How anal are you about your new car having rattles or just issues in general? w/poll

[redgtxdi]

So I am of the belief that the focus now is all on techology. Bluetooth, NAV, blind spot sensors, brake assist, traction control, iPod hookups, DVD players, etc. What happened to THE VEHICLE???

The car seems secondary these days. So how do you react when all that cheap plastic & thin skin start your new $30K car rattling like a diamond back in the mojave?

Do you just live with it & turn the radio up?

Do you make the dealer fix it & how many times are you willing to go back when they can't fix it because there's just too much plastic & 40 series tire goin on?

(I think I should buy a '99 Lexus LS400 for quality's sake)

 

[soccerballtux]

new car absolutely not.
Used car depends on the deal. I have rattles but got a killer deal on my car, and have fixed 3 out of the 3 rattles that originally existed, one more has popped up haven't gotten around to fixing it.

 

[MotF Bane]

New new car, the rattle must go.
New used car, I'll poke at it for a bit, but I can live with it.

 

[foghorn67]

My dearly departed Focus that was 8 yrs old didn't have one rattle. The wind noise got a tad louder, but that's it.
My new car doesn't have a rattle yet.
If one does pop up, I'll spend hours fixing it. I hate rattles.

 

[Jejunum]

ugh regarding this my 11 wrx (6k miles) has 3 terrible rattles, think the dealer will take care of it for me? (worse rattles then my 02 impreza...)

regaridng poll been living with it.

 

[Gillbot]

I've spent days in my car tracking down rattles and eliminating them. For my van though, it goes to the dealer and let them find/fix it.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

This is one of the main reasons I prefer BMW.

That being said, I like to fix them myself. I've found dealers really can't afford the time required to track them down and fix it properly.

I bought this and it works well between panels that rattle

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

 

[DVad3r]

I'm about to replace my bushings, struts, and links on my 2001 ES300, 184,000 km. I dealt with them for a few months but the rattles are fuckin annoying!

 

[SSSnail]

I'm in the group where any and all rattles are terminated with extreme prejudice. I will strike down and destroy them with great vengeance and furious anger, and they will know my name is Sssnail.

 

[exdeath]

If its just a minor rattle only when I'm on a crappy road, I don't care. If its something repetitive that manifests on smooth road, on the highway, our while idle/revving when stationary, I hunt it down.

Though my ears are more attuned to insignificant rattles and squeals in the engine bay more so than the interior. Ticks and squeals from the engine get hunted down with a vengeance the first time they are heard. Same for suspension, in fact I plan on buying a set of wireless chassis ears for that purpose. Road noise from stiff suspension and hard mounts with solid bushings and spherical joints is perfectly acceptable, as are gear whine and such to be expected from that sort of car. But noises generated by the suspension itself are unacceptable.

As long a I know what the noise is and why its there, I'm more ok with it. For example, a deep squeal I have when taking off in first I know now to merely be consequence of a metallic clutch chattering against a metallic flywheel surface, only from a stop where there is a relative speed difference between the clutch and flywheel.

A simple consequence of using a high performance clutch in a street car where it gets slipped quite a bit in daily use and not doing enough clutch dumps to break the glaze of the flywheel :awe: I'm ok with that, clutch is a disposable wear item and it doesn't affect anything. Doing what I've done to a car, you can't realistically expect it to drive like a Caddy/BMW anyway.

 

[DietDrThunder]

I got to drive a fully loaded 2012 Cadillac SRX loaner with less than 1,000 miles on the odometer for 6 weeks while the dealership got all the squeeks and rattles taken care of on our 2009 CTS. I'm very happy now but I bet the dealership is glad to be rid of me. What is funny is that my neighbors thought we bought a 2nd Cadillac.

 

[redgtxdi]

Hunt, destroy, strike down, furious anger.........I like all of this!

I've heard lots of good things about the felt tape but can't say I've used it myself.

This is one of the main reasons I prefer BMW.

That being said, I like to fix them myself. I've found dealers really can't afford the time required to track them down and fix it properly.
[/URL]

I don't understand the BMW comment. You think they come with less rattles?? Or you think their dealerships handle fixing them better??

And, yes, I agree that dealers are not usually good at fixing them. However, I once found the right "person" who could properly diagnose, properly repair and properly reassess.....unfortunately it was a watercraft repair person so no help for vehicles.

 

[exdeath]

Yeah BMW isn't immune to noises. Heh the E46 M3 is notorious for it's share of clunks and noises, all normal typical things in a tightly hung performance car with beefy clunky parts like the Getrag 6 speed, etc. Piston slap and valve train noise when cold to allow for expansion to tight clearances at operating temp, gear noise, drive shaft and rear end clunking from an aggressive clutch, road noise, etc, all normal.

To paraphrase someone on this forum, it sounds like a farm tractor when it's cold out

Stick with a 325i with 60+ series sidewalls if you want quiet.

 

[I Saw OJ]

I've owned my share of GM vehicles so I'm used to rattles.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I lived with it for my old Cavalier, but I get a bit anal about it in the LS.

 

[pandemonium]

Absolutely unacceptable for a brand new car, even with a few hundred miles on it. Acceptable only from a car that's 6+ years old, modified, and with 90k+ miles on it. :whiste:

I've learned to just accept it and turn up the radio. Though, it does bother me more when I have passengers in the car. Especially my exhaust heat shield rattle. Just another minute detail to the long list that I'll "get around to fixing one day when it's perfect weather outside and I have an itch to get all dirty."

 

[Doppel]

I said deal, but it counts on the car. I have a tiny bandaid wrapper squishing a piece of plastic on my new whip and it's fine. I could have brought it in but fixed myself.

 

[satyajitmenon]

I'm in the group where any and all rattles are terminated with extreme prejudice. I will strike down and destroy them with great vengeance and furious anger, and they will know my name is Sssnail.

lol. This.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

BMWs are typically built better and less prone to rattles over time. The panels clamp together better, with more clips, and the plastic they use is thicker with more sound deadening... And not just compared to corollas and camrys either.

That's not to say every other car will rattle or whatever, but compared to other performance-oriented cars I'd go with the BMW if you care about that stuff. Audi isn't terrible, Lexus is great, but infiniti and the rest could take a few lessons

Of course any car can be made to not rattle, this is more of a generalization.

 

[Zap]

My Mazdaspeed 6 has a squeaky rattle where the center consoles join (right underneath climate control buttons). It only makes noise on certain roads, so I just deal with it. Usually doesn't make any noise.

ugh regarding this my 11 wrx (6k miles) has 3 terrible rattles

I don't think my wife's has any rattles. 2011 WRX with roughly 15k miles.

I bought this and it works well between panels that rattle

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

Interesting. Might have to keep it in mind in case of future rattles.

 

[manimal]

After I sold my old fox body mustang I swore I would never buy a car that made that much noise. That thing made so many noises and creaks that I swear I could hear the car having asthma attacks...

Well you could compare the old 5.0 stock intake setup to an asthmatic I guess..

Even my 20 year old Porsche is tight and rattle free. My Z will soon be.

 

[exdeath]

If you can hear the interior of a Fox over the fuel pumps, let alone exhaust, you're doing it wrong

 

[manimal]

If you can hear the interior of a Fox over the fuel pumps, let alone exhaust, you're doing it wrong

The fuel pumps made me deaf in that particular part of the sound spectrum.


Every time I would go over a set of railroad tracks there were aftershocks for like 2-3 seconds in the suspension...never mind actual sporting cornering.

 

[alkemyst]

Mechanical noises are fine, rattles and crap are not. I take care of them right away.

 

[Thegonagle]

Not unless it's really bad. I'd rather the service guys not hate seeing my face every time I come in for an oil change. I don't want to be that guy. You know, that guy, who's an anal retentive jerk that can't be satisfied, and is therefore given worse service than average in hopes that he'll become some other service department's nightmare.