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So since the weather changed cool, I’ve noticed a few rattles that have popped up in my car. Most notably the lighted parking notification module in the roof panel between the seats - this thing rattles while driving unless I reach up and rest my hand on it - that being said it was time to pull the panel today, fix the rattle and ensure nothing else will make noise anymore.
So for starters, when I wired my dash cam, I had an excessive amount of wire to bundle up.
I used plastic zip tie tie down pads with adhesive and strapped them to the metal roof panel with the adhesive and white zip ties as shown.
I then wrapped the wire with black cloth (landscaping cloth from garage) and then zip tied it to the tie downs making sure to leave the locking side of the zip ties towards the back of the wire bundle away from being able to touch and rattle on any metal or plastic
For the rest of the wire, I wrapped it in 2mm felt tape and gently zip tied to metal roof panel. Made sure that zip ties are snug but not too tight to compress or damage the wire
Same here, wrapped in felt tape, gently zip tied to metal roof panel. Again zip tie is snug but not tight so the wire is not damaged.
While looking at the roof panel itself, I noticed that factory they wrapped the center peg in felt tape, but not the left or right pegs?? So I wrapped them to match to ensure no chance of rattling.
Also I noticed that the factory 1mm felt tape has been pressed so tight that it is essentially plastic against the metal roof panel potentially causing rattles.
So to fix this, I placed 2mm felt tape pieces on top of all factory tape spots as they were all pressed similar showing the plastic coming through. Also I taped along the light sensor to ensure it stays in place without movement or rattling.
And finally I placed some felt tape along the support fins of plastic directly below where my wire bundle may possibly touch the panel.
I have remounted this panel for now and can confirm there are no more rattles. Hopefully this is helpful to someone else dealing with overhead rattles and helps note all the contact points while the panel is removed!
Thanks for the compliments - hopefully it helps others. When I get back I will post up the part numbers for the felt tape I used. I had to do similar in my Yukon as that thing even though brand new has panels that rattle - most all of those are now sorted too.
Any tricks to getting the trim panel off without causing any damage?
if you are talking about the overhead panel, you need to first take off the two rear triangular panels on either side of the hatch. Best thing to do is gently fold up the rubber trim and push straight down on them to pop them loose. When I did this, I did not remove these two rear trianglular panels, just popped them down
After that you can grab either rear corner of the roof panel and do the same, pull straight down, do not pull towards you as you don’t want to bend or break any plastics.
You can also pull straight down at the front of the panel towards either side of the roof screen. It’s a pretty sturdy panel compared to some other vehicles I’ve worked on.
if you are talking about the overhead panel, you need to first take off the two rear triangular panels on either side of the hatch. Best thing to do is gently fold up the rubber trim and push straight down on them to pop them loose. When I did this, I did not remove these two rear trianglular panels, just popped them down
After that you can grab either rear corner of the roof panel and do the same, pull straight down, do not pull towards you as you don’t want to bend or break any plastics.
You can also pull straight down at the front of the panel towards either side of the roof screen. It’s a pretty sturdy panel compared to some other vehicles I’ve worked on.
Yes, that's what I was referring to. Good info here, thanks.
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