Consistent driver side rattle at speed

[aspec818]

Can anyone take a stab at what’s rattling here at highway speeds? Tesla mobile came out a couple weeks ago and secured some connectors behind the door panel but the same rattle is still there. It only happens at 50+mph and is coming from the front driver side somewhere.

Video link:
Any idea what this rattle is? It’s not the connectors behind the door panel as Tesla used weatherstripping to affix them. Happens at 50mph- maybe wind related? : TeslaModel3

 

[aspec818]

The tech is stumped. It’s not coming from behind the door. I’ll likely bring it into service for a more thorough look.

 

[firebat]

Hope this isn't too late, but try pressing on the wheel well liners. I had a very similar-sounding rattle for the past 10 months, and I finally traced them to the wheel well last week. My sound only happens at higher speeds (40-50 mph) and also seemed wind dependent.

My fix ended up being super simple: got a piece of insulating foam tape and added a piece to the liner that caused it to bend just slightly enough to no longer make contact with the metal.

 

[aspec818]

Hope this isn't too late, but try pressing on the wheel well liners. I had a very similar-sounding rattle for the past 10 months, and I finally traced them to the wheel well last week. My sound only happens at higher speeds (40-50 mph) and also seemed wind dependent.

My fix ended up being super simple: got a piece of insulating foam tape and added a piece to the liner that caused it to bend just slightly enough to no longer make contact with the metal.

geez that could've been it but i've since sold the car. maybe this could be helpful for anyone else having this rattle at speeds. thanks for the info.

 

[Tm3p19]

I got the same issue since I got my car. Thanks to firebat, I was able to fix it.

 

[KenC]

I got the same issue since I got my car. Thanks to firebat, I was able to fix it.

So, did you fix it with tape or more clips? Did you Model 3 come with some empty clip holes in the wheel wells?

 

[firebat]

Mine had clips in the wheel wells. If you press on the well, you can hear the rattling sound (it's basically the wheel well liner banging against the front quarter panel). I fixed it by adding some felt tape to the bottom edge of the liner. This wasn't actually the location of the rattle, but it seems to have dislodged the liner just enough that it no longer rattles when driving.

 

[destructure00]

I had the same on the passenger side. Spent hours taking the passenger door panel apart trying to find the rattle, only for my wife to ask at one point if it could be the fender liner. A few strips of Gorilla tape on the inside of the fender where the liner was touching fixed it

 

[KeyAgent]

I had exactly this problem. Thank you Firebat!!

 

[MountainPass]

Mine had clips in the wheel wells. If you press on the well, you can hear the rattling sound (it's basically the wheel well liner banging against the front quarter panel). I fixed it by adding some felt tape to the bottom edge of the liner. This wasn't actually the location of the rattle, but it seems to have dislodged the liner just enough that it no longer rattles when driving.

We had the exact same problem, missing clips in the wheel well! We found some in the shop to replace them and all is well again. It was incredibly annoying.

 

[RobC]

Hope this isn't too late, but try pressing on the wheel well liners. I had a very similar-sounding rattle for the past 10 months, and I finally traced them to the wheel well last week. My sound only happens at higher speeds (40-50 mph) and also seemed wind dependent.

My fix ended up being super simple: got a piece of insulating foam tape and added a piece to the liner that caused it to bend just slightly enough to no longer make contact with the metal.

Can those that used the tape in the front wheel well post a picture of what you did? Im having trouble visualizing it.

 

[firebat]

See attached. This is the front right wheel well. I cut out a small rectangular piece of foam tape (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004J64OOO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1), then wrapped it around the wheel well liner in that circled green area.

Note that my rattle actually came from the top of the liner (near the frunk), but adding the tape there didn't help. Adding the tape in the area that I marked seems to have caused the liner to bend slightly and no longer strike the top body panel.

I highly recommend playing with the area. You should be able to cause the rattling noise by merely pressing on the liner, and that will help you identify the exact source of the sound and where the tape may help.

Hope this helps. I still can't believe how annoying that sound was, and how incredibly easy it was to fix.

 

[DrZoidberg]

See attached. This is the front right wheel well. I cut out a small rectangular piece of foam tape (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004J64OOO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1), then wrapped it around the wheel well liner in that circled green area.

Note that my rattle actually came from the top of the liner (near the frunk), but adding the tape there didn't help. Adding the tape in the area that I marked seems to have caused the liner to bend slightly and no longer strike the top body panel.

I highly recommend playing with the area. You should be able to cause the rattling noise by merely pressing on the liner, and that will help you identify the exact source of the sound and where the tape may help.

Hope this helps. I still can't believe how annoying that sound was, and how incredibly easy it was to fix.

I guess I don't really understand what you taped from and to? Did you tape the liner to the quarter panel? I have the same noise that starts about 45 mph. I also noticed that the liner seem was not correct at the top of the wheel well but correcting the overlap didn't remove the noise.
I am also concerned the main frunk liner is rattling, but need to test that out somehow.

 

[firebat]

I wrapped the edge of the liner with that tape. I didn’t tape the liner to anything else like the quarter panel. The closest analogy I can think of is that part of the liner is bleeding, and I wrapped that spot in the tape like a bandaid.

 

[firebat]

Have you tried pressing on the liner to see if you can make a rattling sound? Once I did that, I realized that it sounded very similar to the rattling sound that had been bugging me.

I actually tried to fix it twice. The first time involved taping the top of the liner, but it didn’t help. It was the second fix at the bottom which helped, despite the sound originating from the top when I pressed on the liner. I still don’t know why this fix works, but it does.

If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend just pressing on it and adding the tape wherever it may be coming from. This particular fix is simple enough that it’ll be much faster for you to tape up the entire wheel well than to continue trying to narrow down the noise. Plus your problem may be slightly different from mine, as in it may require tape in a different spot. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ultimate root cause was that the liner got bent or warped slightly during assembly, which may translate to different fixes for different cars depending on what exactly happened.

 

[maglianera]

100% it's the wheel wells. I had the same noise driving me crazy for about 3 months and ended up using a strip of black gaffer tape to secure the edge of the wheel well to the fender itself. Fixed it on the first drive.

 

[edigest]

+1 for the wheel well liner. Got some weatherstrip tape from the local car parts store, affixed it to the liner. No mo' noise.

This is looking toward the back of the wheel well. I added a couple short snips of weatherstripping where the wheel well liner touches the wheel well.

 

[Chaetagnath]

See attached. This is the front right wheel well. I cut out a small rectangular piece of foam tape (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004J64OOO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1), then wrapped it around the wheel well liner in that circled green area.

Note that my rattle actually came from the top of the liner (near the frunk), but adding the tape there didn't help. Adding the tape in the area that I marked seems to have caused the liner to bend slightly and no longer strike the top body panel.

I highly recommend playing with the area. You should be able to cause the rattling noise by merely pressing on the liner, and that will help you identify the exact source of the sound and where the tape may help.

Hope this helps. I still can't believe how annoying that sound was, and how incredibly easy it was to fix.

This was driving me crazy in the passenger side. Tried your solution, completely fixed my rattle issue!

 

[DrZoidberg]

+1 it was the driver side wheel well liner, as everyone is suggesting! I did the widow seal kit and had some leftover pieces that I placed between the liner and the fender. It really does sound like it is coming from the door or the dash, but was definitely the liner.

 

[Kbra]

Two solutions for you. First off the drivers side door rattle.

But also make sure you're not getting a seat belt adjuster rattle as well.