Hi everyone,
I have got some rattles under the headliner of my car.
I'll explain the situation: my sunroof has been changed by my dealer due to the problems of known difficulty opening or closing when the wheather is warm. It happens that there are rattles coming from each side, at the level of B-pillars, under the headliner. They are kind of clicking or popping, hard to describe. Their intensity and frequency varies with temperature, and the condition of the road. But strangely, it does not necessarily mean more when the road is very bumpy. Simply a small tilt or otherwise.
However, the fact of open or close the sunroof has no effect.
My car is returned to the dealer for these rattles, they removed the headliner but have not solved anything at all. I do not know if the rattles were present before the change of the sunroof, since I bought the car just after, but I doubt it.
Do you have an idea where it may come? I was wondering if this could be due to poor fixation side airbags? Or bad fixation of the sunroof?
I don't really know what to do whith that. Sometimes it's almost not here, but when it is, it's really annoying...
Thanks everyone

 

I had an odd rattle similar sounding to what you describe after having the rubber bump stops installed on my 07's sunroof. It turned out to be some washers on the sunroof themselves. Might be something to have them check.

 

Thank you for your answer.
Could you tell me where are installed the rubber bump stops?
The strange thing is that the rattles are still there, opened or closed roof...
And, last question, I don't really understand what this sentence means... "It turned out to be some washers on the sunroof themselves"
Could you explain what would you like to say?
Yes, I'm french...

 

Here's another question…

For those of us out of warranty, how do you safely remove the headliner without damaging anything?
I've got a couple rattles near my sunroof that nobody's been able to solve, and if I can strip away the headliner, it might make finding and fixing them a little easier.

 

The headliner doesn't look very difficult to remove, on the TIS.
You need to remove A pillars, B pillars, C pillars, both sunroof trims, the control panel, the middle light cover, and the rearview mirror. You also need to remove the top of the rubbers of doors and hatch.
There is two clips, one at the front of the rearview mirror, and one near the third stop light.

 

"on the TIS"

 

The TIS software, it's the Technical Instruction Service, or something like that. It's the soft that they have which contains all the instructions to do something on the car.

 

how can I get this TIS?

 

any update on this? i got my car back from yet another service and the front halo isn't attached near the center of the car. it's jetting out halfway covering the finger indention on the pull shade.

 

Mine rattled open or closed. The Mini tech used the exact words, "There was a washer under a bolt that wasn't fully tight. The washer was rattling."

This was a bolt they had loosed or removed when installing the rubber bump stops.

The rubber bump stops were a service bulletin for early 07 models. They had a problem with the shades sliding open on their own. I don't know where they installed them. They aren't visible that I can see.

 

I've got so many rattles on my car, it's tough to isolate them, but I found the source of one annoying rattle in the headliner. Way in the back near the hatch, there's a plastic pad that is glued to the headliner with a trim clip to attach it to the metal roof. The glue separates and the plastic pad stops holding the headliner and just rattles around as it hangs loose. If you peel up the rubber hatch seal at the top center, you can pull down the headliner just a bit to see.

When the weather finally breaks for the warm, I'm going to pull the entire headliner out and soundproof the roof. I'll bet most of the rattles we hear from the roof are just bad clips and attachment points.

 

While driving and hearing the noises, lower the passenger side sunvisor and put pressure up directly above the center of the sunvisor if it was in the up position. Also put forward pressure on the sunroof opening plastic trim just behind the switch cluster for the lights/sunroof buttons. Lastly, slide your fingernail above the back of the trim panel for the switch cluster and pull very slightly down. Let me know the results.

 

So,,,,,

That is where my rattle is from, but how do i fix it?

Thanks

 

which one of the three made the noise go away?

 

It goes away when I press "under" the passenger visor or press the sunroof trim forward.

Thank you

 

 

Remove part #4 (the front glass headliner trim in the sunroof opening). Gently pull down the right side of the headliner through the gap now accessible from removing the trim. Right where you were pressing you will see a plastic reinforcement grid separating from the headlining material. Use a two part epoxy or hot glue to resecure it to the headlining material. Then insulate above the grid on the actual roof of the car with a 1/4 inch foam tape. This will insulate between the grid and roof and not allow excessive movement in the future for the grid to separate from the headliner again. While that trim is out, look at the switch cluster above the headliner. You should see a thin black trim ring around the outside of the cluster that clips into the cluster and sandwiches it between the headliner. Make sure all of the locking tabs in this piece are properly secured. If they aren't, simply put a little pressure on the cluster from the bottom, and pressure on top of the trim ring and they should snap together.

 

Fantastic. Thanks for the help. I'll look at this when it stops snowing in Calgary. It was 70 degrees last week.... Snow today. :(

 

Good luck. Let me know how it goes.

 

Thanks for the help. All fixed today. Did some preventative on the other side too

Thank you

Stephen

 

This. Word for word.

Definitely a MINI tech, or was one.