Yeehah good bye another evil rattle

[cisco]

This particular rattle was the bain of my life for a while..

Tonight I cracked and dived into the rear of the car to play around with the hatch determined to fix it.

Turns out it was the latch thing in the hatch lock mechanism clunking and sliding against the metal loop that it latches over.

First I adjusted the metal latch loop that is bolted into the back of the car (the bit that the hatch latches onto). This needed to be lowered a fraction so that the boot was a tighter fit when shut. This reduced the amount of movement and amount of chance it had to move and rattle. But this did not remove the rattle.

Then I simply wrapped a couple of layers of electrical tape around the same loop thing. This meant that when the latch engaged over it, it was only rubbing on plastic and not metal.

GONE GONE GONE!!!

Just beautiful. I went for a drive and was over the moon. How could life be without that former rattle! This is a new car!!! YEAH YEAH YEAH. Damn those rattles crack me. Slowly but surely I'm removing them all.

I'll see how long the tape lasts, and if it wears away eventually I know to just fix it with something more permanent.

Still a couple of other rattles to fix of course. But I promise I will eventually have a rattle free vehicle. Then I will be so proud.

 

[CMF_Alex_B]

lol, i've regretted ever since the day i got two uranthane engine mounts made up due to exurberant price of replacement ones, i never had any rattles in my micra and now in last few months its like i'm getting another every few weeks. First it was the driverside mirror vibrationg like crazy, (totally useless now), then the sunroof shade rattling, then the keys started vibrating/resonating, then something in the driver door > somehow related to the window being up, then the inside review mirror , then the rear parcel tray (fixed with help on this site, little tabs that parcel tray pivots on were super loose)and now the horn/steering wheel cover cap is resonating > argh can't wait to get some rubber mounts back in there again.

the moral of the story > never get urathane engine mounts if rattles get you by the tonuge,

Alex

 

[cisco]

Yeah that's a bummer Alex. I agree. I reckon some simple mods that you can not really notice, really have some hidden downsides. My rear suspension urethane bushes somewhere (not sure which ones yet), creak like crazy.

Not sure if its the lower arm ones or the swaybar ones..

B-Crews recommend using factory engine mounts along with their "Earnest Engine Damper" haha. I'm thinking of getting one. Its like a shock absorber thing with a couple of mounts to secure itself. You mount one end on the right hand strut tower and the other end bolts up to the engine, with this little shock in between to dampen engine movement.

I don't know how much shock it transferred through to the car though.

 

[CMF_Alex_B]

Yeah i've seen those emgine dampers on ebay for popular jap cars, i think they aually mention its to dress's up the engine bay, i wonder how well the wB-Crews one works. Recently found out the nismo k11 mounts are still rubber so i'am going to get them as replacements, as my rear gearbox mount has ben split for ages.

Alex - oh reguarding the sqeaking, you just need some urathane grease, i read the whiteline stuff is the best to use maybe ask for some from them, or try and get the specification/supplier on the grease. It just looked like PTFE telfon paste to me when i fitted my gear up recently.

 

[cisco]

Well I regreased every swaybar bush with fresh rubber grease, and it made no difference. So now I'm thinking it has to be either the panhard or the lower arms!

 

[CMF_Alex_B]

Well then it seems 'racecar' performance comes with complementry 'racecar' squiking, rattling, vibrating etc...heh just be sure its not something stupid bouncing/rolling around in the boot/backseat, i remember reading a car review ages ago and the reviewer couldn't figure out what this plop-plop noise was everytime he turned a corner, he was checking under the car trying to see something that could be fouling, turned out to be a kiddies NRL mini-football his son left in the back of the car rolling around, muhahaha,

Alex

 

[CMF_NotAnotherSSS]

Cisco - if you dont like rattles, never buy an N14 pulsar!