ZCarGo

I was on a mission this past week to get rid of the rattle. I took the hatch covers off three times this past week trying different solutions.

I tightened the nut holding the third light as tight as I felt I could without breaking it. I found some other forums talking about "Peel N Stick", an inexpensive Dynamat option sold at Lowes. I placed as much as I could in the hatch to reduce the vibration. Well, this particular rattle was reduced enough to hear another one.

The new rattle surprised me. I couldn't really place it while I was driving. I thought it was coming from under the panels in the cross bar. Turns out the cross bar is a great tool to identify rattles since it's attached solidly to the frame. I just pounded the bar with my palm and the vibrations carried through the frame and voila rattle identified.

This one was something vibrating (buzz) above the headliner near the back of the cabin. I was able to pop the back of the headliner off (be careful doing this..the headliner is very fragile) and could feel a bar or wires about 6 inches from the rear of the headliner. Looks like they had already installed dynamat squares up there, so i added more. Vibration gone.

Now I heard several other small rattles coming from the rear. I took all the rear covers off, spare tire out and put my trusty Peel N Stick on the bottom of the cargo area and on the wheel wells (factory had a few squares installed). Reassembled everything and I'm only left with an occasional squeak from the third light.

I can say it's truly a pleasure to drive my car now. After 7500 miles of rattles, squeaks, vibrations I can enjoy the sound of the engine (and the minor whine of the ECU..which may have to be dealt with in the near future).

I no longer have to be embarrassed about having a passenger in my car asking me about the rattles.

I have no idea how I put 7500 miles on the car while I was looking backwards trying to identify where the rattles were coming from.

-ZCarGo-