[spoony916]

Hi,

I thought I would offer some info on this in the hope it might help somebody.

After suffering for ages with a rattle, from what sounded like the passenger side seat belt butler area, I pulled the rear door panel off last Sunday and resolved to fix it once and for all.

I had always assumed that because the butler was a moving part it would be the likeliest candidate, particularly since after installing the Alpine hi-fi upgrade kit I'd previously ensured that all cables were secured and anything that could make a noise was wrapped in tesa tape as an additional precaution .

Luckily before I went any further I noticed that the 'rubber skin' that covers the metal structure is not actually bonded. By tapping this material in several locations I was able to replicate the same noise I often heard at motorway speeds.

I think when new the foam on the back of the door card held the skin in place more firmly than it does now. I'm guessing that at speed enough air was moving through the inner voids to create a fluttering of this thin material against the metalwork and cause the tapping noise.

By applying some sound deadening sheet on top of the rubber skin it added just enough thickness to take the slack out of the fit.

After several hours on the motorway I am so happy that the rattle is now gone.

[Thermobaric]

Interesting. I think this is the same thing that has been bugging me for ages. Only it's driver side and happens when it's a bit bumpy. Did yours do it over bumps too? I would love it if the fix was that easy.

[spoony916]

Occasionally it happened at lower speeds but I always noticed it more on longer high speed runs as it became a constant rattle which started to spoil my enjoyment of the car.

[Thermobaric]

Hmm. Perhaps not the same thing then. Guess I will investigate anyway just in case.