I'm having a very specific rattle problem on my doors that I haven't seen a thread about yet (and I've searched).

The piece in the picture below buzzes with certain music. It happens with both the driver and passenger side front doors.



If you place your hand against the trim it stops. It's basically that thin piece of dark gray plastic just below the silver trim buzzing/rattling against the piece directly behind it (it's not a rattle that's interior to the door).

I've noticed that if you put the window down even slightly, it stops on both doors. If you have your hand against the trim piece when you put the window down you can feel some sort of piece inside the door pushing toward the center of the car, which braces that interior piece against the trim piece (which confirms, in my mind, that it's the dark gray plastic trim piece rattling against what's directly under it).

I've seen the door panel removal guides on here, but nowhere have I found a picture of what the back of that door panel looks like. I don't want to remove my door panel only to find that I don't have access to the area directly behind the trim.

Basically, I want a way to get behind the piece of trim with the arrow in the pic above and just put in a strip of insulation tape to fill the space and keep the trim from buzzing against the piece behind it.

I've had the dealer look at it 4 times, but they're idiots. They put the official Acura foam kit in (which in no way addresses this specific problem....I've never had an interior door rattle) and every time since have just said "we put the trim kit in, there's nothing else we can do." They aren't interested in finding/solving the problem, they just want to do the official Acura thing. Ugh.

Anyway, can someone give me tips on how to get behind this piece of trim? I'm willing to remove the entire door panel or pry off the trim somehow if that'd be easier.

Thanks in advance!

 

Sorry from the broken image.

Here's one that works:



Has anyone had this same problem? It's really more of a buzzing than a rattling, I guess.

 

You have to remove the door panel and access the faux carbon fiber piece from the rear. That peice is held on by a few screws.

 

Thanks! I might try that tomorrow....

 

I have the same rattle and I have the wood trimmed interior. Have you solved the rattle yet?

 

I haven't had time to tackle it yet.

As a temp fix, put your windows down a slight bit. I mean, tap the button as lightly as you can....there doesn't even have to be a visible crack at the top of the window.

 

Same here OneThree, I have the same exact annoying buzzing/rattle from that area. Took it into the dealer twice, they claim they test drove it and don't hear it. I told them it mainly occurs at interstate speeds or over rough roads and once the buzzing begins, it doesn't stop. Dealer is useless.

Pressing down on your arrowed area or the padded area directly above stops the buzz, or pressing on the window glass while driving, or just tapping the window down button as you stated. Please keep us updated on any possible fix you find.

 

When I replaced mine my plood with carbon fiber, I noted my passenger door had a piece of feld between the plastic trim and the door panel... obviously for this reason. Just get yourself a piece of that felt and stick it in there.

 

Just wanted to post a followup.

I just got done fixing my buzzes, and if you have the same problems I'd encourage you to do it.

I was shocked at how easy it was to take the door panel off. I was expecting a hassle, but I can take it off in about 3 minutes now. If you have trouble reaching any of the connections, just tilt the door on its side until the speaker side is resting on the ground. This frees you up to rearrange your hands & whatnot without having to hold the thing in midair.

I followed the instructions found in other threads here (search for 'Door Panel') on getting the panel off.

Once I was inside, I just went nuts with a roll of insulation tape (the kind they sell to put around doorways in your home). It's basically just foam tape; it's spongy, sticky on one side and about half an inch thick. You can find it for $1.89 at Home Depot in the section where they sell doors. It comes in a roll of maybe 5 feet in a plastic bag (it's not on a roll like some tape).

At first I tried to isolate where the sounds were coming from, but then I figured that while I was in there I'd just put this stuff on anything that looked loose.

The buzzes/rattles are now gone. I'd just suggest getting in there and taping any points of contact with the stuff (I used some that was 1/2 an inch wide and I think 5/16th of an inch thick).

Good luck!

 

hehe!! nice work!

 

Sounds like a plan for me! I'll go try that

 

Too bad this would be difficult to implement in the driver side seat belt tensioner area where the moving small parts are causing my rattle...