bob2011

Hi everybody, as you can see be the title i have an annoying rattle coming from the roof liner on the right side, i have taken it in atleast 7 times and all the mechanics say is: its normal, or they cant hear it at all. my car is 7 miles from hitting the 50,000 mile mark and it is currently in the shop and i have to go pick it up today for the same ratting, but i doubt they fixed it, but anyway my question is, if the rattle is still there what should i do at this point? what should i say? I'm sick and tired of this rattle and the mechanics dont seem to want to be anything about it.

lsp85

Have them check the rear window blind. Mine was rattling and they put felt on it. Also the panel between the roof edge and rear windshield is a problematic area. Good luck as these rattles SUCK!

Arrie

Sounds like mine.

1. Make sure it is the roof liner. I had this problem, a kind of "soft tapping" rattle. I could stop it if I pressed on the roof liner on right side of the panel right where the end of the passenger sun visor is.

The fix: I took the control panel loose enough to pry it down and there is a plastic band across hanging on a retainer. This band is support for the roof liner. I put foam between the plastic band and the steel bracket and voila, the rattle is gone.

2. Make sure it is not the passenger seat head rest. After fixing the main problem, the roof liner rattle, I started to hear something very similar but faint. It turned out to be the passenger seat head rest. This I have not fixed yet as it is very minor compared to the roof liner thing.

You could ask the mechanics to take the roof control panel down and see if they can duplicate the noise by gently pushing the liner up and letting it down. It is very easy to add foam there. For them it should be easy to remove the control panel and do this. For me it was very hard to first move the mirror mount and even harder to move the mirror mount back. The control panel opens easy with a credit card or something similar.

And how to deal with them...I hope your complaints about this rattle have been recorded as even if your warranty goes over they still owe you to fix it as they obviously did not while it was under warranty.

Hope this helps.

bob2011

They checked the rear sunshade but OF COURSE they did not hear anything but when i got home from the dealer yesterday the rattle was still there, But i wasn't surprised, they haven't been able to fix it the last 30 times.

bob2011

Thanks for the input, I did tell them to check the roof liner and like the great mechanics they are, they could not hear anything. So when i went to go pick the car up yesterday, i was surprised to hear that they did work on the C pillar, So for a brief moment i thought to myself, OH MY GOD THEY MIGHT HAVE FIXED THE PROBLEM. Buuuuuttttt as usual i was wrong, the roof liner still makes the damn annoying rattling noise and now it seems the mechanics took off the rear speaker cover to do whatever they needed to do, And now there is an annoying buzzing sound coming from the rear of the car. You, know what, Now that i realize, the whole car seems to be rattling, behind the speedometer, the middle of the dash, And the passenger side of the dash. It seems like my car came out worse then it went in,OH and to top it all off, when i tried to raise my sunshade yesterday, it would not go up, it would go up halfway and stop. Luckily i was still in the premises of the dealer and showed my service adviser and he said he would order another one. But if i go back and tell them that they have caused more rattles then it came in with, would they try to fix them, or are they going to give me the royal screw job, And tell me my warranty is up and they cant do anything at this point? what should i do, im sick and tired of the dealer never responding to my input.

Arrie

...behind the speedometer...

The rattle around the cluster I could almost bet is the same as I had in both of my E's. If you look at the plastic lining around the cluster it hangs loose very slightly on the left side. Right side is tight but left side is not. I have seen this in every W212 that I have sit in, about 6 of them.

This plastic rattles sometimes and when it does it is easy to stop by just pressing on it against the mating surface. Two sided tape can fix this.

This is amazing parts error from MB as if you look at the dash around the cluster the left side above the gauges is clearly higher than right side. This takes the material away from the plastic liner inside and creates the gap between the parts. Seems like the dash is not screwed down properly in this area?

thekurgan

A-pillar bolts come lose behind the cover. Both of my bolts practically fell out after I removed the a pillar cover. I used loctite blue, solved.

bob2011

The left side seems just as tight as the right side? could it be something else?

bob2011

Is there any way i can open up the A piller at home?

thekurgan

sure, remove the airbag cover, it is just a snap-in. Behind that you'll see bolts, I believe 8mm or 10mm is the socket size. You don't even need to remove the pillar covers if those bolts are the issue. I did find that using automotive felt on all the metal areas under that cover made a world of difference. Plastic-on-metal does make noise.

bob2011

I will give it a try! hopefully i dont break anything though......

thekurgan

I think if you lightly tap on the A pillar(s) with your fingers, that may be the tell tail if these are the cause. I was shocked the bolts were just that loose, but you won't be tearing the entire pillar down if the bolts are your cause. I decided to felt anything under the pillars as a precaution, as the A pillar is a major source of acoustic noise in this car.