My August 2018 Model 3 has turned into rattle factory. It's actually pretty disappointing since I love the car otherwise, but it's noisier than my 6-year old $18K Honda Fit
I've taken it into the Bellevue service center multiple times, and they're pretty ineffective:
- First time: The tech claimed one of the rattles was by-design and a product of wind resonance (this later turned out to be the wheel well liner).
- Second time: The tech acknowledged the various sounds and added insulation to a couple places, but I think introduced a rattle in the dash.
- Third time: The techs just couldn't hear anything on my test drive with them. I ended up cancelling my Model Y reservation that day.
I've mostly given up on Tesla service, so I've started trying to repair the rattles myself with some pretty good success so far.
Here are my rattles:
- Dash squeaking (fixed): The squeaking came from the center of my dash but didn't happen all the time. It sometimes happened randomly, or was triggered by a light bump, and would then persist for the rest of the drive. During my 3rd service center visit, I couldn't get it to happen during the test drive, but I showed the technicians the squeaky area and demonstrated the squeak by pressing on it. They refused to do anything. The noise was frustrating enough that I ended up disassembling the dash myself (much easier than expected), and found that they insulated all the contact points during the 2nd visit except 1. I added some insulation to that last one, and it has been silent ever since.
- Front-right wheel well liner (fixed): This was the original rattle that was the focus of the 1st service visit, and was with me for 10 months. I believed the original explanation of wind resonance for a while, but then I noticed that it sometimes doesn't happen, and will suddenly start rattling pretty badly without any apparent cause, which made me think it was an actual rattle. After weeks of randomly taping things (still thinking the wind was causing something to flap), I randomly discovered that the front wheel well liners make a similar sound when I press on them. I added some insulation to the edge of the liner, and that has eliminated the 10-month rattle.
- Front-right door: There's a squeak inside the metal frame of the door. I can trigger it by lightly pressing on the arm rest. I've already removed the door trim panel before, and it's not from that. I've pointed this out to the service center in visits 2 and 3, but I think the people doing the actual repairs are misunderstanding the issue, since the car comes back with the exact same sound. I'm considering disassembling the inner part of the door this weekend too, but am a bit weary since I can't find videos of anyone doing this.
- Suspension: There's a knocking/rolling rocks sound that occurs < 25 mph, especially when turning. It's consistent, I hear it as soon as I back out of my driveway, all the way into the work parking lot. Everyone else in my car can hear this, but incredibly, the techs during the 3rd visit could not hear anything. I probably can't fix this myself, so I'm trying to find a way to convince Tesla that it's a problem.
- Front-right A pillar: This is new within the past few weeks. I'm not certain if it's from this area, but the trim piece is rather loose and makes a rattling sound if I press on it. I'm planning on disassembling this this coming weekend.
- Maybe B pillar? This also seems new (or is at least easier to hear now that I've fixed two other issues). I need to test this one some more before disassembling more trim.
- Vent grinding noise: This happens consistently when turning off the center vent, and seems to be a new noise. I'll probably post a video of this at some point to see what others think. Technicians couldn't even hear the sound.
