Rattle inside rear door card - how to remove or fix?

[turns2stone]

Apologies for another rattle thread on this forum, but this is really my only major annoyance with my 2020 Model 3 Performance.

After a few agonizing days, I've determined the rattle to come from either the female door latch mechanism, or inside the door card near there.

Just the slightest tap anywhere on the (open) door will calls a metallic rattle, that is nearly-always audible when driving. I've tried spraying WD-40 in the latch, and the screws are tight.


Have we heard about this particular rattle before? How hard is it to remove the door panel? Any instructions are appreciated.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

It's easy. Roll down the window, then remove two T30 bolts from the armrest:

Peel the top edge (window felt) upward to unhook the entire top from the doorframe and then work your way around to pop all the clips loose by hand or with a pry tool.

There are lots of wires and stuff connecting it so you probably won't want to remove it completely, just tip it away from the door frame a little and do what you need to do.

For reassembly, remove any clips that got stuck in the door frame and move them back to the door panel. Then hook the top edge and shift the panel fore/aft until the retainers line up with their holes so you can pop them back in.

As for the rattle source, I've had some luck with felt tape wherever the wire harnesses might tap against the plastic door panel. It's probably not the latch, but if it is something in there you'll need to remove the window. That also is simple, but for another tutorial.

 

[aspec818]

I had a loose connector that wasn’t secured. Taped over the connector and it was secure again.

 

[Georgesb2]

I just tapped that area of the door latch on my 22 M3 and hear no rattles.
It's a little bit more hollow sound but it should because of the opening.
If you have a genuine rattle just from tapping, there's definitely something loose. Take the inner door panel off and look for it.