ttliang

Today my car went to dealer for maintenance. i got a pretty new 05TL AT loaner. immediately i noticed the following list of problems.

- headliner popping/rattles
- driver side window/door trim rattles
- center console rattles (when in "D" but stopped)
- AT shifter rattles (around there)

i suddenly started to feel the pain some of you guys are going through everyday and i was only in it for less than 30mins. it drove me absolutely crazy. then i just realized this is the perfect car to try to fix all those rattles at once. i wanted to see if i can do it in 30 mins with only "Armor-all" and few tools. so here we go....

for the door rattles: applied AA on a seals seen here





with a paper towel full of AA, peel the seal slightly out along the red lines and apply AA with your finger sliding thro between the door frame and seals.




Press here before and after to hear the difference




for the headliner i suspected sunroof and i was right. applied AA along the red line nice and good. u can tilt SR to get to the back side.




for the center console i suspected the metal trim rubbing against the plastic and i was right. this is a little tricky. use a cotton ball full of AA. press down slightly on that red arrow area. let the AA drip down along the seam to cover every inch. please don't flood it. if you f* up your console, don't come looking for me (disclaimer).








use the same technique for the shifter area. AA won't drip this time. just apply smaller amount of AA on the cotton ball to "dip" thru the red lines posted here. get enough in it to cover the seams. again the same disclaimer above applys.




for the door body seal, there are holes throughout the seal. use the applicator in the pic or things like that to spray AA in it. don't have to flood it. apply just a little bit to each hole then rub it to distribute AA evenly.







finally apply AA along the red line seen here over the entire upper seal between the seal and the car body.



I did both doors and everything else in 30mins including 2 test drives. guess what? no rattles whatsoever anymore. i picked the most shity twisty around here and drove hard one time and normal one time. not a single buzz. with radio off of course. see how ez it is when i saved my bitching time for fixing.

i really hope this project could help all those who have similar problems. i am going to ask if the service manager will pay me some $$$ for fixing his car. ha.

Scott in Houston

Armor All is like the automotive version of duct tape! nice.

MR1

Looks like a sticky to me, great job. IMHO, this belongs in garage.

Brettg

I think there may be other stuff out there that would work better than armorall.
I think there are gel silicones or something that is actualy good for the plastic
and foam rubber.
I have heard armorall and others of its ilk actualy remove some of the good stuff
from rubber as it washes off/evaporates.

Funny that some cars have problems and others dont, I have not done anything
to my car yet it has no odd noises.
Maybe they would start with age....

Brett

Bplayer

My speculation is four possible reasons:

1. Driving conditions (rough road and speed putting twisting strain on the chassis)
2. Climatic conditions (high temperatures causing expansion and alignment problems)
3. Different batches of material, possibly from different suppliers
4. Assembly differences

In summary, it is a level of quality issue. Quality comes at a price, and you get what you pay for. Some will argue that they have gotten less than what they expected or should have gotten. My car is perfect, so far.

ttliang

just an update. morning after. driving to work. still good. it was like 30 deg outside last night. i think i did it.

this car however is a POJunk maintenance wise. they need to rebalance the tires. aside from the typical EL-42 tire flatspots, they vibe all the way to 90mi with different theme songs at different ranges. ha. but even with all the vibrations, no rattles. i doubt any TSX or MDX owners who got this loaner will dare to buy an TL. shame on the dealer. they think b/c it's a loaner they don't have to take care of it. bad words travel fast i tell u that. loaners are like demo cars u idiots.

Scott in Houston

that is so true. I had my Infiniti M in for service, and got a G35 sedan loaner. It was so gross and dirty inside that it made me totally dislike the car. Had it been clean and just well cared for, I would have gotten out thinking, "This is a good car. I should recommend this car or buy one myself."

AMIC

That's pretty cool. Good job!

XtraKrispy

Fantastic post!

sebounet2005

I did the same thing two days ago but using a silicone lubrican spray. With the strength of the spray you could rich some difficult places. Even if you put some on the plastic just wipe it out and no problem.

I put some in the door where the aluminium trim join the leather

THe thing is it will be ok for 2 or 3 months, depends of temp humidity and use of the car

oppnyc

Hi,

Which "Armor-all" did you use? Name please.
There are so many Armor products...

ttliang

here u go. armor-all original
http://www.armorall.com/prodcat/page...ctant_2.2.html

i like the idea of using silicone spray very much. if it comes with the spray tube like wd-40 has, it would be wonderful for jobs like these.

sebounet2005

Exactl with the kind of straw it's very easy to reach certain places, and no problem with stains on plastic.


You just have to do it on a regular maintenance like every 3 month about, but it's fast 30 minutes max

iNteGraz92

good job. much better than people who cry "stupid dealer can't fix my rattles, this car sucks, wah!"

BLADE RUNNER

Last week my 2002 TLS was at the dealer getting the B pillars replaced and doors retaped under warranty. When I got my car back, I heard a rattle by the rear passenger door. I am going to try and use my Klasse for vinyl and plastic
on the seals. Klasse does not contain silicone. The noise although small, has been driving me batty (no pun intended fsttyms). Besides, who needs to visit the dealer.

tzakiel

Just put some windex on it.

DMZ

This thread should definitely be a sticky!

Nice work ttlaing!

cc_04MT

My '04 6MT had an unbearable noise coming from what I thought was the moonroof. I was just about to take it in for the wind deflector replacement (Service Bulletin 04-034) but it wasn't that. Turns out it was the moonroof headliner. I sprayed WD-40 along the inside of the headliner track and presto. No more squeak. I can finally enjoy my car.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

I did pretty much most of all you've done trying to fix your rattles... and after two weeks... all the rattles were back after the armor all wore off or when dust/dirt settled on the rubber seals. It's a temporary fix at best, but I hope you have better luck with it.

It's interesting, Mercedes uses a cloth-like seal on their doors to insure no "creaks"

ttliang

as you can see that's a loaner. my own car don't have rattles/creak. it's an 04 mt. i did apply AA just in case way back when i first got the car. no rattles still. i have to tell u that seal still feel greasy even now believe or not after all these months. maybe i got lucky and got the "greasy" version seals. lol.

92NSX

I refuse to use AA for anything in my car. Attracts to much dust for me.

aloedesign

"put some ketchup on it.. 'be aight"
umm, seriously though, where do you get that little bottle with the needle applicator? I am a big fan of gummi pfledge as it does not need to be reapplied so often as other things.. but.. the built in applicator is sort of crappy for some things..

ttliang

piano tuning supply stores. i tune my own pianos. a typical syringe will do the same.

scottn3

Shin-etsu is the correct lubricant for this job. It will fix some of these issues but not all of them.

SouthernBoy

Ok, so where's the rattlesnakes, or as the OP wrote rattle snakes? I was hoping to see some hissing reptile who had found a home under one of the seats or something.