E39 rattling

[rick540]

Now don't get me wrong I worship the ground my E39 drives on, but man this car is begining to rattle and creak to an anoying extent.

It's not one thing, seems to be everything, the seats, the door linings especially, every single bump produces a sound, the low profile tires giving a harder ride do not help.

I know the door rubbers are a known issue with these cars causing creaking noises. If I or a passenger pushes down on an armrest it sounds like an old rusty door hinge.

I am going to use what is left of my leave and sort this stuff out, I can't stand it anymore. I'll start by getting new door rubbers, strip all four door linings and find the culprits and remove the seats and tighten every single bolt.

Hopefully I will get rid of all the rattles, fortunately the dash has not given any issue so I can skip that.

Will post some pictures as a tutorial here as I go through the thing.

 

[SecondSkynz]

know what u mean, driving me crazy as well :argh:

 

[whattingh]

Might be silly question but when last did you check all your suspension bushing and joints. IF bit worn could cause extra vibrations on the car which helps rattles on.


Just a thought.

 

[///MALCOLM325]

I felt alot of vibrations with the old Dunlop tyres on, wasn't balanced or aligned properly and got flat spots all over - this caused some rattles here and there, with the new Hankooks, some of the creaks has gone away.

I wish these cars had some sort of sponge on every movable part...instead of the brittle rubber inserts all over!! :nonono:

 

[Fordkoppie]

I feel your pain
The M3 is also driving my insane with its few rattles that i just cant shed

 

[Roundal]

My front left seat rattles when not occupied and you go over a bump. Those door rubbers will cost a few $$$, but once they are done, will be ok for a few years. I found the installation of the door rubber on the body to be one of the most horrid jobs I have done on my BMW - difficult to get it to fit properly. Took me about 3 or 4 attempts to get it right.

 

[///MALCOLM325]

My front left seat rattles when not occupied and you go over a bump. Those door rubbers will cost a few $$$, but once they are done, will be ok for a few years. I found the installation of the door rubber on the body to be one of the most horrid jobs I have done on my BMW - difficult to get it to fit properly. Took me about 3 or 4 attempts to get it right.

+1 ..... on my 528, I used alot of profanity to get the fit right ...

 

[P1000]

Okay, I fortunately have no idea what you mean by rattles, but I do have an issue with my seat moving slightly when cornering. I need to check if I can get that sorted. Anybody done it before?

 

[rick540]

Okay, I fortunately have no idea what you mean by rattles, but I do have an issue with my seat moving slightly when cornering. I need to check if I can get that sorted. Anybody done it before?

Yep, the seat has nylon inserts in the rail runners. get some new ones, replace and all will be good.

Just sell it before 250K and you will never know what I am moaning about.

 

[P1000]

Yep, the seat has nylon inserts in the rail runners. get some new ones, replace and all will be good.

Just sell it before 250K and you will never know what I am moaning about.

LOL, I bought the car with more than 250k on, now at 280k+ with lots of the first 250k being gravel roads in the Freestate...

Thanks for the headsup on the Nylon, I figured it was the rail runners that are the problem, just haven't gotten around to actually do anything about it.

 

[VictorMike]

Fantastic thread.

I have 2 rattles that annoy me.

1 is the sunroof, does anyone know of any guides on the net on how to sort this out?

2 is the driver seat. Its not so much a rattle as a slight clunk. Happens when I go into a bend / corner slightly too fast. I weight about 100kg. Can this be resolved with the above mentioned nylon inserts, or do I need to hit the gym?

Did some googling: Sunroof rattles solution:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1109397

 

[osiris]

Hmmm I drive an E39 and out of all the different BMW's ive owned its the most pleasurable non rattle car ive ever driven. I have never heard a rattle come from this car before no matter what I drive over its solid as a titanium rock its awsome.

Cars that rattled like shit was my Box shape, god that thing was noisy, then the worst car ive ever had that rattled the most was my piece of shit Soft top 325 cabriolet. I will never ever ever buy a soft top car ever again! that is a rattle wagon of note, and if its not rattling its making wierd noises at high speed because of the wind playing on the soft shit roof.

One thing that can cause allot of rattling is the little plastic clips that Hold your door pannels on, most places that fit sound into your car dont take much care when pulling your dooor pannels off and break half of these clips and dont fit your door pannel back properly, you will know if they are broken by closing your door and it feels like an old shit car, it should be a nice solid single sound when you close the door of your car.

My convertable had this problem, because the door pannels were fitted incorrectly, when you closed the doors it made lots of rattles and sounded like the windos glass was hitting against shit inside the door, was very annoying, when I took the door appart i noticed that allot of nuts and bolts that held all the inner parts of the door had come loose over time, I tightened them all and no more door rattles.

Hope that helps.

 

[Raybimmer]

+1
those door panel clips cost about R2.50 each from stealer - cheaper than Midas .