For the past several weeks I've noticed a slight rattling in my passenger door, that occurs on anything but runway grade pavement. However, when I (even slightly) press against the inside door panel it stops. At first it sounded like it came from the reflector on the door, but it stops if I press anywhere towards the back of the door panel.

2 questions:
-anyone know why this is?
-how do I take the door panel off to find the culprit?

 

somewhat common... I bought some high density foam strip from lowes and lined the edge of the door panel... no more rattle..

-Josh

 

edge of the panel where? could you elaborate? I have some of this left over from a project I was working on.

 

if you remove the door panel all around the edge, especially around the bottom edge.

 

i had the same problem. just an annoying rattle that i couldn't quite pinpoint in the door on rough pavement. since i was under warranty, i just took it to the dealer and had them fix it. don't know what they did, but they took care of the problem. if you are under warranty, i'd just take it in if you have the time.

 

With the help of an assistant, figure out where the door panel is touching the interior mouldings then clean the area with Armor All. Mine was doing the same thing (i assume)...a sort of clicking rattle sound. It was because the panels were rubbing together. Armor all stops the squeaking. it's like oil for plastic.

HTH

 

Well, I am under warranty, but I don't want to drive 100 miles to the dealer. So, how do you pry off the door panel? I got all the screws on the front, and took off the tweeter surround. I couldn't get the speaker surround on the bottom off...felt like I was going to break it. and the panel still didn't budge

 

I don't think the bottom speaker surround is a seperate piece from the door panel. Once you get the screws off (remember there's one behind the reflector on the door panel as well), you need to get a big flathead screwdriver and start prying from the bottom corner of the door. Use some thin cloth material over the screwdriver so you don't scratch the paint. The door card is held on by a bunch of pop clips. If you do a search around, I'm sure you can find pictures. Search under replacing the door speakers.

 

Forget the dealer on this one. My dealer's looked at it 4 different times while the car has been in for other issues and they haven't been able to resolve it. There's a great write-up on how to resolve the door rattle at http://www.jwardell.com/mini/hkdoor.html

 

awesome link, thanks for the help

 

See page 4 in the following document for an official MINI description of removing the door panel: http://motoringfile.com/files/2005_M...rm_Install.PDF