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A-pillar rattle/buzz... Finally fixed!

zero10

Ready to race!
HAha im a bit apprehensive about RE-attaching the clips and pillar. =D There is no step by step for that and im half retarded when it comes working on cars. Great with computers, not with cars...

Mine is real bad. right hand side pillar, super rattley over any kind of bump or road markers.

Fair point - that part is not covered. I was hoping with the trim out of the way I could free the clips from the sheet metal and re-install them on the plastic trim, then press the whole thing back in place. I just blindly assumed that's how the car would have been put together in the first place - maybe that's not right?

Mine only rattles on certain roads and certain times under certain temperatures, which of course makes me much crazier about it because I know the dealership will never be able to duplicate it so it'l haunt me forever unless I fix it myself.
 

ReadTheBook

Autocross Newbie
Location
Bay Area Smoke Hell
Car(s)
DVP Spektrm, MK4 R32
I just wanted to say THANKS! I have had a rattle coming from near the speaker of the passenger side a-pillar and had given up looking for disassembly pictures of the a-pillar when I stumbled on this thread and it's excellent pictorial guide!

The local dealership has straight up said they hate chasing rattles and don't want to do it, but agree they will if I "really want them to".... not the attitude I want from the techs who would be pulling interior pieces out so I figured I would just chase the noise myself. Should be an easy fix with this guide!

Now if only somebody had a guide for fixing the rattling noise when I set the vent selector knob to floor/defrost and have the fan between 2 and 4 :)

You are welcome. This one was by FAR my most annoying rattle.

HAha im a bit apprehensive about RE-attaching the clips and pillar. =D There is no step by step for that and im half retarded when it comes working on cars. Great with computers, not with cars...

Mine is real bad. right hand side pillar, super rattley over any kind of bump or road markers.

Basically you just start from the bottom. You’ll see how you have to twist the trim to get it out. Just reverse that twist. It’s pretyy flexible stuff. Then once you’re lined up just push and pop the clips back in.

Fair point - that part is not covered. I was hoping with the trim out of the way I could free the clips from the sheet metal and re-install them on the plastic trim, then press the whole thing back in place. I just blindly assumed that's how the car would have been put together in the first place - maybe that's not right?

Mine only rattles on certain roads and certain times under certain temperatures, which of course makes me much crazier about it because I know the dealership will never be able to duplicate it so it'l haunt me forever unless I fix it myself.

You def want to put the clips back on the plastic.
 

demi9od

Drag Race Newbie
Location
NC
This just became priority number one after getting lowered LOL. It's sounds like its coming from the speaker area, but my GF thinks its the black pillar between the window and triangle window. Rattles/buzzes over most bumps.
 

nype

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
Lol. Funny I have an appt w dealership on Monday for a few things. This is one of them. Have asked to have this info forwarded to svc advisor.
 

ReadTheBook

Autocross Newbie
Location
Bay Area Smoke Hell
Car(s)
DVP Spektrm, MK4 R32
This just became priority number one after getting lowered LOL. It's sounds like its coming from the speaker area, but my GF thinks its the black pillar between the window and triangle window. Rattles/buzzes over most bumps.

It is probably the trim itself rattling against the a pillar. Not the plastic triangle part. I thought it was that at first too, but it was def the whole pillar trim.

Lol. Funny I have an appt w dealership on Monday for a few things. This is one of them. Have asked to have this info forwarded to svc advisor.

Hope it helps. I’m going on 17 months of ownership and not one buzz/rattle issue there since I did this.
 

nype

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
Svc Advisor did say today that rattles etc only covered for 1 year / 20k KMs. Car is 2.5 years old now.

Not sure how much they will dig into it on Monday. Your DIY may get my attention if they don’t spend any time on it.
 

nype

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Vancouver, B.C.
Thanks to you @ReadTheBook, once again for posting this DIY fix. Dealership visit today. As I said earlier, they said rattles were no longer covered, and even noted that being lowered might be contributing to the issue. But, because I had your video and pics written down when I went in, they had a look and decided they’d give it a go.

Charged me 1 hour labour and a few bucks for supplies. Fixed! No more rattling. I wish I hadn’t sat on this for so long.

The tech even emailed me some pics of the work he did. Thanks again OP!







 

ReadTheBook

Autocross Newbie
Location
Bay Area Smoke Hell
Car(s)
DVP Spektrm, MK4 R32
Thanks to you @ReadTheBook, once again for posting this DIY fix. Dealership visit today. As I said earlier, they said rattles were no longer covered, and even noted that being lowered might be contributing to the issue. But, because I had your video and pics written down when I went in, they had a look and decided they’d give it a go.

Charged me 1 hour labour and a few bucks for supplies. Fixed! No more rattling. I wish I hadn’t sat on this for so long.

The tech even emailed me some pics of the work he did. Thanks again OP!

Glad it worked out. What does the dealer get for an hour of labor? It’s shocking they don’t know about these things, I’ve owned 3 MK7s at this point between my wife and I and they all have had this buzz.
 

ReadTheBook

Autocross Newbie
Location
Bay Area Smoke Hell
Car(s)
DVP Spektrm, MK4 R32

demi9od

Drag Race Newbie
Location
NC
Did this over the weekend. Could not get the base of the A-pillar cover to separate from the dash area. Maybe I missed something? Regardless, I was able to apply the necessary felt tape along the edges of the cover and around the circular clip slot, and the rattle is gone. The metal clips that I slid out to separate the cover from the pillar were a bit of a pain to get out of the frame with the cover still sort of bent out of the way, but it all went back together OK. Wouldn't kill me to order some more of those clips though, anyone have a part number?
 

ReadTheBook

Autocross Newbie
Location
Bay Area Smoke Hell
Car(s)
DVP Spektrm, MK4 R32
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