couldn't open it from the outside, but the button had issues retracting into the hole because of the amount of tape I'd used. I took the button back off again and removed a round of tape, refitted and - bingo - job done. I suspect there is now 1.5 or 2 round of tape on the button, retracts into the hole fine and I tested it last night on the stretch of road near my house that always causes the rattle - no noises at all Very easy fix and no materials needed that I didn't already have. Take care to only tape the bottom half of the button so that you can't even see the tape when the button is fully up.

The other rattle under the beautification panel behind the driver's right shoulder (first pic) was a loose screw - there is a screw that goes through the plastic panel and into a pre-drilled hole - all of which was located correctly. The issue was that the hole into which you screw the little blighter has one of those metal clips which straddles the plastic trim and firstly, that metal clip was misplaced and therefore not screwed in and, secondly, the screw itself was not tight. Both rectified now, happy camper, just need to get one of these clips bought.

Hope that helps

Stevo

 

[RickRob]

Please post how you got on with this, as I too have an annoying rattle from me driver's side door button.

Thanks

So Patriot66 was absolutely spot on - thanks again. I pulled the button upwards, tried unscrewing it initially but I think it just pulls off. Once off the car, I wrapped the base of the button with maybe 2 or 3 rounds of standard black insulation tape and re-fitted it. Is was binding in the hole - the door would lock, i.e. I couldn't open it from the outside, but the button had issues retracting into the hole because of the amount of tape I'd used. I took the button back off again and removed a round of tape, refitted and - bingo - job done. I suspect there is now 1.5 or 2 round of tape on the button, retracts into the hole fine and I tested it last night on the stretch of road near my house that always causes the rattle - no noises at all Very easy fix and no materials needed that I didn't already have. Take care to only tape the bottom half of the button so that you can't even see the tape when the button is fully up.

The other rattle under the beautification panel behind the driver's right shoulder (first pic) was a loose screw - there is a screw that goes through the plastic panel and into a pre-drilled hole - all of which was located correctly. The issue was that the hole into which you screw the little blighter has one of those metal clips which straddles the plastic trim and firstly, that metal clip was misplaced and therefore not screwed in and, secondly, the screw itself was not tight. Both rectified now, happy camper, just need to get one of these clips bought.

Hope that helps

Stevo

Thanks Steve. That is now my next, post-Christmas job on the Zed.

 

[biojo]

mine developed the rattle on the door lock pin,

I think officially theres a rubber / foam that forces the rod attached to top pin against the outer case, this would mean removing door panel

You could try new gomet things,

Tbh i pulled the old ones out and used some door insulation (foam siticking on one side, sticky fury velco side would also do) and put it in the grommet n put it all back, been fine for over a year now