Rattling Fixes

I am SUPER OCD about rattlings. Spreading my "sickness" to the community, here's my compilation of rattle fixes:

Seat belt adjustment rattling:
Diagnoses: "clock clock" noise when over rough roads or bumps
Fix: Set the seat belt adjustment to another adjustment and then put felt tape either on the bottom or top (depending on the position), then put the seat belt adjustment back in place. The felt should secure the adjustable trim of the seat belt adjustment.

B Pillar trim rattling
Diagnoses: the sound ranges from quiet "clicks" when you press the B pillar trim join between the lower half and the seat belt covering trim; or "tap tap or tick tick" noise when over rough roads.
Fix: The top B pillar trim has a large plastic piece that sits against the car frame, this is part of the trim that makes the rattling.
1) undo the weather strip trims, you can peak through and see the U and L trim that sits against the frame
2) carefully slightly pop open each side of the top half of the B pillar trim, don't need to undue the entire trim
3) carefull pop the top of the top half of the B pillar trim, this will give some clearance
4) use a piece of felt tape on the frame of the car where the trim sits on the frame. There's 1 large contact from the top half, and 2 smaller U shape contacts on the lower trim.

Front side occasional rattling
Fix: open the door, there's a plastic panel trim by where the vents are. Carefully pop that out. Behind is part of the general dash trim that has plastic that could touch the steel cage of the dash. Plaster felt tape under the dash plastic trim that could hit the steel cage

Door corner "clicks"
Under rough roads might hear rattling by upper location of door. Cause: the plastic corner trim by the door. Fix: Carefully pop out black plastic corner trim. Nobody will notice they're gone. Problem Solved.

Open window "ticks"
Diagnoses: when windows are opened slightly around 1-2 inches, you can hear a faint "ticks" while driving
Cause: the weather strip by the corner of the window is hitting against the door frame.
Fix: open the windows all the way down. Driver door reference: pop out slightly from the inside of window to outside, the top left of the window trim. put small pieces of friction tape or use some silicone grease between the door frame and the windows trim.

Passenger side front dash rattle
Cause: there's a wiring loop behind the passenger side A pillar trim. This would rattle against the A pillar trim.
Fix: a) undo the weather stripping
a2) remove the speaker grill. Slide an edge of a credit card under the trim and then use another trim tool to pop it out.
b) carefully pop the A pillar trim, there's a retaining clip that prevents it from full release
c) carefully undo the retaining clip at the A pillar frame so the A pillar trim could be released completely
d) release the A pillar
e) there should be a black/grey wiring set with a large plastic clip. Cut out the clip and wrap the wiring with felt tape
f) while at it, put some felt tape behind the airbag wiring clips where it may hit the frame.

 

LOL.........not all felt tapes are created equal. I recommend getting one that is a little bit softer at the felt side so it could dampen the contact. The dollar shop felt tape I find are way too hard.

This is what i used with good success.

no i'm not affiliated with them nor amazon

 

Most likely something inside the door card that’s loose and the bass is rattling it. You need to open the door card to find out. Since it’s new and easily replicable, then dealer it.

Other causes could be blown speakers. If the lot boy who washes the car decides to crank up the music while preparing your new car.

 

Found 2 more important (probably common) rattling sources and has to do with the door card, driver or passenger.

1) "ticks or click" when road surface is rough which causes vibration on the door/frame. Source: the door "dip" handle retaining tab (i presume is to stop the handle from being a projectile when airbag deploys). Carefully using a trim remove tool, pop out the door "dip" handle. It is just held by snap tabs. When the tabs are off, there is this long plastic thing which you must tilt to the larger back opening before you can remove. Felt tape the crap out of that long plastic retaining tab. Solved.

2) As mention before, speaker rattling when music is on or sporadic ticks/clicks . Source: loose speaker connection. You have to open up the entire door card to get to this one. There's a video on the 4gen forum on side mirror install, so follow that one. Basically remove door dip handle, window switches, the cap behind the door lever. Unscrew the 3 screws. Carefully pop the tabs from the bottom to top. Unlatch the lever and lock cable. Put the door card in a safe place. There, you'll see the speaker and the connection. Wiggle it and you'll find it's loose AF and that speaker is low to mid freq so it will rattle the crap out of that loose connector. Fix: unplug the speaker connector, and felt tape the edges of the connector and test fit to see if it's loose. Solved.

While you're doing #2, since the door card is off:
- felt tape all the plastic retaining cable holders
- felt tape the edge of the door where the card meets the door frame
- felt tape the back of the door card where there's the handle meets the back part of the door and the black plastic bulge section, i find these two areas would touch the actual door

 

Also, another B pillar sporadic click rattle that would drive anyone crazy. This would generally occur if you have tried to pop open the B pillar trim. Find the line where the top trim meets the lower trim (B pillar - seat belt). Use 1 finger and gentle push along the lower trim where the line is and if you hear a "tick tick" then you'll have this rattle. Cause: cheap plastic material. Fix: pop open the lower B pillar trim by peeling off the seals on both rear and front so you can access the trim. Use 2 hands and carefully pop the front and rear corners of the lower trim. Once the corners are off, try to jam more fingers inside the trim and put your thumb on the top trim. Carefully pop the snaps off, these 2 snaps are particularly hard to snap off, so careful not to break the trim. Once the tabs are out and trim is out, use friction tape (not felt tape because it's too thick) along the corner joint, and the centre where the tabs are inserted. Solved.

While you're at this one:
- felt tape all the cable retainers under the lower portion of the B pillar

 

After all those rattle fixes, I can confidently say my Prime is 98% rattle free