One fix for rattles

[jburnham]

Ever since I got my car, especially after I've worked on it, my car rattles like a bucket of bolts. Someone pointed out that I don't torque things down properly and things have been working loose. I've gone back and retorqued everything I've touched and things got better but I've continued to have the most annoying rattle on the right rear. After reading and researching, I started testing to see if it was better or worse when braking and sure enough, it went completely away under braking.

I completely removed all pads and put three good coats of anti squeel/rattle spray on them - allowing 10 minutes between coats. When I first installed them, I used the compound that came with the pads. This stuff was a blue spray and more tacky than greasy. I put everything back together and went out for a drive and it's night and day better. I've got a few more rattles in the toolkit and passenger front seat to work on, but getting close to sounding like a brand new $50K car. Thanks to the forum for the good info. If you've got rattles which go away when braking, go spray up your pads.

[Shardul]

i need to do this to my car

[JaDwa]

I have a rattle as well, but I think I've narrowed it down to the fact that my rear right brake has no retaining clip! It can also be the result of thin rotors that wobble

[jburnham]

The fix wasn't permanent. It's only been a few weeks and the rattle is back. Maybe the rattle clip is too old and tired - I've bought new ones.

[Bware0023]

I have about five seperate rattles. The most annoying are the sunroof and somewhere in the dash...followed closely by passenger seat and tool kit. Brakes are being done shortly with new anti-rattle/chatter clips and a good amount of the anti-squeal.

I think that once the new shocks/springs go in, that may help with a lot of the rattling too. We'll see.

[Jim Knight]

I had a rattle in my roof two years ago. I paid the dealer $125.00 for a diagnosis. Within 5 minutes he quoted an $1800.00 dollar fix. (The entire assembly would have to be replaced) Quote/Unquote. I declined thinking I would write to BMW NA because the car had less than 40K.
On the way home I stopped at a repair shop by the house specializing in Eurpean Autos. A tech fixed the rattle in 5 minutes with a dab of strategially placed grease with a long cotton tip and the rattle has never returned.
The owner/manager said no charge. I gave the tech a $20.00 tip. I would nave given more but no hard money at the time.

[Doru]

I have about five seperate rattles. The most annoying are the sunroof and somewhere in the dash...followed closely by passenger seat and tool kit.

I had a very annoying rattle from the front/dash area. Dealer was not able to fix it either.
I found that the 3 torx screws were somehow loose. That fixed the problem. Pic is from e38 board, but that's where our screws are.
Dash.jpg

[JackEatsEmoKids]

Turn up the radio! =)

LOL

I hate rattels >_<

[Bware0023]

I had a rattle in my roof two years ago. I paid the dealer $125.00 for a diagnosis. Within 5 minutes he quoted an $1800.00 dollar fix. (The entire assembly would have to be replaced) Quote/Unquote. I declined thinking I would write to BMW NA because the car had less than 40K.
On the way home I stopped at a repair shop by the house specializing in Eurpean Autos. A tech fixed the rattle in 5 minutes with a dab of strategially placed grease with a long cotton tip and the rattle has never returned.

Any idea where he strategically placed the grease?

[Bware0023]

I had a very annoying rattle from the front/dash area. Dealer was not able to fix it either.
I found that the 3 torx screws were somehow loose. That fixed the problem. Pic is from e38 board, but that's where our screws are.
Dash.jpg

Thanks for the info. I have tightened those down and rattle is still there. Actually it sounds like it is coming from the cover to the CD player, or somewhere behind that area. I'd hate to have to rip the dash open, but it is one of those sounds that just gets on my nerves.