View Poll Results: Does your TL Rattle?
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Does Your TL Rattle?
#1
Does Your TL Rattle?
I've seen multiple reports in owner reviews of rattle problems with the TL interior (RL too). Is Acura's interior assembly lacking for the 05-08 years?
#2
Senior Moderator
iTrader: (1)
If you do a search, there are numerous threads on this topic.
#6
Racer
Mine rattles sometimes but I just turn on the radio. Every car rattles. My dad's 06 MB E class rattles just like mine. It's funny though because my 06 TL rattles more than my old 02 Pontiac Grand Am.
#7
Senior Moderator
All modern day cars have the tendency to rattle with the wide range of materials used, and as well the way the are held together. In the TL, the most common rattles are from plastics SLIGHTLY expanding due to heat or contracting due to cold and thus touching something else.
Take for example the under-radio compartments, the back of it heats up because of the radio over time and it slightly expands and then rubs against the bottom of the radio frame. A little bit of electrical tape and foam and your done!
Acura has done a LOT to help curb the rattles, for example on the under radio compartments they added a material covering on the 2007+ years to help combat it. As well they made some other minor changes such as using velvet like material under the headrests on the 2007+ TL and placing felt under the shifter piece on automatics.
Even a 140,000 dollar car can rattle, my pillar in the 760 was rattling because the vent became loose over time. Something even more annoying is that the kick panels are peeling! You can't fix that with tape or foam!
Let me put it this way, lets be happy that in today's day and age with all of these "exotic" materials being used that it is this simple to repair the car while keeping it together at an affordable cost. Remember the use of every clip vs. a screw saves honda about 10 cents, that among nearly a million cars can add up to quite a bit!
Take for example the under-radio compartments, the back of it heats up because of the radio over time and it slightly expands and then rubs against the bottom of the radio frame. A little bit of electrical tape and foam and your done!
Acura has done a LOT to help curb the rattles, for example on the under radio compartments they added a material covering on the 2007+ years to help combat it. As well they made some other minor changes such as using velvet like material under the headrests on the 2007+ TL and placing felt under the shifter piece on automatics.
Even a 140,000 dollar car can rattle, my pillar in the 760 was rattling because the vent became loose over time. Something even more annoying is that the kick panels are peeling! You can't fix that with tape or foam!
Let me put it this way, lets be happy that in today's day and age with all of these "exotic" materials being used that it is this simple to repair the car while keeping it together at an affordable cost. Remember the use of every clip vs. a screw saves honda about 10 cents, that among nearly a million cars can add up to quite a bit!
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#8
Let's see.
The rear shelf rattles when listening to songs with a lot of bass. Doesn't bother me.
The passenger side sunglasses holder rattles while cruising and listening to music at a moderate level. Bothers me.
Driver's window rattles but not all the time. Bothers me.
I think that's it.
The rear shelf rattles when listening to songs with a lot of bass. Doesn't bother me.
The passenger side sunglasses holder rattles while cruising and listening to music at a moderate level. Bothers me.
Driver's window rattles but not all the time. Bothers me.
I think that's it.
#12
Q('.')=O
iTrader: (1)
Something on or inside my drivers door rattles but only when I'm going high speeds. Also there is some damned rattle coming from the back right of my car like the back right window or seat or something in that area and I have no clue wtf it is from... annoying.
But also, I always drive with the radio/CD player on so I really can't hear those rattles much anyways
But also, I always drive with the radio/CD player on so I really can't hear those rattles much anyways
#13
It is not just 05-08 acuras or acuras only. Every car i have driven or been in has rattled besides the mercedes really. Cars use more plastics now and when you have plastic contacting other plastic, metal etc you will have rattles. I have taken the whole inside of my car apart, pretty easy to do and fix my own rattles. My car is semi-gutted tho and i remove any plastic pieces and weight that i dont need. Btw my 01 cl rattled and my 03 cl rattled also. nothing major just fixed the rattles myself. Also about acuras quality lacking, that has been an issue ever since the legend acura is going down hill doing money saving stuff adding cheaper parts more plastic etc. All car companies are doing that now besides exotic cars. When ppl go to buy a car they look at numbers horsepower etc not whether a car rattles. Rattles is only something ppl worry about after the fact, never a deciding factor in a purchase.
Last edited by brian6speed; 06-04-2010 at 08:30 AM.
#14
Its the damnedest thing with Acura. My 06 TL had absolutely no rattles in it what so ever and was quiet the entire time I had it, but when I turned it in for my 08 TL, this second one has been the polar opposite with several constant/annoying rattles in different places all over the car. Have tracked down all of them but would require taking the entire car apart to fix them all and I'm not doing that. Spend a couple bucks at Home Depot and used a whole bunch of furniture cushions which has eliminated about 70-80% of the rattles/noises so it will have to do.
Have been in four different 09 and 10 TSX loaner cars, all of which did not have any rattles that I could hear when I had them, yet had a MDX one time that had several rattles like my TL.
So I guess the lesson here is, rattles are car specific and it really depends on what day of the week/time it was made for these to be so infrequent between Acura models. My suggestion is, test drive at least two times the Acura model you plan on getting with the radio off, ask the salesman to close his or her pie whole and listen for these rattles while driving the car and various road surfaces. If you hear any during the test drive, don't get the car!
Have been in four different 09 and 10 TSX loaner cars, all of which did not have any rattles that I could hear when I had them, yet had a MDX one time that had several rattles like my TL.
So I guess the lesson here is, rattles are car specific and it really depends on what day of the week/time it was made for these to be so infrequent between Acura models. My suggestion is, test drive at least two times the Acura model you plan on getting with the radio off, ask the salesman to close his or her pie whole and listen for these rattles while driving the car and various road surfaces. If you hear any during the test drive, don't get the car!
#15
Racer
stock sub rattled a little bit...i was really worried when i installed my JL 12w3 last week that it would sound horrible with rattling...acutally the JL doesnt make the car rattle really at all...sounds amazing i am really glad i installed it...
#16
I see most of the posters have pre 07 and someone mentioned they made changes staring in 07 to reduce rattles? That is encouraging - until I read the person that had the opposite experience going from 06 to 08? I wonder if the stiff Type-S suspension just makes matters worse? I test drove an 07 Type-S with 50K miles that the dealer just took in and had not detailed yet so they couldn't have fixed any rattles. I head one rattle once somewhere near the driver side window or high on the door, then nothing else for the rest of the hour that I beat the crap out of the car. Well not really, just drove in a spirited fashion. I got lunch through the drive-through and noticed a short little groan right when you come to a complete stop - Noise Brembos?
The thing that freaks me out is I'm looking at giving my my 05 Volvo S60R because of little annoyances and worried about future out of warranty service issues as the car has not been as irritation free as my 02 Type-S was. But to be honest, rattles are the least of my issues. I've got two, one is the sunroof shade which goes away when I reposition it a little and another is a new one that only happens at certain speeds and temperatures that I have gotten around to yet. So yes, I agree, most cars have a rattle or two that you either fix or live with, our 04 Honda Pilot gets a rattle in the dash once in a while but it isn't bad and we just never got around to telling the dealer about it but nothing other than that.
I think the fact there are so many different materials is not a good excuse. These companies, like Honda, have been around many many years and put billions of dollars into engineering. Honda/Acura is known for rock-solid reliability and build quality as is Lexus. The beat the crap out of these cars when designing them. I don't think there should be any rattles as they should all be worked out in the testing phase, or addressed in subsequent model years by keeping tracking of dealer warranty claims.
I think on my Volvo the warranty covers rattle to only 20,000 miles or something so even though Volvo builds pretty much rock solid interiors, they acknowledge that it is likely you'll get a rattle or two as the car ages.
However, what it appears to be the case is that while in general the Euro cars (BMW, Audi, Volvo, Mercedes) trail the Japanese makes in mechanical reliability, from all the owner reports/reviews I've read (and I have read a couple hundred just in the past 2 days), they seem to have a better track record as far as interior quality/fit/finish/no rattles than a lot of the Japanese makes. So maybe it is a trade off. I never had a single rattle in my 02 Type S but I did see a lot of 3rd gen owner reviews talking about how their 3rd gen doesn't compare to how rock solid their 2nd gen was as far as no issues. That's a shame that Acura/Honda seems to have taken a step backwards in the interior assembly department. But it isn't common for car manufacturers to eventually have a bad streak with an aspect of their cars. Mercedes went way down hill in the 90's and look at Toyota right now.
The thing that freaks me out is I'm looking at giving my my 05 Volvo S60R because of little annoyances and worried about future out of warranty service issues as the car has not been as irritation free as my 02 Type-S was. But to be honest, rattles are the least of my issues. I've got two, one is the sunroof shade which goes away when I reposition it a little and another is a new one that only happens at certain speeds and temperatures that I have gotten around to yet. So yes, I agree, most cars have a rattle or two that you either fix or live with, our 04 Honda Pilot gets a rattle in the dash once in a while but it isn't bad and we just never got around to telling the dealer about it but nothing other than that.
I think the fact there are so many different materials is not a good excuse. These companies, like Honda, have been around many many years and put billions of dollars into engineering. Honda/Acura is known for rock-solid reliability and build quality as is Lexus. The beat the crap out of these cars when designing them. I don't think there should be any rattles as they should all be worked out in the testing phase, or addressed in subsequent model years by keeping tracking of dealer warranty claims.
I think on my Volvo the warranty covers rattle to only 20,000 miles or something so even though Volvo builds pretty much rock solid interiors, they acknowledge that it is likely you'll get a rattle or two as the car ages.
However, what it appears to be the case is that while in general the Euro cars (BMW, Audi, Volvo, Mercedes) trail the Japanese makes in mechanical reliability, from all the owner reports/reviews I've read (and I have read a couple hundred just in the past 2 days), they seem to have a better track record as far as interior quality/fit/finish/no rattles than a lot of the Japanese makes. So maybe it is a trade off. I never had a single rattle in my 02 Type S but I did see a lot of 3rd gen owner reviews talking about how their 3rd gen doesn't compare to how rock solid their 2nd gen was as far as no issues. That's a shame that Acura/Honda seems to have taken a step backwards in the interior assembly department. But it isn't common for car manufacturers to eventually have a bad streak with an aspect of their cars. Mercedes went way down hill in the 90's and look at Toyota right now.
#19
However, what it appears to be the case is that while in general the Euro cars (BMW, Audi, Volvo, Mercedes) trail the Japanese makes in mechanical reliability, from all the owner reports/reviews I've read (and I have read a couple hundred just in the past 2 days), they seem to have a better track record as far as interior quality/fit/finish/no rattles than a lot of the Japanese makes. So maybe it is a trade off. I never had a single rattle in my 02 Type S but I did see a lot of 3rd gen owner reviews talking about how their 3rd gen doesn't compare to how rock solid their 2nd gen was as far as no issues. That's a shame that Acura/Honda seems to have taken a step backwards in the interior assembly department. But it isn't common for car manufacturers to eventually have a bad streak with an aspect of their cars. Mercedes went way down hill in the 90's and look at Toyota right now.
Apparently, Acura is aware of these rattle issues and is trying to address them, by I keep seeing 4G after 4G owner on here complaining about rattles and noises so I don't know what to tell you.
As I said before, I think it is a very car specific thing and that your best bet is to test drive it and listen for rattles and if it has any, don't get it! It's a clever sales ploy the salesman use by wanting to have the radio on during the test drive so that you can listen to "how great and better the audio system is to anything else in the business" but they do this so that you have a harder time hearing any noises coming from the car!
#21
Pro
iTrader: (1)
I had this rattle and have two other main ones- The drivers side dash rattles at high speeds- sometimes near the vent, sometimes by the tweeter. And my passenger side door rattles. I've heard the rear deck rattle once I think. I fixed my center speaker rattle, but the other ones are driving me nuts! :thumbsdow
#22
if i hear a rattle, i take my car to my audio guy we ride around for a bit diagnosing it, then apply sound deadened as needed, or wanted. my third brake light is sound deadened, and has a gasket that seals it to the window better, homelink/sunroof console deadened, the taillights, license plate, license plate frame( the part that holds the plate lights, rear garnish thing, u know where the plate screws in.) Ive prolly added 200 lbs of sound deadener throughout the car. if you don't like rattles this is the best route to go otherwise get used to it every car has them.
#23
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Join Date: Apr 2010
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Something on or inside my drivers door rattles but only when I'm going high speeds. Also there is some damned rattle coming from the back right of my car like the back right window or seat or something in that area and I have no clue wtf it is from... annoying.
But also, I always drive with the radio/CD player on so I really can't hear those rattles much anyways
But also, I always drive with the radio/CD player on so I really can't hear those rattles much anyways
Couple days later now and I have the same fricken plastic type of slapping sound coming from the rear passenger deck lid area when going over bumps.
BTW, they already fixed my front center speaker and the sub woofer rattle as well. I know no car is absolutely silent but some of the obvious rattles are quite annoying.
Last edited by laakness; 06-04-2010 at 04:36 PM.
#30
אני עומד עם ישראל
I stopped caring. Nothing fixes my rattles and the car has 65k or so on it now so I learned to live with it.
#32
אני עומד עם ישראל
been there done that Roger. Even added dynomat to the rear, the shelf still rattles! The rattles will only increase as this car gets older.
#33
07 TL Type S 6 sp
Join Date: Jun 2007
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My car rattles, maybe my rockford t1000 and JLw6 have loosened everything up!
Turn the music on to volume 15, problem solved. If your radio don't work, open the window and stick your head out and listen to the wind.
Turn the music on to volume 15, problem solved. If your radio don't work, open the window and stick your head out and listen to the wind.
#35
Drifting
iTrader: (13)
Shin Etsu for all of the rubber seals kills the chatter from the sunroof and door glass.
Felt for the child seat anchors on the rear shelf, door and glove compartments and most other areas with "impact"-type rattles.
My 06 with 60K+ is nearly rattle free.
Felt for the child seat anchors on the rear shelf, door and glove compartments and most other areas with "impact"-type rattles.
My 06 with 60K+ is nearly rattle free.
#37
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I just had mine at the dealer for 4 days because they couldn't find a rattle/ticking sound that I had reported. It ended up being the top of a bolt in the passenger rear strut that was tapping against the body bracing/tubing up inside the car. They put new bolts in and padded the area and now that's gone.
Couple days later now and I have the same fricken plastic type of slapping sound coming from the rear passenger deck lid area when going over bumps.
BTW, they already fixed my front center speaker and the sub woofer rattle as well. I know no car is absolutely silent but some of the obvious rattles are quite annoying.
Couple days later now and I have the same fricken plastic type of slapping sound coming from the rear passenger deck lid area when going over bumps.
BTW, they already fixed my front center speaker and the sub woofer rattle as well. I know no car is absolutely silent but some of the obvious rattles are quite annoying.
#38
Funny, my dealer can't seem to fix my rear deck. That's the only rattle I have besides the occasional sun roof tilted up rattle.
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