is there any way to get the panels to stop rattling short of removing them? i have 2 subs in the back and the panel rattle is crazy u can hear them rattle over the music.

Need to pull them and replace the busted clips.

 

Wait until it's warm if you can, the panel will come off much easier with fewer busted clips.

i think some of the rattle is coming from the roof support beams. how bad would it be to use some spray foam between the roof and support beams so they cannot make contact?

IF the rattle is at the roof support beams (they are supposed to be glued/spot welded in) you would be better off using something like the black windshield adhesive (in warmer weather, of course)

 

the spray foam stuff may work for a short time, but will eventually get compressed enough that you will be right back where you started with the need to clean up the foam before you can use anything else to properly fix the problem.

so i pulled the rear panel off and believe most of my rattle is the rear hatch its self. what can i do to make the hatch not rattle so much?

Lots of rattles come from the license plate. 3m foam tape works well to keep the LP from rattling against the tailgate.

 

The best thing to keep rattles down is sound deadening material like dynamat. But that stuff is expensive. Look on some of the car audio forums because there are cheaper alternatives that can be ordered. I read a long time ago about this stuff people were using from the roofing section at the hardware store. I thought about trying some but never could find it locally. Only thing I could find was stick on flashing kinda stuff and it smelled like tar. I figured the whole car would smell like that after a day in the hot sun so I never bothered. But one roll of the stuff was like $20 and there was probably enough to do the whole car.

Instead of pulling them off, throw a self tapping sheetmetal screw in every 6-8" across the sides and bottom and ditch the clips.

I run a lot of washboard roads, and thats the only thing that shuts them up.

Instead of pulling them off, throw a self tapping sheetmetal screw in every 6-8" across the sides and bottom and ditch the clips.

I run a lot of washboard roads, and thats the only thing that shuts them up.

 

 

what i mean is the rattle is still coming from the rear hatch even without the panels attached. ive banged on the hatch with my palm and can hear a metallic reverberation/rattle sound that comes from what seems like the flat exterior metal on the hatch its self i have all 4 screws in my license plate and can confirm the plate its self is not the rattle.

I wonder if an application of relatively thick grease to the mechanism would simmer it down any.

 

Could it be that the complete hatch itself is rattling?

If so, wrap some electrical tape around the metal 'loop' that the latch mechanism locks on to.

Open the hatch and bang away. Do you still have the sound? If not, do as forrester2002s suggests and wrap some tape around the latch bar on the body of the car. If there is still noise with the hatch open (and you have the interior panels off to see inside the hatch) then check to see if the actuator bars for the lock mechanism aren't the source of your rattle. You can slit open a thin rubber tube and slide it over the rod if that is the case. Get someone to do the banging while you are poking around. Those bars were my problem in the past.

Edited February 23, 201511 yr by brus brother