So it appears that I solved my rear hatch rattle issue (keeping fingers crossed). Since I got the car I have had an annoying rattle/creak coming from the rear hatch. I initially thought it had something to do with the rear passenger taillight, but ruled that out. I tore apart all the trim in the back, and still that didn't solve the problem. Then one day I noticed that underneath the trim on the rear hatch door, there was some rubbing.
I tore off that rear hatch trim piece and glued a piece of foam to the metal "square" piece under the trim. That solved it for the time being. But shortly thereafter, more rattles appeared and I couldn't place the problem. I tore off all the trim pieces on the rear hatch door hoping that I could isolate the problem. Oddly, even with all the trim pieces removed the noise was still there and even worse! So I realized it wasn't the trim rubbing on anything. Poking around I discovered that the rear piece of aluminum (right around the area where the hood hook was, seemed quite pliable. the aluminum wasn't sturdy and if it flexed at all, made a noise. I also noticed that the rear brake light was slightly loose and that these two pieces that connected to it that went into the hatch door moved and made noise.
To solve the problem, I covered part of that rear hatch door aluminum with Dynamat. In addition I stuck pieces of foam weatherstripping tape on places on the hatch that might come into contact with the trim (buy this at home depot). In addition, I tightened all the 10mm bolts on the underside of the hatch.
So far, I have not heard anymore rattles from that area! I still have a ton of Dynamat left so if any more start appearing I'm just gonna cover the whole damn car!!! Now if only Dynamat could quickly fix my loose driver's seat problem......
|