Write Up:

A Few days ago I heard a light rattle when going over small bumps coming from my right rear area. I thought something in a door pocket was loose or in the glove box, I was wrong. I started tapping around with my hand and when I tapped the headliner just behind the front passenger seat the rattle became more pronounced.

I noticed that the rattle would go away when I fully opened my sunroof (non-tilt). If I tilted up or left it closed, the rattle was very obvious. It was hard to find the source for a few days and it was driving me crazy. The more I tapped the louder it seemed to be getting over the next couple of days and I was making it worse by tapping so much. This med me to believe there was either a loose screw coming looser as I tapped, or a bad weld that was coming apart.

Finally I had a passenger in my rear seat that swore it was loudest by the handle she was holding. When I had time to jump back there, she was right. I knew I was getting close.

I decided to keep digging deeper so I pulled off the Handle:



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I stuck my finger in there (that's what she said) and i felt some vibration while tapping. I then inserted a screw driver to poke around as I kept tapping, lo and behold I found a piece of metal that was vibrating!! If I UP pressure on it, the vibration would stop.

Now, the problem is there is very little access with this tiny hole. So with one hand I had to pull down as much as possible and with the other, look around as best as i could with a flashlight. As I kept tapping and looking, a screw finally came out and landed on me.



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I was both happy and sad. I was happy I found the problem, but sad as to how I was going to get it back up there. You see, from the only access point to work from and the actual spot the screw had to go was very off set and hard to work with



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I tried all different types of tools and other methods of trying to screw it back in from and offset and odd angle with only about 1 inch vertical clearance, it wasn't easy.



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I was going at this for about 2 hours with no luck and getting VERY VERY frustrated.

I KNEW that I was not about to pull down the whole headliner for one damn screw so I knew there had to be an easier way.

After much going back and forth and thinking of the pros and cons, I finally just did it, I poked through the headliner. I know this may not be for the faint of heart, but I was frustrated and wanted to finish this simple job already.



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Before poking through, I made sure of two things

1. I chose a location that will be covered by the handle when the handle is up against the headliner.

2. I used a very sharp blade to first cut through the material a bit as so the screw driver doesn't stretch it as it pokes through.

Once I poked through, I got it perfectly where I used my left hand to kind of hold the screw where it belongs and the other hand to force the screwdriver though.They met up and I screwed it in as normal.

Only difference is that I used some THREAD LOCKER to assure that I would not have to do this again. Why the Factory DID NOT use thread lock is beyond me and really stupid.

Some other photo's.

Diagram's of the problem area:



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Size of Hole after complete:



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Hole Not Visible when handle re-installed



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NOTE: I used a bit of hot glue to fill the hole and assure that over time, the material does not begin to unravel or start tearing off around the hole.

When I have time I may do something to make it look a bit nicer, but in no rush since the hole is tiny and not visible.

Hope this helps!

My car now sounds rattle free and tight once again!! (For now) lol.

 

^^ WOW, awesome find!

I think I would have taken down the headliner though; at least loosened that side of it anyway. But anyway, you got it done, which is great. Perhaps now you might be able to find a small plastic 'plug' to go into that hole and make for a more pleasing and natural looking appearance. I'm sure if you looked around you could find them in a similar color to your headliner and then hotglue that in/over that hole if it won't penetrate deep enough to grip..

http://www.autobodysupplies.com/Plas...dy%20clips.htm

 

Yea, I tried pulling and tugging at the headliner just on that side of the car, but it wasnt budging and I was getting frustrated. I'm sure someone else will probably do it better than I did, but I least I can show people where the problem area is.


As far as the hole, we are thinking along the same lines. when I get a chance I'm going to head to autozone/strauss auto and get me one of these plugs in a similar color to the headliner.

Something like this:



They have several types last I passed through that aisle. If not I will utilize the link you provided!
Thanks

 

Absolutely, you have probably saved quite a few people hours of aggravation!

I didn't mean to advocate the use of that link (they could be crooks for all I know), I just can never remember what to call them so I included the pic just as a demonstration. I know some are particularly made with a very thin tapered edge on the surface instead of the thick and clubby edge found on others. With a little careful selection, I'm sure you can make it look as if they all came that way.

 

Well I tried my best, tell me what you think?

I went to autozone and purchased a 3-pack of perfectly sized platic rivets/fastners. They only came in black so I went to the spray paint aisle and found a nice can of almond color plastic spray paint.

I gave the top of the rivet a few coats of the almond spray and an hour later it looked pretty good.

I went to the car and fired up the hot glue gun. Once the gun was hot I inserted the tip into the hole I made to re-melt the glue I put in there yesterday. Once it started getting soft I pushed in the newly painted plastic fastener and it fit like a glove

Now the hot glue hardened up around it and it should be there nice and tight.

How does it look? It looks a bit lighter than the rest of the plastic due mainly to the flash, but to the naked eye, I got the coloring spot on. Looks 100% OEM.



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As a reminder, this new rivet can't even be seen unless someone pulls down the handle, it is still invisible while the handle is up against the ceiling.

I'm very happy with the results.

 

You did it, looks excellent! Looks just like they all came that way.

 

sweet jebus this problem came back after my warranty has just expired! argh,.... its driving me nuts!

 

Thanks for the writeup (late but still useful).

I'm experiencing the rattle right now, but now I'm going to probably have to hit both sides just to be sure. Not poking through though, I can't bear to do that.

 

I just purchased a G35 coupe a week ago and noticed this issue when going over bumps. I'm unable to view the ImageShack pictures since they might not exist anymore. Can someone refer me to another thread where someone solved this issue? Feel free to reply or PM me. THANKS

 

I too am having this same problem. Could I also get the images, or DJHuesway, could you send them my way?

 

I have come across this as the top post on google when I look for g35 sunroof rattle. I'm surprised nobody has fixed it yet. I have two distinct rattles.

One sounds like the sunroof and visor rattling when the visor is open but glass is closed.

The other is coming from the front driver side of the actual sunroof assembly. If you push your finger underneath the wind deflector from outside the car, you can feel where the sunroof assembly almost meets the metal of the roof (sunroof assembly is black). If i stick my finger in the opening there the noise stops. I will be putting foam there tomorrow and if it works I will post a write up!

The other one, I may have to drop the headliner, but I have had luck in my old car putting a really soft foam on the top of the visor part and it works until the foam wears out.

 

Scroll up, it was fixed

 

I have a coupe, there is np rear seat handle, thus not fixed.

The small plastic piece that meets the headliner covering the rear view mirror wires also comes loose!

 

There's another thread around here, maybe even a TSB about it. I've been on this site a while, threads get jumbled in my brain, lol.

The proper way to fix this is to remove the headliner, and re-tighten all of the sun roof bolts, and use a bit of lock-tite to prevent them from coming loose again.

 

**** I was hoping to avoid that. It was a nightmare dropping the headliner in my 240, like a full day job.