I went ALL IN on C-Pillar rattle

[Brandon_s550gt]

Thanks for posting these pics and detailed description of what you did - I think eventually we'll have isolated the actual cause of the rattle / squeak, or will have foamed/padded/glued every cavity of our cars... Mine is getting worse, so I'm going to have to dive back in when I get some free time. So much to do.

Looking forward to your positive report when you get back from the Tail! Be careful out there!

Update!! Okay...so unfortunately the rattle came back after about an down the Hwy...But!! My wife drove the car and I laid down in the back with the seats down. I found that the 3rd brake light rattled like rocks in a tin can, I was able to put pressure on the clips from under the headliner on the bottom side of the light and the rattle/vibration was instantly gone. The 3rd breaklight is held on by 4 bolts, I made sure they were tight ( 2 of mine were loose) but not over tighten to crack the plastic. Then I cut strips of sound deadening material and covered the entire under section of the light. Hope this helps for people still chasing the "c-pillar rattle" from the driver seat it sounds like that's exactly where it's coming from, it's not till you ride in the back that you hear it coming from the 3rd breaklight. The video is dark because it was night time, but this is the sound I've been dealing with, video taken right under 3rd breaklight.

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[geep81]

I think I figured out my C pillar/also B pillar sounding rattle. You can see in the attached I have tried many things.

Finally inserted the felt biscuits behind the airbag canister.

The other thing I noticed rapping around is that this device by the passenger door latch area also rattled. I backed it out and put padding/felt under it.

Today was the quietest drive I have had to work in a month. I don't want to claim victory yet, but we might be close.

The sound I was hearing sounded like it was coming from above the passenger seat belt mount, in the headliner area. But I never opened that up, and now the noise seems to be gone with these other fixes.

 

[Min Ahn]

OP here, it's been a long time since I updated this thread but I still occasionally take peaks at new posts whenever the notifications pop up. Tbh it's bittersweet to see the rattle gang still working together.

I have not had any issues since the fix was done by the dealership at the rear quarter panel area and thankfully the lubricant and foam they sprayed is still greasy af when I checked today.

I am still unsure where exactly they did their voodoo witchery but this entire area in the picture is like an ice rink to the touch.

So basically where ever the panels meet and there's a gap, it could be the source of your issue. Gap filling is a must for this poorly designed and manufactured vehicle to fix the existing rattle and also to prevent future fuckery..

 

[geep81]

Glad yours is holding up OP.

I just had my 2nd day in a row of horrible rattle-free driving. Now I can just love my car again lol.

 

[Brandon_s550gt]

Just wanted to update the thread, I finally found the culprit of my c pillar rattle and I was surprised by what it was. Since I had done everything possible on the inside of the car to stop it, I decided to look under the rear wheel well area. I removed the wheel and inspected the wheel well screws that hold the carpeted wheel well liner in place. I hit the the underside a few times and heard a tapping sound. I had had my ah ha!! Moment. The plastic screws that hold the liner in place were loose... All of them. They look like a black cap, almost like a valve stem cap. I thightend all of them and it's been a few months and haven't had the rattle since. AM has replacements on sale right now. The liner had a few pebbles stuck behind it also, they fell out when I hit the liner. So it was either the pebbles tapping or the liner was tapping since it was loose. I've really enjoyed my car a lot more since fixing it. It had gotten so bad I didn't even wanna drive it. Hope this helps thoes that are still trying to track it down.

 

[Min Ahn]

Just wanted to update the thread, I finally found the culprit of my c pillar rattle and I was surprised by what it was. Since I had done everything possible on the inside of the car to stop it, I decided to look under the rear wheel well area. I removed the wheel and inspected the wheel well screws that hold the carpeted wheel well liner in place. I hit the the underside a few times and heard a tapping sound. I had had my ah ha!! Moment. The plastic screws that hold the liner in place were loose... All of them. They look like a black cap, almost like a valve stem cap. I thightend all of them and it's been a few months and haven't had the rattle since. AM has replacements on sale right now. The liner had a few pebbles stuck behind it also, they fell out when I hit the liner. So it was either the pebbles tapping or the liner was tapping since it was loose. I've really enjoyed my car a lot more since fixing it. It had gotten so bad I didn't even wanna drive it. Hope this helps thoes that are still trying to track it down.

Wow every single part of this car is a potential candidate for causing noise lol.. good to hear that you were able to solve the issue!

 

[Dave2013M3]

Just wanted to update the thread, I finally found the culprit of my c pillar rattle and I was surprised by what it was. Since I had done everything possible on the inside of the car to stop it, I decided to look under the rear wheel well area. I removed the wheel and inspected the wheel well screws that hold the carpeted wheel well liner in place. I hit the the underside a few times and heard a tapping sound. I had had my ah ha!! Moment. The plastic screws that hold the liner in place were loose... All of them. They look like a black cap, almost like a valve stem cap. I thightend all of them and it's been a few months and haven't had the rattle since. AM has replacements on sale right now. The liner had a few pebbles stuck behind it also, they fell out when I hit the liner. So it was either the pebbles tapping or the liner was tapping since it was loose. I've really enjoyed my car a lot more since fixing it. It had gotten so bad I didn't even wanna drive it. Hope this helps thoes that are still trying to track it down.

Anyway to take a photo of the offending area? Mine does this too, annoying as hell.

 

[GT 550]

@Brandon_s550gt well done, thanks for posting. I'll bet the sense of relief was epic!

 

[Brandon_s550gt]

Anyway to take a photo of the offending area? Mine does this too, annoying as hell.

I took this screen shot from an install video, and circled the area. Mine was on the passenger side though. You can tighten the screw caps in the fender well by hand by jacking the car up a little. You don't have to take the wheel off. On the inside of the car it sounds like it's coming from the passenger side c pillar.

 

[Vlad Soare]

I had a lot of noises coming from the rear, the most annoying of which was a squeak. Thankfully I got rid of it.

I removed the side panel and immediately noticed a problem. One of the styrofoam blocks had a broken corner. I guess it was like this right from the factory, because I didn't find the missing piece anywhere.

This allowed the styrofoam to move, hence the noise. I used a zip tie to hold it in place. Problem solved.
But now we get to the second issue. The supports of the second piece of styrofoam were isolated from the foam itself with a bit of felt - the red pads in the picture below.

However, the other styrofoam piece, the broken one, was lacking this isolator:

This made the styrofoam rub against the metal washer, which caused the squeak. Even after having fixed the styrofoam in place, it would still squeak when I compresed it slightly with my hand. So I put some bits of felt on the two supports that were missing it, and voilá! No more squeak.
Now it's silent. I can't make it squeak no matter how I touch it, or press it, or hit it.

While I was at it, I placed some pieces of foam between the body of the car and the wires that run underneath this panel, at some points where the wires were almost touching the body and might have caused rattles. And I've also placed some felt and/or textile adhesive tape on the inside of the panel at various points where noises seemed possible.

Most of the noises are now gone, except one that I will write about in a future post.

 

[Vlad Soare]

I've also looked behind the small panel that covers the airbag. The only thing that could rattle in that area was the flexible plastic wire that's designed to hold the cover in place when the airbag deploys. I wedged some foam between its attachement point and the thing it was attached to, then wrapped the entire wire in textile adhesive tape. Now it doesn't make any noise no matter what I do to it. It can't rattle or buzz anymore.

But this appears to have changed nothing. The noise I was after seems not to come from the C pillar.

I don't have to drive over bumps to hear it. It's enough to just attempt to drive off, ever so slowly, to hear it. As soon as the car merely starts moving, there's a sort of metallic creak coming from the rear. My daughter was sitting in the rear today and said she couldn't figure out exactly where it was coming from, but it seemed to come from somewhere around the top of the rear backrests, but not from the backrests themselves, but rather from the metal underneath them.
The strange thing is that it doesn't sound like other rattles or buzzes or squeaks, i.e. caused by something vibrating, or two things rubbing against each other. It doesn't sound like the kind of noise you can track down by removing plastic panels and sticking felt or foam around the edges. It sounds metallic. It's a creak, not a rattle.
Driving on rough roads amplifies it, but it doesn't actually cause it. It can even be heard at the very instant when the car merely attempts to start moving.
Does this sound familiar to any of you? Any suggestions as to what I should look at?

 

[StangTime]

I've also looked behind the small panel that covers the airbag. The only thing that could rattle in that area was the flexible plastic wire that's designed to hold the cover in place when the airbag deploys. I wedged some foam between its attachement point and the thing it was attached to, then wrapped the entire wire in textile adhesive tape. Now it doesn't make any noise no matter what I do to it. It can't rattle or buzz anymore.

But this appears to have changed nothing. The noise I was after seems not to come from the C pillar.

I don't have to drive over bumps to hear it. It's enough to just attempt to drive off, ever so slowly, to hear it. As soon as the car merely starts moving, there's a sort of metallic creak coming from the rear. My daughter was sitting in the rear today and said she couldn't figure out exactly where it was coming from, but it seemed to come from somewhere around the top of the rear backrests, but not from the backrests themselves, but rather from the metal underneath them.
The strange thing is that it doesn't sound like other rattles or buzzes or squeaks, i.e. caused by something vibrating, or two things rubbing against each other. It doesn't sound like the kind of noise you can track down by removing plastic panels and sticking felt or foam around the edges. It sounds metallic. It's a creak, not a rattle.
Driving on rough roads amplifies it, but it doesn't actually cause it. It can even be heard at the very instant when the car merely attempts to start moving.
Does this sound familiar to any of you? Any suggestions as to what I should look at?

Have a look at this post. Listen to the sound in the video. It is like this? https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/who-still-has-the-c-pillar-rattle-buzz.124656/post-3112814
Sort of a squeaking bed-frame type noise? On the following page he circles the sheet metal. This is where the dealer applied fluid-film in the crevice of the spot-welded assembly to stop the noise.
The other thing it can be is the IRS suspension. Bushing noise can creep through the chassis and make it appear to be coming form inside.

 

[Vlad Soare]

Have a look at this post. Listen to the sound in the video. It is like this? https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/who-still-has-the-c-pillar-rattle-buzz.124656/post-3112814
Sort of a squeaking bed-frame type noise?

Yes, that's exactly how it sounds. I'll take a look in that area and will report back. Thanks.

 

[Vlad Soare]

In the meantime I've noticed something else about the side panels.

See those plastic clips encircled in green. There are three other places where it looks like such clips should be, but aren't.
The blue ones seem to be OK, as there are no corresponding holes in the body of the car anyway. Besides, that side of the panel will be held in place by the metallic clips along the edge.
However, the red one does have a matching hole in the body. It looks like it could use such a clip.
But I have no idea where to get one from.

Both panels look the same, and in the service manual only two clips are shown, so it's most probably done on purpose. So who knows, maybe there's no point in adding the third one.

 

[Vlad Soare]

Anyway, after inspecting every square millimeter, every fastener, every piece of wire, every spot where two things might have come into contact with each other, and doing everything that was humanly possible to isolate them all, I'm now satisfied that whatever noises still remain do not come from the C pillar or from the side panels or from the rear seats or backrests. I've also checked the third brake light; it's nice and tight.
I'm done with that part of the car; there's nothing more I can do there.

I'll move on to the trunk now.

As an aside, driving two days without those panels had an unexpected side effect. The exhaust sound was louder inside the cabin. I loved it. Now it seems too muted to me. I need to make it louder again, but I have no idea how.

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