[sethsev7n]

I took apart my dash today, and put some cheap foam behind it where I could find empty spaces. I am hoping this will mute any rattles that I have coming from there. Its actually a twin bed foam pad. 100% polyurathane. It is nice and thick, but does anyone think this is a bad idea? Im thinking any sort of potential fire hazard, since our radios and DIN get pretty hot, but im guessing it wont be a problem in the back of it. Just curious.. i dont want to be driving and have a fire start in there!

 

[JMarkert]

I think it would be OK. Bedding has to be more or less fireproof. The only problem would be if you decresed the ventilation to one of the electronic boxes, then they would overheat and fail (potentially). Bkrell pointed me to some neoprene rubber sheets on ebay once. This might be more tidy than the bedding, and you could attach it with contact cement for a neater job.

 

[sethsev7n]

hmm.. interestnig on the overheating part. I am about to take a drive and if I notice a difference I will keep it in there and hopefully nothing overheats. I didn't attach the foam, i just folded it and stuffed it back there.

 

[earthworm]

Volkswagen used a closed cell poly-foam wrap on almost everything that could rattle under the dash - this works. At least in preventing a rattle from this area...

I like the more costly neoprene rubber idea...

 

[Tboy]

In my old cavalier I took everything apart, put clear silicone on all the mating parts, let it dry and then put it back. It won't work for everything, but may help tighten things up a bit, its cheap, and it won't really impead any heat transfer. If you want, you can always peel it off pretty easily.

Tboy

 

[sethsev7n]

Well the rattle reduction worked pretty well. Almost all of the rattle in the dash is gone.. in a couple places specific rattle was eliminated but more importantly just general noise is virtually gone.. I did put some felt around contact areas of the hatch and trunk cover, but there is still a rattle back there I cannot pinpoint.. thats what I hate the most.

 

[bkrell]

Glad to see I wasn't the only one that's bothered by the rattles. I would think it would be fine (can u post pics?) and is a good idea. If you've taken apart the lining of the hatch, you'd have seen the padding there is foam in a thin plastic bag.

If I could figure out a way to get the two child seats from rattling...:roll::cheesy:

 

[sethsev7n]

I would have posted pictures except I left my camera charger at my girlfriends house (make that an ex gf after tonight unfortunately) .. but anyways ill be getting it back next week. I just took bedding foam, cut big strips of it, folded it a couple times, and stuffed it behind the SID, radio, and ACC. Stuffed some into the hole underneath the steering wheel, and put some behind the kickpanel of the passengers side (where the amp is).

 

[TigerSilhouette]

So I guess from this post I'm not the only one with a rediculously loose, rattling dash? I have noticed that when it gets hot, the dash seems to rattle even more. I would really like to solve this, so should I stuff foam in the dash like seth?

 

[bkrell]

Uh, I'd like to meet someone without a rattle here or there!:cheesy:

 

[earthworm]

Uh, I'd like to meet someone without a rattle here or there!:cheesy:

No"rattles" in the '96.. at all..
IMO, these cars are well built, and should not rattle at all..

But , 10 years ago I had a vibration noise in the old Diesel Golf at certain speeds/RPMs, but only during a particular temperature range(summertime ??)..Even being hard of hearing, this noise was maddening...

I attribute this to "thin" metal in the body platform.

Repaired via a can of Great Stuff(expanding foam) sprayed into every underneath body cavity that I could access.

In other words, I tackled the problem at the source.
This car was over ten when the vibration commenced, all the chassis rubber becomes somewhat hard by then...

 

[bkrell]

Perhaps an automatic S isn't stressed enough to rattle.:roll:


...besides, didn't you say you were hard of hearing?:cheesy:

 

[DougR]

Mine rattles a lot, and it's an 02. There is a rattle in the rear seats from the hinge that I know can be fixed. I get a rattle in the drivers side window sometimes, and I get a rattle in the dash when I go over a hard bump. See thing is where I am from, there is no such thing as a car without rattles, even high end cars, simply because the roads are so freaking terrible. My car was originally driven in NJ which is generally hell on cars because the roades suck. Now it is used for me to commute from the western burbs of philly thru philadelphia on 95 to south new jersey. The roads are simply terribly and do nothing but cause rattles. I just accept them as normal.

 

[bkrell]

By rattle, I don't think any of us (well, most of us) mean severe rattles, just slightly annoying little noises every now and then. For a near luxury sport sedan, Saab pooped out on the sound deadening somewhere this side of the dash.

The expanding foam is a good idea, but I hate using that stuff. I used it on some plumbing issues a few years back and still have several things with a fleck of that stuff stuck on here or there.

 

[DougR]

Yeah I mean minor too, nothing major like the car is falling apart, but things that other people don't hear I do. People tell me I have uncanny hearing, so that may just be it. Im sure my golf clubs in the trunk don't help either

 

[sethsev7n]

The people that tell me they dont notice usually come from cars that rattle a bit themselves :lol:

So far no fire behind the dash! Things are going good so far..

 

[NC man]

I have a 2001 9-3 with a rattle from that thin piece of plastic that runs across the end of the dashboard near the windshield. I had it tighted and than replaced. Neither of these things helped, so I started suffing materials back into the hole. Every thing from towels to a roll of window sealer. What worked the best was a thick piece a fabric cording from the local cloth store. Its not totally silent, but much better than it was. There still seems to be something loose on the passinger side of the dash. Any suggestion??

The driver's window rattles a little but I can deal with that.

The back seat and hatch area has really been my biggest enemy, no matter what I do, I can't get the darn thing to shut up. The best thing so far has been to close the seat back onto a pillow, which really reduced shacking sounds. I too lined the trunk cover shelf, but with window sealer instead of felt. (Had alot left from dash experiments). But it still rattles and it drives me crazy:evil:
Everyone thinks I crazy because knowone else hears the rattles, and to be honest it's not really all that bad. But I believe y'all will agree that if you can find 'em and fix 'em, you will.

 

[bkrell]

The NG900/9-3 was well known (even at the time) to have a shivery body. I guess mine really doesn't rattle per say, it's just when you go over a bump the wholoe thing momentarily shudders like it's going to fly apart. That's why I got the neoprene. B/c most of the shuddering is from that loosey-goosey hatch. I bet a rear shock tower bar would help a bit.

I guess familiarity breeds contempt. When I first got my car, I drove down the interstate in 3rd at 70 mph for several miles. The car was so quite and well insulated up front that I didn't realize how high I was taching! It's just the longer you have a car, the more you find wrong. Especially when you drive it for 2 hrs a day!