From the first day of driving my '07 TL (10 days ago), I noticed a very consistent 'rattle' from the center speaker area. Pressing lightly anywhere on the grill itself or the small strip of dash in front of the grill had no effect, but pressing very hard on the front of the grill AND the dash strip seemed to dampen if not kill it. The noise was of medium pitch, more of a 'resonance' than a rattle, maybe a few kilohertz. I could repeat it at will by just revving the engine while stationary at 1k rpm, but would hear it at many different rpm's and speeds while driving - especially driving slow.

I saw this fine post: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...5&page=1&pp=25 and set about the repair, but a) noticed a difference for '07 (more clips), and b) was not convinced, once I saw the underside of the grill, that foam placed on the flat surfaces would have any affect. So here's my own version of the same fix. WARNING: LOTS of pics! I figure the more pics the better for anyone who has not attempted this yet.

First of all, I went to the hardware store and bought many kinds of foam; at a few $$ per roll, I didn't want to be regretting my choice while the dash was in bits!

For what it's worth, the foam of choice ended up being the thinnest one of all.
From the front of the package:
'Weatherstrip closed cell';
'firmer than PVC foam';
'cushions against rattles, shocks, and vibrations';
'Sponge Rubber 1/8" T x 3/8" W'.

As the car was only 10 days old, I was scared to death of marring the dash or bending the metallic grill (may be plastic, not sure), so I spent a lot of time thinking about the removal. I ended up putting some plumbers teflon tape on the edge of my screwdriver so I could slide it in easily

It went in very easily, and I then tilted the screwdriver until the grill 'popped'. Once the right side was popped, it was easy to grip the front/back of the grill and lift a little, causing more retaining clips to pop. However, I could see the grill bending, and was scared to lift too hard from the right, in case I got a permanent bend in the grill, so I struggled with this for a while. Eventually got the final clip on the left side to release. NOTE: Each clip location has a corresponding recess and you can use this recess to a) know where to apply pressure, and b) use it as a 'pry point' if you really need to.

Yes, there are SIX clips for the '07 TL; I don't know when they changed from 4 to 6, but they have added two clips at the back (nearest the windscreen) - possibly to address this issue . Also, note that the two side clips (left and right) are 'double sided' clips, while the four front/back clips are single sided - that is, they only have a protrusion on one side. Thus, the front/rear clips come out much easier. And while the two side clips, and two front clips, have corresponding 'slots' cut in the dash, the two rear clips (rear=windscreen facing) simply press against the dash material.

OK, so now the speaker is completely removed. Here you see the six clips clearly, and the connector.

At first, I was just going to leave the assembly connected, and apply foam as shown in the earlier post.

However, I could not see how tape applied solely to the horizontal platform base would correct my problem, so I decided to disconnect the speaker. That is one helluva tight connection. Even after pressing hard and releasing the two retaining clips, I could not pull the connector out. In the end, I jammed a small screwdriver into the gap between connector and base (see photo above), while pressing hard on the two retaining clips, and popped it - all while sitting awkwardly in the car, trying not to damage the dash, etc etc

So here's what the previous post said to do (as I read it) - apply tape to the base platform as follows (shown here without tape):
left:

right:


But I feel this won't help because there is no contact between this platform and the underside of the speaker. Look at the speaker grill profile:

and look at the base:

The edge of the speaker sits on the first ledge ('A'), while the clip has a protrusion that sits on the lower ledge 'B'. Thus, any padding applied to the ledge 'B' would seem to do nothing, since there is nothing for it to press against.

The nature of my noise is very much mid-tone vibration, so I did the following test - I suspended the speaker/grill assembly on one finger, and hit the grill as if hitting a 'gong' or drum -

and I could hear a definite vibration. I noticed the speaker, while tightly screwed in, did not feel like it was held strongly against the grill. So I removed the speaker. Here's the top of the speaker:

My theory is the foam rim of the speaker is not pressing hard enough against the grill protrusion, so I cut several pieces of foam (this is the 1/8" closed cell foam) as follows - first I did a 'dry fit' (before removing the backing):

Note, I shaped the edges so the foam could fit:

End result, stuck to the speaker:

and here's the speaker/grill, re-assembled:

(the writing on the speaker, for what it's worth, is "EASA8P01A1 4 ohm 15W USA 10607B')

Finally, I decided to put one more piece of foam (1/8" closed cell) in the area, simply because I don't want to have to keep disassembling. I put a long stip of the thin foam along the front ledge, so that the grill would rest on it:


Reassembled; NO NOISE !!!!!!

While I had the dash open, took a few pictures of the inside, in case they are ever of use for the future. Figured I'd post them here for reference:


and a view towards the back of the spedometer area:


Hope this is of help to an '07 TL owner.

 

Very informative and great pics.

I found my rattle is from the 2 philip screws head contacting the platform base. But now I think of it, it could also come from the speaker/grill contact.

Thanks again for the great pics.

 

I may try that. I havent figured out what is cauing my rattle yet and its driving me crazy. It only does it every once in a while. The dealer said they will take a look at it when I took it in for the first service, but that is still a few months away so I will probably try it. I think I will be more careful with my dash than the service tech would be. Thanks for the photos.

 

Regarding the pictures, I'm a big photoshop fan, but if all you want to do is crop, resize, and annotate, it's too 'heavy' so I've been searching around for a free program that does just that (and not much more) - crop, resize, and annotate (arrows and text). For these pics, I tried out a program called 'FastStone Image Viewer'. It does the job but has a number of infuriating quirks, so if anyone else out there knows of a super-lightweight and free annotation prog, I'd love to hear about it! I use IrfanView as a super-lightweight viewer/cropper/resizer, but it does not have annotation features.

 

I also have an 07 with the rattle and so does my neighbor. For me if I press on the center of the grill it goes away. I will have to try this. Thanks for the pictures and the info

 

Fantastic thread. Even with the extra clips seems that Acura still didn't get it right. I have an 07 TL, bought it with 13 miles and I suffer from the same center speaker rattle. I need to follow this DIY , great stuff.

Acura really needs to take a look at this thread. I mean if they could just study this post they'd honestly and more rapidly resolve these rattles.

Thanks again

 

Wow informative thread. I just did mine not long ago, so far everything is well. I still had a tiny little rattle when holding grill+speaker inclined and tapping on it. I put wool felt underneath the screws, that seemed to do it

Posted a few images below.

 

Awesome post guys! This rattle has been troubling me for months! I followed the instructions here to a tee and report that the rattle is GONE. I did what is shown in all the pics in this thread. Even made little felt "washers" for the speaker screws like the guy above. Also covered the screw heads with felt for good measure.

Immediately after starting the car I knew it was fixed. After I did the Stage 3 exhaust I would get that rattle at low rpm when the exhaust really has that low rumble. Then it would occur every time you hit a bump. Very annoying!

I drove around a lot today with the radio off and it was a great sound. Car felt (sounded) very tight and was like new again.

Thanks!