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I need to know about your rattles....
- Thread starter voip-ninja
- Start date
jebinc
Well-Known Member
Can you narrow down the rattle by pressing on things when it occurs? Is it from the dash itself, or the A pillar trim? If it's the A pillar, I suspect it's the red part highlighted in the attached image. I noticed that it attaches to the dash grill without any insulation, so it's plastic on plastic. I added some felt tape to that area and it seemed to eliminate any rattle from that area.
If it's the dash, it might be the plastic feet coming out the bottom. When I took my car into service, they added felt tape to every single feet except 1 of them. The felt tape adds thickness, so I think that caused the uncovered feet to sit differently in the slot and start rubbing against the underlying structure, which resulted in my screeching dash noise. My dash has been silent since adding felt tape to the uncovered piece.
I've heard other people have problems with the dash grill (the fabric covered piece next to the windshield). If this is the cause, then you should probably let service deal with it since it's incredibly frustrating to reassemble, especially if a clip pops loose and ends up in the vent.
The A pillar trim and dash are pretty easy to remove.
Edit: Just saw your video. Makes me think they added felt tape unevenly, so now one side sits higher than the other, resulting in that looseness.
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Also an update to my own rattles after driving it for a week: the car is significantly quieter now. There are still little noises that I hear while driving, but it's nothing like the constant rattling from before, and it's honestly probably livable. I'm certainly not itching to take apart the car anymore to fix the remaining sounds.
- There's a new rattle in the front A pillar area, but only when hitting big potholes (the type you try to avoid at high speeds). I suspect the bottom part of the pillar is rattling against a metal bolt. I noticed this while disassembling that area before, but was too lazy to add insulation since I figured it's easy to disassemble and fix later anyway.
- There's a constant ticking sound coming from the back during regular driving. This has been there a while, but has now become the dominant sound. It almost sounds like the seat fabric is slightly rubbing against something. I'm not sure where to begin yet with diagnosing this one, but it's honestly not that bad. However, if I can eliminate this, the car will be silent most of the time.
- There's a soft fluttering rattle occasionally. This is actually the most annoying sound, since it comes and goes. I'm guessing it's the pillar trim or upper trim (hopefully not this since it looks difficult to disassemble). It could also be something from the rear; it's a rather faint sound so I'm guessing it's not close to the driver seat. This also existed prior to my door adventures, so it's not something that I caused.
- Suspension grinding/pebbly noise is still there, but it's only noticeable at low speeds.
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DDotJ
Member
My Model 3 has been pretty silent, just an occasional rattle from the center console and rear right seat by the seat belt retractor.
But lately I've noticed that my Model 3 creaks whenever I get into the car, and it sounds like it's coming from the floor or beneath the car. It creaks when I climb into the driver's seat. I was wondering if that was normal.
Maybe it's my car telling me to lay off the late night taco runs
(I'm 165 lbs)
But lately I've noticed that my Model 3 creaks whenever I get into the car, and it sounds like it's coming from the floor or beneath the car. It creaks when I climb into the driver's seat. I was wondering if that was normal.
Maybe it's my car telling me to lay off the late night taco runs
(I'm 165 lbs)
When the rattle happens now pressing on the top of the dash, the dash trim, none of it gets it to settle down. It definitely made it so that the tech was frustrated at what could be causing it.
The first mobile tech I mentioned the problem to said that the clips that hold the trim onto the dash were very loose and she was concerned that something might be rubbing plastic on plastic between the trim/vents/dash causing the problem and she recommended replacing the clips. I'd have to see a good photo of the clips in question to understand how they get swapped but I assume they have some kind of fastener and can be replaced.
In any event, since Tesla made my service appointment for an SC in North Carolina I had to cancel that service visit and instead booked a new mobile service visit at my residence on July 8th.
My plan is to watch the tech address this by sitting there while they work on my car. There's a decent chance that I will be able to spot potential sources of the problem when they take the piece off to address the separation... even if they can't identify it because they have the brain power of a fruit fly.
I found some pictures of the dash on Ebay, and circled the areas that had felt tape applied in my car. The circled areas contain plastic "feet"; they're literally bits of plastic jutting out. Before disassembling the dash, I thought there would only be 1 or 2 obvious contact points where the squeaking could occur, but it turns out, the entire thing is full of contact points, so the best solution seems to be applying felt tape everywhere.
The ones they missed in my car were the far right red circle, and one of the top circles. My dash squeaking went away entirely once I added felt tape to those.
As for the dash clips, my guess is that they're metal clips that resemble these: I just got $50 Coupons! (found them mentioned on some other forum; not sure if these fit the Model 3 exactly). The way they work is they slide into the slots in various plastic pieces, and then serve as teeth to grip onto whatever part is getting inserted. They're like binder clips. The Model 3 uses these everywhere and they suck when disassembling because they have a tendency to pop out and fly into narrow places that are difficult to reach.
For my dash, I didn't look closely but my guess is that they removed my clips entirely. Felt tape adds thickness, and the feet are probably too thick to fit into the clips once they're covered in the felt tape. A downside is that the dash piece won't sit perfectly and is movable, since the only thing holding it in place is the friction from the thickness of the felt tape. But in my case, it only moves slightly, likely because there's so much felt tape everywhere.
Definitely watch the technician. If you're good with disassembling things, I recommend just doing this repair yourself once you see how it works. You'll probably be much more thorough with the felt tape, and can reapply it yourself once you narrow down the cause.
The ones they missed in my car were the far right red circle, and one of the top circles. My dash squeaking went away entirely once I added felt tape to those.
As for the dash clips, my guess is that they're metal clips that resemble these: I just got $50 Coupons! (found them mentioned on some other forum; not sure if these fit the Model 3 exactly). The way they work is they slide into the slots in various plastic pieces, and then serve as teeth to grip onto whatever part is getting inserted. They're like binder clips. The Model 3 uses these everywhere and they suck when disassembling because they have a tendency to pop out and fly into narrow places that are difficult to reach.
For my dash, I didn't look closely but my guess is that they removed my clips entirely. Felt tape adds thickness, and the feet are probably too thick to fit into the clips once they're covered in the felt tape. A downside is that the dash piece won't sit perfectly and is movable, since the only thing holding it in place is the friction from the thickness of the felt tape. But in my case, it only moves slightly, likely because there's so much felt tape everywhere.
Definitely watch the technician. If you're good with disassembling things, I recommend just doing this repair yourself once you see how it works. You'll probably be much more thorough with the felt tape, and can reapply it yourself once you narrow down the cause.
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This is highly valuable information.
I have given Tesla their "last shot" at resolving the noise issues and was visibly frustrated when I communicated my displeasure with Tesla to the service manager at the SC as well as the service coordinator who has handled my other repairs.
I got confirmation from them that the time for bandaids is over. If they find that something is out of spec they need to consider replacing it. They need to drive the car themselves on multiple occasions (even if it means they drive it to/from work for a day or two) to be confident they have eliminated the noises in the car before I get it back.
I was told that the two lead techs at the shop will personally perform the repairs and that multiple employees will drive the car to verify that the issues are gone before I am contacted to conduct a test drive and verify it.
My confidence level in Tesla is quite low at this point so we'll see if they can surprise me. This will be my last rodeo doing this. If other noises manifest or these noises are not resolved I will consider options as being I resolve the problems on my own, I hire an independent competent shop to make needed repairs, or I sell the car. Unless the car is quieted down significantly I don't see myself able to live with it long term.
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Haven't had time to look thru the whole rattle thread, but I found one when I rotated my tires the other day. I happened to roll down my window and close the door since I didn't want to be locked out while rotating my tires, and lo and behold, a loud rattle. I assume everyone's car does this but found it odd I hadn't come across anyone mentioning it. Also, both of my front doors do the same loud rattle. Never checked the rear doors.
I got my car back from service yesterday (dropped off Wednesday last week so they had it for six days) and can provide an update.
One of the two shop lead techs had the vehicle and worked on resolving the rattles in the cabin. This is a bulleted summary of what he told me;
This tech was a pretty straight shooter and I appreciated his candidness. He indicated that he would be the sole owner of these problems for my car if they returned for as long as I owned the car and he worked for Tesla.
Driving home last night I didn't notice any objectionable noises in the cabin, the temps were in the 90's... I did notice that the car was very rough going over pavement expansion joints, I checked the tire pressure and it looks like they might have inflated my tires back up to 45-49 which is much too high for comfortable driving on roads around here, I will reducethem back to a more comfortable 39-40 psi as soon as I get the chance.
Driving in this morning the temps were in the low 70's. I hit the most problematic stretch of my commute and paused the radio (but left climate control on). There was some noise in the car but it was quite a bit improved from previous and, realistically I can probably live with it as long as it does not deteriorate over the next year.
So, TLR
Now to put things in perspective, I have owned about 20 cars over the past 30+ years of driving. I've driven total junkers and I've driven a lot of newer model cars or cars purchased brand new.
Looking at my last six or seven auto purchases and giving them a 0-10 score and a few comments.
One of the two shop lead techs had the vehicle and worked on resolving the rattles in the cabin. This is a bulleted summary of what he told me;
- Your car sure has a lot of foam insulation and felt tape in it now.
- Replaced the aluminum front trim piece. He said he inspected it and found that several of the spot welds that hold the trim "sandwich" together had broken.
- Provided additional insulation to the rear deck lid.
- Provided additional insulation to the passenger side door.
- He scratched the driver side A pillar while working on the car so that was replaced even though it was not a source of noise.
- The car was driven in the morning when temps were in the low 60's and then in the afternoon after sitting outside when temps were hitting the 90's. Car was driven and if noises were present then additional work was done.
- The car still has some subtle noises that he believes could be in the main dash unit. He was reluctant to replace this if unnecessary because, per him, "this requires taking quite a bit of things apart and it's possible I could make something else worse".
- I got the standard "our cars don't have traditional drive trains so noise problems in them are worse" line.
This tech was a pretty straight shooter and I appreciated his candidness. He indicated that he would be the sole owner of these problems for my car if they returned for as long as I owned the car and he worked for Tesla.
Driving home last night I didn't notice any objectionable noises in the cabin, the temps were in the 90's... I did notice that the car was very rough going over pavement expansion joints, I checked the tire pressure and it looks like they might have inflated my tires back up to 45-49 which is much too high for comfortable driving on roads around here, I will reducethem back to a more comfortable 39-40 psi as soon as I get the chance.
Driving in this morning the temps were in the low 70's. I hit the most problematic stretch of my commute and paused the radio (but left climate control on). There was some noise in the car but it was quite a bit improved from previous and, realistically I can probably live with it as long as it does not deteriorate over the next year.
So, TL
R- I had to push Tesla to get this level of engagement.
- I had to get Tesla to acknowledge that in fact there were real noises in the car that weren't my imagination and that they were not present in other copies of the car they have on their lot.
- Tesla did mitigate MOST of the noises and have brought the noise level to where I can probably live with it assuming it doesn't get worse.
Now to put things in perspective, I have owned about 20 cars over the past 30+ years of driving. I've driven total junkers and I've driven a lot of newer model cars or cars purchased brand new.
Looking at my last six or seven auto purchases and giving them a 0-10 score and a few comments.
- 2019 Honda Pilot. Purchased new a couple of weeks ago. Dead quiet, gets a 10 (no noise).
- 2019 Mini Countryman. Purchased new for wife a few months ago. Very quiet, has a few start/stop noises but no real cabin noises. Gets a 9.
- 2012 Honda Fit. Purchased used with about 80,000 miles on it. Girl who owned it beat it up pretty good (lived and drove in mountains as a snowboard junkie for last few years). Few very minor noises but very quiet car. Gets an 8.
- 2016 BMW 340xi. Very quiet car. Occasional resonation noises at certain speed on rough concrete but otherwise a bank vault. Had a problem with door seal noise once the car was about two years old but this was completely resolved by BMW in two visits. Gets an 8.
- 2013 BMW 328xi. Quiet other than an intermittent rattle in the center console that was never resolved, gets a 7.
- 2018 Tesla Model 3. Loudest/noisiest/rattliest new car I've ever purchased. Prior to work Tesla did would get a 2. Now that Tesla have done mitigations gets a 7, maybe a 6... need to drive it more.
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Another tiny note... the organizer tray that I purchased and put in my center console was melted while it was in Tesla's possession. Apparently it isn't rated for high enough temps to withstand 95F Denver sun + I'm guessing turn off of the cabin overheat protection.
And here's a synopsis of noise related repairs performed (without dates, but I have owned the car for about 10 months) to date;
- Mobile service fixes rattling noise in passenger side B pillar by insulating the seatbelt tensioner.
- SC visit to resolve squeal/rattle noise coming from front right of vehicle (reportedly was loose factory object in vehicle ductwork).
- SC replaces windshield that is out of spec in attempt to resolve loud wind noise confirmed on test drives.
- SC identifies incorrectly installed door gaskets in multiple doors.
- SC investigates a tapping noise coming from passenger side of vehicle, fails to resolve (adds insulation).
- SC verifies that front hood panel cover incorrectly installed and could be rattling.
- SC investigates intermittent dash noise & insulates dash trim (temporarily resolves issue).
- SC investigates other cabin noise and insulates rear deck lid.
- SC re-investigates tapping noise on passenger side, isolates to defective door striker module for passenger side door. Part replaced.
- Owner investigates intermittent rubbing noise coming from passenger side, isolates to sun visor, mobile service replaces and issue resolved.
- Mobile service dispatched to replace clips that secure dash trim. Mobile service leaves with dash trim separated from dash board and problem not resolved.
- SC takes car in, replaces dash trim.
- SC re-insulates rear deck lid.
- SC insulates connection points between dashboard and other components.
- SC insulates door panels.
I'm glad that they were able to fix things for you. I actually had a mobile appointment scheduled for today to get the ranger to hear the suspension rattling, but it happened to be raining today (terrible luck). I didn't want to chance the rain masking any noise issues like my last service center visit, so I ended up rescheduling.
Having taken apart various parts of the car, it's my belief now that there are just design flaws everywhere that result in the rattles and squeaks. There's a lot of plastic-on-plastic contact, and I expect that it'll be a never-ending battle to resolve the noise issues.
This one is tricky to fix. I tried adding some cardboard to the area secured with tape, but it's such a tiny spot that it's hard to get anything with decent thickness into that rib structure. I might try some lubricant next.
Images attached. In the first one, you can see the cardboard pieces in the areas that are the source of the ticking sound. The later two are the same area, one with a closeup of the cardboard piece, and another without the cardboard but showing the rib structure more clearly.
Having taken apart various parts of the car, it's my belief now that there are just design flaws everywhere that result in the rattles and squeaks. There's a lot of plastic-on-plastic contact, and I expect that it'll be a never-ending battle to resolve the noise issues.
Is it like a ticking/tapping noise? I narrowed mine down to my rear right passenger door trim. The trim is several plastic pieces attached together, and there's a reinforcing rib structure at the top that is rubbing against another part of the plastic. I can reproduce the tapping sound by pressing on the top portion of the door trim (next to the window).
This one is tricky to fix. I tried adding some cardboard to the area secured with tape, but it's such a tiny spot that it's hard to get anything with decent thickness into that rib structure. I might try some lubricant next.
Images attached. In the first one, you can see the cardboard pieces in the areas that are the source of the ticking sound. The later two are the same area, one with a closeup of the cardboard piece, and another without the cardboard but showing the rib structure more clearly.
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The ticking was caused by a defective door latching module in my case... but it did take multiple attempts to fix it, much like everything else noise related in this car.
I also think you are spot on that the car is predisposed towards these problems due to the design.
Mercedes and others have spent decades and many millions of dollars working hard to design cars that don’t have these issues.
In Teska’s Case it seems that getting to market quickly and keeping costs down have left us with cars more likely to suffer from these problems
WilliamG
Hinge Fanatic
I had the SC fix my steering wheel squeaks. Just needed a bit of lube. Was a quick process as I understand it.
Somewhat expected, but why not go ahead with those supposed continuous improvements and fix the issues one by one? Last I looked, new cars have exactly the same rattling plastic panel issues as my old one.
Those plastic clips and rivets don't hold the same if they are reused. A proper repair procedure should involve fastening everything back with new clips. Make sure they don't cheap out on that (and I'll eat my shorts if it turns out that they don't try to).
Those plastic rivets cost a few cents each, there should be no reason to not spend an extra buck fiddy to avoid the possibility of having to "fix" it again.
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