I picked up my R53 in February and I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with the interior rattles and noise.

I've since scoured the forum and set a plan of attack on my car, and was surprised there wasn't many recent threads on the subject. Most were from the under warranty days and what the dealerships did (lots of felt, which I found throughout my car.)

I am hoping some of you can chime in about what you have done, or get tips if you haven't done anything yet.

So far my "build" thread (not really a build) has mostly just covered trying to quiet the rattles and stiffen up the chassis. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...checkmate.html

These are links to the sound deadening materials I have used:

I've gone through about 1.5 of this


and a whole sheet of this




Now on to what I have done so far...

1. Chassis bracing - I started with the OMP front under-brace and cabrio braces, and this made a huge difference in noises from the front of the car and dash. Easily worth the money. I've done another mid-under brace and strut tower brace, they weren't as noticeable but I think every little bit helps.

2. Doors - After using a mixture of both products linked above, the doors are rock solid. I also filled the arm rests with spray expanding foam, and this cured any and all rattles I have had coming from the doors.

3. A-Pillars - my passenger side A pillar was a big source of rattling on my car. I pulled it off, lined it with the foam type sound deadener, and the rattle is gone.

4. Glove box - This was constantly rattling when I first got the car. I pulled this out, lined with the foam sound deadening material, and it is very quiet. I used to be able to barely touch it and it would make a terrible creaking sound, now it doesn't make any noise.

5. Shifter trim ring - used to creak loudly. Placed the foam underneath and is now quiet.

6. Front dash columns - Shoved the foam around the parts that make plastic to plastic contact and they are much better.

7. Sunroof - My car wasn't rattling here, at least I think, but I still used the soft-side of velcro on the flaps that hold the front down.

8. Rear interior panels - I used a mixture of both sound deadening materials behind the rear interior panels that start at the end of the doors and go back to the hatch. This seemed to help some, but I still have an annoying rattle coming from the back of my car I haven't been able to pinpoint. Also, I broke some clips here. Fortunately, they use the same interior clips as E36 BMW's and I had a big stock pile of them.

9. Rear hatch - I read some old posts about dealerships lining the catch on the hatch with electrical tape. I did this, but I still have a rattle in back as mentioned above, and I have a feeling this maybe it. Has anyone adjusted the latch or been able to convulsively stop their rear hatch rattle?

10. Seats - If my seats aren't ratcheted all the way in the down position, mine rattle horribly. I still think my passenger seat rattles, even in the down position, but I haven't pulled it for a closer look. I did grease the mechanisms under the seat, which did not seam to help.

I think that covers everything I have done. I will say, it is SUBSTANTIALLY better then when I first got it, and it is quite livable now. If anyone has any of their own tips, or it helps someone, great! Please share!

Also, I know these are light cars and it's all about the driving experience etc. etc. but there is massive room for improvement on the interior. I probably added 30 lbs at most to my car so it is inconsequential to me.

 

I get a few dash rattles when it’s cold out, but other than that I don’t really have any issues.

 

418,000+ miles and the only real rattle is when the sun roof is in vent position.

Nik

 

I've done the front chassis brace and the strut tower brace. TIghtened up the front end quite a bit, seems like it probably reduced the rattles a little.

I've been chasing one ANNOYING intermittent rattle since day 1, and have had ZERO luck locating it, let alone eliminating it. It comes from the PS, near the A pillar/door area. When all doors/windows/sunroof closed, it is either absent, or minor. Open the sunroof, and it rattles like crazy, but it's not the flaps, or anything IN the sunroof area. Same issue if the windows are down (sunroof open or closed).

I've had the dash apart, the side trip of the PS footwell out, the door panel off. Interestingly enough, if you drive with the door panel off and the PS door open, it goes away.

I've just about given up, although I do have a new can of spray foam in the garage after having read your build thread.

 

Sounds silly but have you checked your A Pillar trim? I swore I still had a rattle in my passenger door and I finally had my wife in the car listening as I drove. Took her about 30 seconds to point to the A pillar and sure enough that was it.

 

Doesn't sound silly at all... I just wasn't able to get it pinpointed to that location. I'll pull it to see. I've been hesitant to remove it, even when I replaced my Headliner, after hearing about people breaking tabs, etc.


I'll give it a look. I'd spend big money to kill that noise. 😜

 

I didn't pull mine all the way out, but it was easy to detach it enough to get behind it and put some padding down.

 

Only rattles and creaks mine had was the dash and sunroof.
I removed the dash panels, installed felt adhesive tape to areas of plastic to plastic contact, that took care of that.
Sunroof, Mini used plywood or luan up in the roof area so very prone to noise...I installed a rear upper brace and that took care of the body flexing.....noise gone.
Care be taken injecting any expanding foam insulation into door panels....to access locking mechanism, window adjusters and such tech needs clear passage to those areas.

 

The rear brace is my next purchase, good to hear it helped. Which one do you have? The foam only filled the hollow door panel arm rest, it did not go anywhere near the actual door.

 

I need to fix my sunroof rattle... that's pretty much what bothers me the most and I have upper stiff engine mounts plus inserts on the trans one.

 

I modded my lower engine mount by adding MINI windshield eurathane into the mounts rubber voids...it provided the rigidity w/o being too hard. I also have a TSW engine damper on pass side ( Way Motor Works) and yellow powerflex transmission mount bushing on drivers side ( Way Motor Works ), so I know what you mean....Try the rear upper brace maybe....I also have the Madness lower front brace too...I think ECS Tuning has a rear upper, lower mid and a front lower brace which looks just as strong and very functionable. It worked for me.

 

04 with 208k and only rattle is an occasional trim piece which is just my shifter trim and GPS trim both of which barely do so I've never bothered fixing it. Which I do just my addicting alittle rtv on the push connect contact points and let it cure over night.
I will be doing upgraded mounts soon but I have cabrio braces , behind rear seat brace and a front strut bar.

 

Did the rear brace make any noticeable difference? I feel like I get a lot of noise from the hatch area (like panels shifting and creaking) going over rough patches of road. I'm hoping a rear brace will help, undecided which one to go with.

 

The rattling acts as a sort of heads up display. No need to look at the speedo, I know how fast I'm going by what it rattling, and if the sun visor starts to wave around its time to slow down!

 

the car is fourteen years old. its a sports car of sorts. if its not rattling you are not doing it right.

 

I have the upper M7 strut bar, M7 USS, cabrio brace, rear strut tower brace and i am trying to chase down why I have rattles when the sunroof is open. In addition the Vibratech motor mount and lower motor mount.

 

I replaced my transmission mount with power flex and my upper and lower mounts with eBay mounts.

The power flex were good, but the email mounts I think are causing my car to shake when under load around 65+ mph

That or my breaks are sticking

 

I had the annoying sunroof loud POP whenever the side fingers came up to grab the sunroof and drop it into fully closed position. The passenger side was maybe 2mm out of alignment outboard of the car. Put a brook handle against the finger mechanism and supplied a bit of inward force. Bent the bracket just enough so that it's in alignment now and no POP. I've had that pop for the better part of 10 years.

I have lots of rattles, always have. Most of the time they don't bother me, but the rear hatch rattle has started to. I may move the striker plate frontward just a smidge and adjust the two little bumpers and see if that takes care of it.

Just put my replacement Borla exhaust on a few months ago (the old one was rusting out and Borla warrantied it - see details in my build thread) - I have a rattle from there that I can't find - but only around 2000rpm. So annoying!