I need to know about your rattles....

[voip-ninja]

I've got a rattle/wind noise issue on passenger side only which occurs when I'm > 40mph or so.

Mobile service came and replaced the plastic triangle near the side view mirror which i thought was the culprit but it wasn't. Old part didn't have any double faced tape. New one did. Seems like the sound is even louder now. On another thread (w/video) someone mentioned it might be the plastic piece attached to the frunk hinges. Instead of double-face taping it to the hinge I just took it off. That wasn't the source either.

Not sure where else the noise can be coming from. My guess its either the plastic triangle or perhaps the b-pillar. It doesn't look flush with the passenger window. Maybe high speed air flow is causing it to vibrate and rattle.

I can also hear the motor when accelerating. I actually like the sound. Reminds me of Disneyland's California Screaming ride.

If you do a search on "wind noise FLIR" you will see that some enterprising folks have taken to using forward looking infrared cameras to find the source of these problems. One Model 3 owner proved to Tesla service that there was a huge hole in the windshield sealing agent that was causing his noise problem after detecting it with infrared... he plugged it with some silly putty to temporarily stop the problem.

You could also look at the door seal installation on that side. The door seal has an outer channel that's larger/thicker and a small inner channel that needs to be tucked completely into the vehicle body. If either of those seals are loose it can create wind noise too.

 

[TeeEmCee]

I've got a rattle/wind noise issue on passenger side only which occurs when I'm > 40mph or so.

Mobile service came and replaced the plastic triangle near the side view mirror which i thought was the culprit but it wasn't. Old part didn't have any double faced tape. New one did. Seems like the sound is even louder now. On another thread (w/video) someone mentioned it might be the plastic piece attached to the frunk hinges. Instead of double-face taping it to the hinge I just took it off. That wasn't the source either.

Not sure where else the noise can be coming from. My guess its either the plastic triangle or perhaps the b-pillar. It doesn't look flush with the passenger window. Maybe high speed air flow is causing it to vibrate and rattle.

I can also hear the motor when accelerating. I actually like the sound. Reminds me of Disneyland's California Screaming ride.

Check your wheel well liner. It's hard plastic and it can rattle against the metal fender. Look for older posts of mine on that.

Start with this: Jam some soft/thin rubber or such between the liner and the fender, especially lower down, behind the front wheels. 3M double-sided tape should be good enough to test this potential source.

 

[spindrome]

Check your wheel well liner. It's hard plastic and it can rattle against the metal fender. Look for older posts of mine on that.

Start with this: Jam some soft/thin rubber or such between the liner and the fender, especially lower down, behind the front wheels. 3M double-sided tape should be good enough to test this potential source.

Thanks for the tip TeeEmCee! Is that for RUN TMC? #dubnation

 

[Sky-Pilot]

I have one behind the display. It sounds like a couple of coins rattling/vibrating in the metal lid of a mason jar.

 

[TeeEmCee]

I have one behind the display. It sounds like a couple of coins rattling/vibrating in the metal lid of a mason jar.

It doesn't happen very often, but you seem to have brought up one issue I did not have with the Model 3. Not many of those, indeed!

I'm going to go sit in the eTron now, with the seat massage on, to make those memories go away!
(Inconsiderate comment, I know. I apologize!)

 

[TeeEmCee]

 

[TeeEmCee]

Thanks for the tip TeeEmCee! Is that for RUN TMC? #dubnation

 

[spacemnspiff]

I had the SC fix my steering wheel squeaks. Just needed a bit of lube. Was a quick process as I understand it.

Thank you, I will mention it at the next mobile appointment.

 

[tvad]

That's me.

Rattle on the driver's side from the black fabric covered dash trim near the windshield. Occurs primarily when the dash is hot from the sun. It will not rattle if driven from the garage.

The rattle will occur if the black piece is tapped with a finger.

Service appointment tomorrow. Still deciding if I want to risk more rattles by removing and replacing the upper dash.

So, we had a service appointment scheduled for Wednesday for the front dash rattle, which was intermittent but prominent when it occurred. It almost always happened when the dash was hot from the sun, so two hours prior to the appointment, I parked the car outside. When I left for the appointment...no rattle...despite some rough and uneven urban pavement. My wife mentioned she had not heard the rattle the day before. I cancelled the service appointment. I figured if I can't demonstrate the rattle, then there is no point leaving the car.

Thus far, the rattle has not returned.

Very strange.

Could it possibly be that the most recent software update made a change that affected a moving part in the dash?

 

[voip-ninja]

So, we had a service appointment scheduled for Wednesday for the front dash rattle, which was intermittent but prominent when it occurred. It almost always happened when the dash was hot from the sun, so two hours prior to the appointment, I parked the car outside. When I left for the appointment...no rattle...despite some rough and uneven urban pavement. My wife mentioned she had not heard the rattle the day before. I cancelled the service appointment. I figured if I can't demonstrate the rattle, then there is no point leaving the car.

Thus far, the rattle has not returned.

Very strange.

Could it possibly be that the most recent software update made a change that affected a moving part in the dash?

Yeah that's kind of the way it goes. There's a very high probability that it will return. If possible when the problem occurs and you have a passenger in the car make a video recording of it with a mobile phone. This usually will at least get them to investigate if you cannot reproduce it on demand.

If a problem can be reproduced then Tesla has an "okay" chance of correcting it... if not the first time then the second or third time.

If a problem can't be reproduced and you don't at least have a video record of the problem then it's pretty much a crap shoot.

 

[tvad]

...when the problem occurs and you have a passenger in the car make a video recording of it with a mobile phone.

I have video recording of the rattle. Still, I'm not going to leave the car at service, and be restricted by Uber credits, unless the rattle is occurring at the time of the appointment.

 

[DWdrum]

Both our Seat Belts rattle where you can adjust up or down

 

[voip-ninja]

Both our Seat Belts rattle where you can adjust up or down

That is a pretty well known problem, which Tesla can try to mitigate by insulating the area behind the seatbelt anchor on both sides. Mobile service can carry out that repair.

 

[djroberts]

I have one annoying noise, maybe rattle? When I reach about 40 mph I start to hear it coming from the passenger side. It continues at higher speeds and gets a bit louder. One theory was that it's the plastic on my rear view mirror but I had the car ceramic coated and too cheap to re-coat that part if it's replaced on a hunch.

I'm assuming the noise is wind causing pressure on some plastic part.

 

[djroberts]

Had the same sound behavior from the same location early on - it ended up going away within the first thousand miles. I suspected possibly a flapping wheel well liner given that, like many others, I was potentially missing some clips in there. Not sure if that was the issue though...

One tech told me it's plastic that softens over time. He said that was my rattle. The plastic on the mirror is hard but softens with time and the noise goes away.

 

[voip-ninja]

I have one annoying noise, maybe rattle? When I reach about 40 mph I start to hear it coming from the passenger side. It continues at higher speeds and gets a bit louder. One theory was that it's the plastic on my rear view mirror but I had the car ceramic coated and too cheap to re-coat that part if it's replaced on a hunch.

I'm assuming the noise is wind causing pressure on some plastic part.

Rear view mirror?

 

[BZM3]

I have several annoying rattles in my Model 3 which has less than 4,000 miles on the odometer. The car is an August 2018 build.

Unfortunately these rattles come and go depending on the road surface and with the exception of one rattle. Have not been able to isolate any of them.

It is quite annoying to have these issues on any new automobile let alone one I paid so much for.

I’m hoping the forum regulars can help identify if they have rattles that have been resolved and what the fix was.

1. I had an annoying intermittent rattle in the passenger side B pillar near the seatbelt anchor. It would go away if you pushed the anchor. Ranger stuffed felt in behind the roller and seems to have resolved it.

2. There is an intermittent noise that almost sounds like a groaning or resonating sound coming from the driver side dash or climate vent area when going over some road surfaces. I have a video of this.

3. There is a rattling tapping sound that sounds like it is coming from the rear passenger door area. I was suspicious this was caused by the rear seat deck above the trunk area since you can tap that and get it to make noise, but putting felt in this area did not resolve the problem. This one is the most difficult one to reproduce but sometimes it can occur continuously on some roads for minutes at a time.

my MS SR+ is solid as a tank.

 

[wethenorth]

I've had my model 3 now for 3 weeks, everytime I was driving from work I'd hear an annoying rattle coming from my rearview mirror. I wasn't sure to call to get it fixed or just hope it goes away. Well 3 weeks later and I finally diagnosed my garage door opener was the culprit this whole time lol.

 

[djroberts]

Rear view mirror?

Oh darn it. I meant passenger side mirror.

 

[ry-ballz]

I've got a rattle/wind noise issue on passenger side only which occurs when I'm > 40mph or so.

Mobile service came and replaced the plastic triangle near the side view mirror which i thought was the culprit but it wasn't. Old part didn't have any double faced tape. New one did. Seems like the sound is even louder now. On another thread (w/video) someone mentioned it might be the plastic piece attached to the frunk hinges. Instead of double-face taping it to the hinge I just took it off. That wasn't the source either.

Not sure where else the noise can be coming from. My guess its either the plastic triangle or perhaps the b-pillar. It doesn't look flush with the passenger window. Maybe high speed air flow is causing it to vibrate and rattle.

I can also hear the motor when accelerating. I actually like the sound. Reminds me of Disneyland's California Screaming ride.

Have someone ride with you and use their hand to deflect the wind from the area that you suspect.
My passenger mirror was making a whistle noise, mobile service replaced the same triangle, but that wasn't it in my case either.