Just fixed one of the more annoying rattles I've had in this car.
When going over small potholes or driving on rougher roads, I could hear a faint metallic clinking sort of noise. It sounded like there was a washer rattling around inside the rear right C pillar cover.
This had been going on for a while, but the rattle was quiet and infrequent enough that I mostly just ignored it. Plus, I knew the plastic screw bracket on that C pillar cover was on its last legs, so I figured it had finally broken and the screw was rattling around.
However, the C pillar covers have been off since the deep clean (because that bracket did indeed fail) and the rattle was still there! Not only that, but it was significantly louder and way more frequent than before.
Banging on stuff with the car parked in the garage never caused the rattle, so I was stumped.
BUT, I had a breakthrough earlier today. Was driving on a slower street and realized that the rattle sounded like it was coming from closer than the C pillars. Pulled over and realized that banging on the dashboard made it happen pretty reliably. A repro! Finally!
Drove back home, parked the car, banged on the dashboard and absolutely no rattle. What!?
Started thinking about what variables had changed and slowly zeroed in on the only one: the position of the handbrake lever.
And wouldn't you know. Handbrake down, rattle. Handbrake up, no rattle.
Took the center console apart, kept banging on stuff and realized that the rattle was coming from the locating tab for the center console bracket:
Turns out that when the handbrake is pulled up, its bracket flexes juust enough to butt up against that tab and stop the rattle. How annoying.
Copious amounts of tesa tape later and the rattle is gone!
Too long of a post and way too much effort for a stupid rattle, but man, it was driving me absolutely nuts. I'm so glad to have resolved this
Has been a pretty good week for the M3
When going over small potholes or driving on rougher roads, I could hear a faint metallic clinking sort of noise. It sounded like there was a washer rattling around inside the rear right C pillar cover.
This had been going on for a while, but the rattle was quiet and infrequent enough that I mostly just ignored it. Plus, I knew the plastic screw bracket on that C pillar cover was on its last legs, so I figured it had finally broken and the screw was rattling around.
However, the C pillar covers have been off since the deep clean (because that bracket did indeed fail) and the rattle was still there! Not only that, but it was significantly louder and way more frequent than before.
Banging on stuff with the car parked in the garage never caused the rattle, so I was stumped.
BUT, I had a breakthrough earlier today. Was driving on a slower street and realized that the rattle sounded like it was coming from closer than the C pillars. Pulled over and realized that banging on the dashboard made it happen pretty reliably. A repro! Finally!
Drove back home, parked the car, banged on the dashboard and absolutely no rattle. What!?
Started thinking about what variables had changed and slowly zeroed in on the only one: the position of the handbrake lever.
And wouldn't you know. Handbrake down, rattle. Handbrake up, no rattle.
Took the center console apart, kept banging on stuff and realized that the rattle was coming from the locating tab for the center console bracket:
Turns out that when the handbrake is pulled up, its bracket flexes juust enough to butt up against that tab and stop the rattle. How annoying.
Copious amounts of tesa tape later and the rattle is gone!
Too long of a post and way too much effort for a stupid rattle, but man, it was driving me absolutely nuts. I'm so glad to have resolved this
Has been a pretty good week for the M3
Comment