Hello All!

Just got my 2005 A6 4.2 and have been driving for a couple of days. It had around 15k miles on it already but otherwise in mint condition.

Yesterday noticed a very strange thing that I didn't notice before.

The car has been standing outside the whole day at around -4 C. In the evening decided to take it out for a spin. Got in, started driving (the car being still 'cold' inside). No significant inside interior noise yet. Stopped to put in some gas. Drove off the gas station and was driving on the road which is just a little rough. I wouldn't call it bumpy, it was just a patch of uneven pavement just like ripples on the beach sand.

And at this very moment i heard absolutely terrible "plastic rattle" from what seemed everywhere. Especially it was strong from overhead console and front area right below the windshield. It's like it felt every ripple under the wheel and it wasn't that loud but it came from everywhere as if the interior is falling apart.

Now is the most curious part. This happened when the car warmed up just a little bit to around 3-7 C inside. In around 2 min of driving the interior warmed up a little more and all this noise suddenly disappeared!!! I drove for another hour and there were no suspicious noise whatsoever.

Another thing - I have 18 inch alloy wheels and NO sport suspension. The ride is still pretty hard compared to the Chrysler that I had previously, but to all those that choosing regular vs sports suspension and live in NYC or close to it some advise - DO NOT install sport suspension, and even go with regular wheels if you don't mind.

Can anyone tell me what this noise is all about. I am scared a little here - having paid some money for the car this is really not what I expected. Never had this problem with my cheapy chrysler ever.

I test drove the car twice before I bought it - didn't hear this noise. It was kept in the garage though... Never out in the cold - may be that is why...

May be the plastic / wood that the interior is made of gets 'squeaky' at certain temperature? Does this happen to anyone else? Is this normal?

May be previous owner was driving on rough roads a lot and got it all loosen up?

One friend of mine - proud Honda Accord owner has similar experience with his interior. Is it common?

Great car otherwise. Everything seem to work ok.

P.S.: If anyone knows any postings / articles / links on the subj, pls post them here in reply.

This is pretty common as plastics, wood, metal, etc contract and expand with temperature. Ironically, stiffer cars tend to have more rattles. Be thankful that you have no rattles under most circumstances. I still have a squeaky third brakelight housing and glovebox door I need to get my dealer to fix.

It is definitely not wiring. It is this plastic 'squeaking' - which is not very loud - not loud enough to be a wire, or glove compartment squeak. It is plastic frictioning against other plastic in a lot of places. It is not very loud - but it comes from everywhere (almost).

I think wire kicking something else would produce more noise in less places...

May be i am not using the right english word for 'rattle'...

The strange thing is that it almost disappears as the car warms up! I can't even demonstrate it to the dealer really well... By the time I am there it is already warmed up and ok (almost no noises beyond what I would consider normal).

Just curious... :-)

The problem may be if you build a car to be absolutely silent at -7C inside, it may tighten up so much at normal temps 15-21C/59-70F, that panels, glove box, ashtray, etc. won't open or if open won't close.

I once had a car that when extremely hot inside, the steering wheel would rub its housing and cause a moaning sound.

If it is a relatively low volume non-specific rattle and only when cold inside, you may not be able to find it, much less fix it.

maybe I'm just expecting perfection from it and am being too picky...but it seems to rattle more than my wife's TL, which is a cheaper car...

Problem with the rattle, like everyone above knows, is that it is finicky...sometimes present, sometimes not. I cannot reliably produce it or narrow down where it comes from so as to get the dealer to fix...

I've had to resort to that in the past when I had a recurring problem only on cold starts. Of course I had to leave specific instructions to have the car hooked up to test equipment before starting, since the symptoms would go away within about a minute of starting.

Yes. Mine came with a rattle in the third brake light housing... dealer fixed it, and now my car is rattle-free. (Knocking wood).

--Phil

i had something similar to this in my 98. running the defrost for a minute or two fixed it. interface of glass and housing materials i suspecet.

my 06, 4.2 had a loose vacum pump deep in the cowl that made a VERY subtle, yet to me mind bending, vibrating metallic rattle on small bumps. fixed it the third time in, interior rattles can sometimes come from the outside.

someone in a much earlier post mentioned an audi part # that is used to go between the dash material and the heater vents to stop a rattle in the cabin.

is anyone free from sunroof rattles?

But it doesn't happen all the time.

my 05 a-6 had these decribed rattles in rear roof lining see my many posts or do a search under interior noise. car has many and dealer padded with felt some of them found areas of unfinised insulation etc..

Apart from the "overall plastic rattle" sunroof actually seems to be 'quiet'. How do you hear sunroof rattle: open / half-open / closed, cold / medium / hot weather, humid / medium / dry?

I could experiment with mine to let you know if it happens to me too

wow - they actually missed some padding in interior - that is unheard of...

I am also kind of afraid to go to the dealer and ask to fix rattles... You know, it seems to me that this is not 'much of a concern' to them - they will show they care, but they really don't. And I think they will possibly introduce even more breakage / rattale by screwing / unscrewing the interior all the time and will break / forget something - which will make it even worse...

Who can do better than factory? Can anyone share positive / negative experience with subtle rattle elimination by dealer (I am not talking about 'real' rattle that is caused something like vacuum pump letting loose or something - because that is easy to identify (maybe) and check if fixed...)

All,

It has been a week that I have been driving the car and I am to some extent pleased to notice that it wasn't so bad 'rattling from everywhere' anymore. Some might note I just got used to it :-) sorry to disappoint - that is not the case. I think it hasn't been that cold since then and I just didn't chance to catch that rough pavement patch at the right moment for that much rattle.

Car squeaks now and then, but no more than I would consider normal. I am not loosing my vigilance though and will talk to the dealer guys should I come across a decent mechanic.

SIR it rattles any time that the inside curtian is pushed back. Not too badly though, so I am waiting to see if it stops in warmer weather, what is your longitude and latitude?

and is still there! Very frustrating...

Drove mine with inside curtain pushed back all the way. There is only 'usual' rattle (i.e. on bumps). Nothing that I would describe as 'shouldn't be happening'.

P.S.: I happily reside in the borough of Westchester, NY.

It was apparently the cupholder door tapping against a plastic cup I had brought along, since when I pulled the cup out the rattle went away. I replaced the cup in the holder and the rattle returned, but less dramatically. Moving the cup slightly so that the door wasn't touching it, the rattle went away completely.

The truly amazing thing was, when I first heard the rattle it sounded as though it were coming from the dash. I couldn't localize the sound, so I just started checking around until I realized the cup was the culprit, but not the car.

In the first cupholder I have a kind of 'insert' that (what I think it is for) can be put out and easily washed. This one gave me a couple of micro-heart-attacks selectively rattling with plastic and glass cups. But now that I got used to it I can distinguish this rattle source among others.

The question that bothers me though is that this insert itself doesn't hold the cup as well as the original cup holder without it because it doesn't have those rubber 'holders'. I am not even shure should I use this insert or not...

Do you have one?

The cupholder under the armrest is the hard plastic one and I don't use it unless with a passenger.