Finally have a 100% rattle free M-roadster

GP20 · 06-23-2007, 05:12 AM

After multiple futile trips to the dealers, I thought, screw it, I'd just fix the rattles myself. I guess my ears are just extremely sensitive to all the rattle and buzzing noises. I bought a big roll of felt tape at the dealer for about $28 after taxes. I took about 10 hours overall working in my Z4M the past week. The majority of the time was spent on trying to figure out the rattling sources and countless test-drives.

Here were the places that were causing the noises:

1) instrument cluster lower plastic panel
2) buzzing noises from the both the driver and passenger side cupholder areas.
3) the removable trim below the A/C controls
4) center console compartment door
5) glove box
6) behind the driver seat (turned out to be lower speaker grill)
7) dome-light
8) Squeaky noises on the outer sides of both seats where the leather covers are in contact with the plastic seat frames.

First of all, no wonder the Z4 is a rattle box. The interior is really built so cheaply it's ridiculous. The interior is all plastic, with absolutely no insulation between all the plastic contacting surfaces. This car is bound to rattle like hell sooner or later. And then there's no wonder the dealers weren't able to fix the rattles. All they did was applying some lube and used felt tape SPARINGLY and "illogically" (in places where you know would have no barrings on rattles). It seemed like it took the dealer 2 minutes per location whereas I probably took half an hour to an hour.

For noises #1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, all I had to do was carefully applying felt tape in all the contacting areas and also applied felt tape on wirings that might've flapped around.

For noise #2, the driver side turned out to be the door tweater. Carefully applied felt tape on the edges of the tweater cover. It was a simple fix. The passenger side turned out to be much more complicated and took me a long time to figure out the rattle source. Applied felt tape on the tweater cover, noise was still there. Felt tape on the cup-holder, still heard the noise. I was starting to think that the noise might've come from inside of the door. It turned out that the noise came from the manual seat adjustement handles which were loose; applied felt tape, 80% of the noise gone, but still heard some noises going over unsmooth roads. I finally found the seat heater connectors and wirings under the seat to be the culprits.

For noise #7, at first I noticed the noise coming from the top windshield pillar which turned out to be the dome-light. I was lucky that I didn't have to remove the A-pillar covers and the top windshield pillar cover; did that on my '04 3.0i and it was a PITA. The dome-light did take me a long time (2 hours) to work on though.

There's simply no way the dealer, any dealer, could afford the time and paid the attention on all the little details like I did. No one could (care enough to do it), except myself. I told myself that I asbolutely had to make everything look neat, well more like perfect, and stock-like, even in the areas where I couldn't notice easily, or in the back of my head I'd always remember the imperfections and would not be happy.

The strut tower brace also eliminates all those buzzing noises when going over unsmooth roads. I can't say how much the STB helps in the handling department not having pushed my M to its limits. But the front end is noticibly stiffer and IMO the fact that it removes the buzzing noises is more than worth its price tag.

The end-result was more than worth my time and effort.

My 14 months old M-roadster is finally 100% rattle free and feels like a new car again.

P.S. It's 3AM now and I'm not thinking that well now so please forgive me if any part of my post did not seem to make sense or if I wasn't typing coherently.

Yal · 06-23-2007, 08:19 AM

wow, that's a job. I don't get many squeaks, usually just the top and in that case I turn up the stereo. I've been very lucky with this car.

Rey · 06-23-2007, 09:14 AM

I have seen many types of tape, but never heard or seen "felt tape" before. Is it a BMW-exclusive product, or is it available aftermarket? Thanks.

ovrkll · 06-23-2007, 09:20 AM

It's the felt side of Velcro, can get it at almost any store.

Dammmittt · 06-23-2007, 09:22 AM

My music is almost always too loud to hear anything but...I knew I got the premium package for a reason...

You could proably find felt tape at Home Depot...they got everything

enfield · 06-23-2007, 09:55 AM

Jeez!

I am MOST impressed. My "Roaster" had also become rattle free after 7 or 9 trips to the dealer. Then the roof went bonkers

I would agree about the cheap build. The Coupe has one or 2 squeaks now but I can't be bothered. There is a rattle from the a/c vent when the a/c is going full blast and the other is a squeak from the mid-console storage space....

Rick Hunter · 06-23-2007, 10:54 AM

So I guess you're not thinking about an M Coupé anymore, huh?

Great writeup. Any pics of some of the troublespots?

takedown8 · 06-23-2007, 11:20 AM

DIY would have been worth its weight in gold. Thanks for the write up though! Much appreciated.

mister_roger · 06-23-2007, 12:24 PM

Woo Hoo!!! Big kudos to your writeup. I know how much you've been complaining about rattles ever since you got the car, so it's great to hear that you finally got them fixed. Maybe I'll spend some time one of these days and try out some of your solutions. I've been starting to get a few more interior rattles ever since I got my sway bars put in.

BimmerZealot · 06-23-2007, 01:38 PM

You're like my bro, he bought a roll of suede fabric so he could fix every single rattle. I think every other week his center console is torn out looking for rattles =P To each their own, it personally dosn't bother me, must be you OCD guys.

FloridaBoy · 06-23-2007, 04:17 PM

$50K P.O.S. should never have rattled in the first place.

But I'm glad you're happy!

Rick Hunter · 06-23-2007, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

$50K P.O.S. should never have rattled in the first place.

But I'm glad you're happy!

X2.

Do you think the lack of quality is because it's not made in Germany? I've got 1 rattle I can think of, and it's coming from the dang cupholder (which I don't use, and the other cupholder's broken already).

FloridaBoy · 06-23-2007, 04:54 PM

I think the lack of quality is due to not being a Toyota.

In the cold weather, it pops and creaks, (mostly popping due to some little plastic piece of crap no doubt) this used to bother me, but now I just turn up the music and ignore it. Mine has settled down now that it's warmed up, it's pretty quiet now actually...

mister_roger · 06-23-2007, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

In the cold weather, it pops and creaks, (mostly popping due to some little plastic piece of crap no doubt) this used to bother me, but now I just turn up the music and ignore it. Mine has settled down now that it's warmed up, it's pretty quiet now actually...

Z4 arthritis. And unfortunately it's heredetary.

GP20 · 06-23-2007, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dammmittt

My music is almost always too loud to hear anything but...I knew I got the premium package for a reason...

You could proably find felt tape at Home Depot...they got everything

I did look for felt tape at 2 different Home Depots, and neither carries them.

The felt tape brand is called Tesa. I'm sure they can be found for cheaper on ebay, but I didn't want to wait. I almost never turn on my stereo anymore except on long trip since I got my Eisenmann Sport.

GP20 · 06-23-2007, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FloridaBoy

$50K P.O.S. should never have rattled in the first place.

But I'm glad you're happy!

Yeah a $50K car definitely shouldn't have "that many" rattles. BMW tries to tell people it's because of the sporty suspension and one should expect to hear rattles. B.S. My friend's 997S has absolutely ZERO noise. Of course, the 997S costs twice as much as the Z4, but price isn't the point here since we're talking about the suspension stiffness. I don't expect my Z4's interior to be as luxurious as a Porsche, but how hard can it be to use some insulation between plastic surfaces when BMW designs a car?

I'd think that BMW could've saved lots of money from paying their technicians to fix rattle noises under warranty if they simply designed the cars right in the first place.

GP20 · 06-23-2007, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Hunter

So I guess you're not thinking about an M Coupé anymore, huh?

Great writeup. Any pics of some of the troublespots?

No, I STILL think about the M-coupe - all the time.

Last week I was seriously thinking about trading in my M-roadster for the M-coupe at Bellevue BMW. But BMW didn't really want to sell me an M-coupe I guess. I walked into the dealer telling myself that if they were willing to give me a fair deal, I'd sell my hardtop and wheels and go for it. They wanted to give me $41.5K for my rarely driven M-roadster and insisted they'd only sell the M-coupe at MSRP since I'd need to special order a silver gray, adding that they might give me a $500 discount to sweeten the deal a bit.

Thanks, but no thanks.

I love the M-coupe. It's an amazing car. Just not $10K more amazing than my M-roadster.

Dammmittt · 06-23-2007, 10:06 PM

Yeah...that's rediculous man, is that even the KBB value?

FloridaBoy · 06-23-2007, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP20

Thanks, but no thanks.

I love the M-coupe. It's an amazing car. Just not $10K more amazing than my M-roadster.

Smart man... never sell to a reseller.

Rick Hunter · 06-23-2007, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP20

No, I STILL think about the M-coupe - all the time.

Last week I was seriously thinking about trading in my M-roadster for the M-coupe at Bellevue BMW. But BMW didn't really want to sell me an M-coupe I guess. I walked into the dealer telling myself that if they were willing to give me a fair deal, I'd sell my hardtop and wheels and go for it. They wanted to give me $41.5K for my rarely driven M-roadster and insisted they'd only sell the M-coupe at MSRP since I'd need to special order a silver gray, adding that they might give me a $500 discount to sweeten the deal a bit.

Thanks, but no thanks.

I love the M-coupe. It's an amazing car. Just not $10K more amazing than my M-roadster.

Why don't you be a little more adventurous... try on a different colour! They have a Sepang M Coupé @ BMW Seattle, or if you're wanting a baby-step... they have a TiAg M Coupé @ Fife (that one's been there since before I bought mine). Or if you still want to deal with Bellevue, then the Interlagos or Sapphire Coupés. Too many on them lots! Maybe we should have a GTG lunch soon to discuss your options.

GP20 · 06-24-2007, 03:23 AM

Well, I like the sepang brown. Just don't like it enough to spend $50 large on it.

- Imola red: also like it especially after seeing yours, but can't quite bring myself to buy a red car. Don't want to be too flashy lol.

- Black: my G35 coupe is black; it's my first - AND last black car I'll ever own. A biatch to clean and maintain.

- Titanium silver: my Z3 2.3, Z4 2.5 & 3.0 were all ti-silver. Won't get another silver car any time soon, if ever. Bright silver color does not reward you after 5 hours of detailing.

- Stratus gray: looks good in the pictures. Looks good on the Z8. Looks HIDEOUS on the Z4 IN PERSON. The color simply does not work on the Z4 with the flame surfacing. (Just my opinion and I apologize if I offended any stratus gray Z4 owner).

Now the color that really catches my eyes is the monaco blue on the M-coupe. I saw one in person today at Autowest BMW in Richmond and fell in love with it instantly. I'm going to try talking to other local bimmer dealers next week and go from there.

soeharyo · 06-24-2007, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP20

no wonder the Z4 is a rattle box. The interior is really built so cheaply it's ridiculous. The interior is all plastic, with absolutely no insulation between all the plastic contacting surfaces. This car is bound to rattle like hell sooner or later.

really?

that is just too bad

06-23-2007, 05:12 AM	#1
GP20 Major 95 Rep 1,269 Posts Drives: Z4M, F80 M3, 991.2 GTS Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Canada iTrader: (5)	Finally have a 100% rattle free M-roadster After multiple futile trips to the dealers, I thought, screw it, I'd just fix the rattles myself. I guess my ears are just extremely sensitive to all the rattle and buzzing noises. I bought a big roll of felt tape at the dealer for about $28 after taxes. I took about 10 hours overall working in my Z4M the past week. The majority of the time was spent on trying to figure out the rattling sources and countless test-drives. Here were the places that were causing the noises: 1) instrument cluster lower plastic panel 2) buzzing noises from the both the driver and passenger side cupholder areas. 3) the removable trim below the A/C controls 4) center console compartment door 5) glove box 6) behind the driver seat (turned out to be lower speaker grill) 7) dome-light 8) Squeaky noises on the outer sides of both seats where the leather covers are in contact with the plastic seat frames. First of all, no wonder the Z4 is a rattle box. The interior is really built so cheaply it's ridiculous. The interior is all plastic, with absolutely no insulation between all the plastic contacting surfaces. This car is bound to rattle like hell sooner or later. And then there's no wonder the dealers weren't able to fix the rattles. All they did was applying some lube and used felt tape SPARINGLY and "illogically" (in places where you know would have no barrings on rattles). It seemed like it took the dealer 2 minutes per location whereas I probably took half an hour to an hour. For noises #1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, all I had to do was carefully applying felt tape in all the contacting areas and also applied felt tape on wirings that might've flapped around. For noise #2, the driver side turned out to be the door tweater. Carefully applied felt tape on the edges of the tweater cover. It was a simple fix. The passenger side turned out to be much more complicated and took me a long time to figure out the rattle source. Applied felt tape on the tweater cover, noise was still there. Felt tape on the cup-holder, still heard the noise. I was starting to think that the noise might've come from inside of the door. It turned out that the noise came from the manual seat adjustement handles which were loose; applied felt tape, 80% of the noise gone, but still heard some noises going over unsmooth roads. I finally found the seat heater connectors and wirings under the seat to be the culprits. For noise #7, at first I noticed the noise coming from the top windshield pillar which turned out to be the dome-light. I was lucky that I didn't have to remove the A-pillar covers and the top windshield pillar cover; did that on my '04 3.0i and it was a PITA. The dome-light did take me a long time (2 hours) to work on though. There's simply no way the dealer, any dealer, could afford the time and paid the attention on all the little details like I did. No one could (care enough to do it), except myself. I told myself that I asbolutely had to make everything look neat, well more like perfect, and stock-like, even in the areas where I couldn't notice easily, or in the back of my head I'd always remember the imperfections and would not be happy. The strut tower brace also eliminates all those buzzing noises when going over unsmooth roads. I can't say how much the STB helps in the handling department not having pushed my M to its limits. But the front end is noticibly stiffer and IMO the fact that it removes the buzzing noises is more than worth its price tag. The end-result was more than worth my time and effort. My 14 months old M-roadster is finally 100% rattle free and feels like a new car again. P.S. It's 3AM now and I'm not thinking that well now so please forgive me if any part of my post did not seem to make sense or if I wasn't typing coherently. __________________ 2019 Porsche 911 4 GTS 2016 BMW M3 2008 BMW Z4M coupe
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06-23-2007, 08:19 AM	#2
Yal Lieutenant 10 Rep 490 Posts Drives: '03 Z4 2.5 Maldives Blue Join Date: May 2007 Location: Santa Cruz, CA iTrader: (0)	wow, that's a job. I don't get many squeaks, usually just the top and in that case I turn up the stereo. I've been very lucky with this car. __________________
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06-23-2007, 09:14 AM	#3
Rey New Member 2 Rep 19 Posts Drives: Z4 Coupe Join Date: May 2007 Location: Salem, OR iTrader: (0)	I have seen many types of tape, but never heard or seen "felt tape" before. Is it a BMW-exclusive product, or is it available aftermarket? Thanks.
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06-23-2007, 09:20 AM	#4
ovrkll Lieutenant 8 Rep 412 Posts Drives: Interlagos Blue Z4M Join Date: May 2007 Location: McDonough, GA iTrader: (0)	It's the felt side of Velcro, can get it at almost any store.
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06-23-2007, 09:22 AM	#5
Dammmittt My favorite sign. 167 Rep 4,333 Posts Drives: 2007 M Coupe Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Der Autobahnen iTrader: (0)	My music is almost always too loud to hear anything but...I knew I got the premium package for a reason... You could proably find felt tape at Home Depot...they got everything __________________ 07 ///M Coupe (Premium Package) Black Saphire Ext. Imola Red Int. Best Website EVER!
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06-23-2007, 09:55 AM	#6
enfield Civilian 79 Rep 970 Posts Drives: Jaguar F-Type V8 S Join Date: May 2007 Location: Ontario iTrader: (0)	Jeez! I am MOST impressed. My "Roaster" had also become rattle free after 7 or 9 trips to the dealer. Then the roof went bonkers I would agree about the cheap build. The Coupe has one or 2 squeaks now but I can't be bothered. There is a rattle from the a/c vent when the a/c is going full blast and the other is a squeak from the mid-console storage space....
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06-23-2007, 10:54 AM	#7
Rick Hunter Skull Squadron Leader 304 Rep 2,031 Posts Drives: '07 M Coupé & '16 435xi GCoupé Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Emerald City iTrader: (20)	So I guess you're not thinking about an M Coupé anymore, huh? Great writeup. Any pics of some of the troublespots? __________________
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06-23-2007, 11:20 AM	#8
takedown8 Major 56 Rep 1,068 Posts Drives: 2005 BMW Z4 3.0i Join Date: May 2007 Location: Seattle, WA iTrader: (0)	DIY would have been worth its weight in gold. Thanks for the write up though! Much appreciated.
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06-23-2007, 12:24 PM	#9
mister_roger Private First Class 13 Rep 136 Posts Drives: 2003 Maldives Blue 2.5i Join Date: May 2007 Location: Bellevue, WA iTrader: (0)	Woo Hoo!!! Big kudos to your writeup. I know how much you've been complaining about rattles ever since you got the car, so it's great to hear that you finally got them fixed. Maybe I'll spend some time one of these days and try out some of your solutions. I've been starting to get a few more interior rattles ever since I got my sway bars put in. __________________ 2003 Maldives Blue 2.5i -- 18" M6 wheels, 12mm rear spacer, ///MZ4 front bumper conversion, Eibach lowering springs, Koni shocks, Hotchkis F/R anti-roll bars, Helene Performance air filter.
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06-23-2007, 01:38 PM	#10
BimmerZealot Major 61 Rep 1,210 Posts Drives: 2019 BMW X3 xDrive30i Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Diego, California iTrader: (2)	You're like my bro, he bought a roll of suede fabric so he could fix every single rattle. I think every other week his center console is torn out looking for rattles =P To each their own, it personally dosn't bother me, must be you OCD guys.
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06-23-2007, 04:17 PM	#11
FloridaBoy First Lieutenant 19 Rep 376 Posts Drives: 2005 Z4 3.oi Join Date: May 2007 Location: Central Florida iTrader: (0)	$50K P.O.S. should never have rattled in the first place. But I'm glad you're happy! __________________ 2005 3.0i, Black Sapphire, SMG, Navigation, Heated leather, iPod w/Dice, Carver Subs, Sport, Foamless SG, 3M Clear Bra, Sirius, 18 inch 107's
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06-23-2007, 04:54 PM	#13
FloridaBoy First Lieutenant 19 Rep 376 Posts Drives: 2005 Z4 3.oi Join Date: May 2007 Location: Central Florida iTrader: (0)	I think the lack of quality is due to not being a Toyota. In the cold weather, it pops and creaks, (mostly popping due to some little plastic piece of crap no doubt) this used to bother me, but now I just turn up the music and ignore it. Mine has settled down now that it's warmed up, it's pretty quiet now actually... __________________ 2005 3.0i, Black Sapphire, SMG, Navigation, Heated leather, iPod w/Dice, Carver Subs, Sport, Foamless SG, 3M Clear Bra, Sirius, 18 inch 107's
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06-23-2007, 10:06 PM	#18
Dammmittt My favorite sign. 167 Rep 4,333 Posts Drives: 2007 M Coupe Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Der Autobahnen iTrader: (0)	Yeah...that's rediculous man, is that even the KBB value? __________________ 07 ///M Coupe (Premium Package) Black Saphire Ext. Imola Red Int. Best Website EVER!
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06-24-2007, 03:23 AM	#21
GP20 Major 95 Rep 1,269 Posts Drives: Z4M, F80 M3, 991.2 GTS Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Canada iTrader: (5)	Well, I like the sepang brown. Just don't like it enough to spend $50 large on it. - Imola red: also like it especially after seeing yours, but can't quite bring myself to buy a red car. Don't want to be too flashy lol. - Black: my G35 coupe is black; it's my first - AND last black car I'll ever own. A biatch to clean and maintain. - Titanium silver: my Z3 2.3, Z4 2.5 & 3.0 were all ti-silver. Won't get another silver car any time soon, if ever. Bright silver color does not reward you after 5 hours of detailing. - Stratus gray: looks good in the pictures. Looks good on the Z8. Looks HIDEOUS on the Z4 IN PERSON. The color simply does not work on the Z4 with the flame surfacing. (Just my opinion and I apologize if I offended any stratus gray Z4 owner). Now the color that really catches my eyes is the monaco blue on the M-coupe. I saw one in person today at Autowest BMW in Richmond and fell in love with it instantly. I'm going to try talking to other local bimmer dealers next week and go from there. __________________ 2019 Porsche 911 4 GTS 2016 BMW M3 2008 BMW Z4M coupe
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