Rattles and how to fix....

[darrude]

While I love the car and now understand 'lexus', and even upgraded my wife's Rav4 to an RX, Rattles seriously let it down, and are still the main annoyance that makes me want to swap the car

Thought I'd share the rattles I've fixed in the hope of helping others and maybe getting some tips for the other rattles.

1. Biggest Annoyance by far... Door seals.  Took me about 18months to diagnose this, I was convinced it was the seat belt mech that was rattling.  turns out it was the door seals, originally fixed this by cleaning the door seals in 'Nextzett Gummi Pflege Flege Car Rubber Stick Door Restorer'. However I have now put some felt tape around the door frame interface and achieved a perfect fix.
2.  Console Lower side panel front.  This rattle sounded like it was coming from just behind the steering wheel, but the console side, right at the front of the console under the dash.  I stuck some felt in this gap and the rattle has gone.
3. Door window switches.  more of a creak than a rattle, particularly on a hot day.  fixed by pushing a small slither of bluetack into the gap around the bezel.
4. Drivers side lower, knee airbag and lower trim panel.  Stuffed this entire area with foam strips, not a 100% fix yet so need another go at it, but I think the source of the issue is the lower narrow panel, so going to try and build more tension in an isolate it a bit better.  or maybe the airbag fixing.  only rattles when cold, but it is a persistent one until the car warms up.

I have another couple of rattles on the Dashboard, but have so far been unable to diagnose where they are coming from...

Please note, I'm not OCD or anything, the only car I have had in the past that has had as many rattles as this car was a Rover 25!  I've not been to the dealer about any as I don't have any close by...

I didn't have one rattle on my last car (mazda 3), so not sure if it is because the cabin is so much better isolated and hence they are more audible / not drowned out by road / engine noise), or just been unlucky and got a poorly built one (maybe a build issue at plant and it was stripped down and rebuilt?).

hope this is useful to someone.

[wharfhouse]

Useful info as I am a bit OCD on rattles and squeaks. The only one I have found on my car to date is the door seals - I have had experience of this before in my BMW 330i and at that time, like you, thought it was the seat belt mech until I found that it's a common problem on BMWs (especially the top rubbers) and cured with  gummi pflege - when I heard the same on the Lexus I knew what it was and cleaned the rubbers and applied gummi pflege and that silences it for about 6 months - in fact once the weather improves time to do mine again as I can just hear it coming back.

 

 

[ColinBarber]

I had a few creaks, buzzes, rattles on my IS300h. I would also get wind noise occasionally from door/window seal. Some of this is down to the quietness of the vehicle and being able to hear them. My previous RX and GSs have been the same, if not worse. My current GS is very good.

[bobusa]

Very happy with the door seals suggestion! This was driving me nuts and yes, it does sound like the seat belt mechanism! My solution is to just apply silicon spray on a rag and apply. I do not want to add any substance that could start to build up. Works a treat, very Lexus quiet again! It is only the right-rear door that was doing it. It happens to be the door that stays closed most of the time. The dealer looked for the rattle many times and was not able to fix. it. As a Lexus dealer you would think that noisy door seals could be common. Anyway, this is really a great forum and happy to have joined. It's also for guys like Darren sharing his experience so others can benefit. Thanks Darren!

Happy Lexus IS300h driver 

[BigChange]

And I thought it was only me.  Same problem with the driver side seal.  When the silicone spray didn't work the garage (Lexus Reading) "repacked" an area around the windows.  Don't ask me what was repacked but the noise has gone. Great service.  Now trying to puzzle out an intermittent tapping which seems to come from behind the vanity light . A light thump seems to help.  I'll get used to it I guess.

[matt8]

@darrude - Any photos to share / show what you've done and what felt you used please?

[darrude]

On 3/10/2018 at 5:32 PM, matt8 said:

@darrude - Any photos to share / show what you've done and what felt you used please?

I'll try take some pictures, at lunch (if the rain stops!), as for the tape, I used I actually got it from the shop floor at work, but if you look on eBay for 'Anti rattle tape', or 'felt tape', there are loads of identical looking tapes for the door seal fix.  

For some packing out panel gaps (console and drivers side lower), I used this foam rolled up, and 2/3mm neoprene self adhesive foam pads, again from work, but similar stuff on eBay.

[paulrnx]

Yes, I had the window seals / door issue on all three 3rd gen IS cars I've had. Had similar issues with BMWs too mind

[Thackeray]

When the weather started to warm up two or three weeks ago, I began to hear creaking from the back of my IS300h. I couldn't tell where it was coming from but it sounded like the sort of body flexing you might get in an old convertible. More of a metallic creak than anything else.

I hadn't yet got around to getting someone to ride in the back of the car to identify where it was coming from. But I remembered reading this thread a while ago and eventually I began to wonder if it could be the rear door seals, even though the sound was more like creaking metal. I hadn't got any silicone spray and I've never seen where you can get "Nextzett Gummi Pflege Flege Car Rubber Stick Door Restorer". I also thought using detergent might not be good for the rubber.

So I just wiped the rubber door seals with a damp cloth. A couple of small areas felt a bit sticky but they only needed the damp cloth to clean them up.

Result? The creaking has completely stopped. So, many thanks to all who described the creaking door seals. Two or three minutes with a damp cloth has saved me from annoying and expensive trips to a dealer. 

[Chris111]

Last summer a noise I can only describe as sounding like marbles being shaken in a cardboard box started. Took me ages to trace but turns out it was right above my head as the sunroof was responsible. It wasn't loose so I just cleaned the rubber with baby wipes. That was two months ago and the noise has not been heard since. I don't have the problem this thread describes with the door seals but it might be worth someone who has giving these a go.

[Farqui]

After a while I've found that Gummi Pflegde stuff seems to send the door seals white.

Has anyone tried silicone spray or something similar?

Which reminds me, I need to remove my tin of mints as that's the only thing that rattles now! 

[Ala Larj]

My tin of Lexus boiled sweets used to rattle but they now all seem to be stuck together. The rattle has gone though!

[Tsikoudia]

Hi darrude,

 

I too have have the same rattles.... sorted outmost except the door ones.

When you say you have put the felt tape around the door frame interface, what do you mean? I’ve got the felt tape, just need to know where it should go.

 

Thanks

[darrude]

1 hour ago, Tsikoudia said:

Hi darrude,

 

I too have have the same rattles.... sorted outmost except the door ones.

When you say you have put the felt tape around the door frame interface, what do you mean? I’ve got the felt tape, just need to know where it should go.

 

Thanks

Hi, 

I put it on the inner rubber seal interface, on the metal not the rubber, so the seal shuts of against the felt strip rather than the metal work. Hope this helps. To test if you need to do this see if cleaning the seal and I interfaces helps. I used a product recommended on here (Gummi nueflitz or something, I'll confirm if you want to go Down that route).  This sorted the seal rattles on mine for a few months.

 

I had bump last week and got a new is loan car. I had to go round the seals on this as it was driving me mad. 

Darren

[thegadgetman]

The dorr seals noise that sounds like the seatbelt mech is great info. Thank you. I have a rattle that sounds as if it's coming from the glovebox. I've tried everything and cannot get rid of it. Any ideas welcome as it's spoiling an otherwise excellent car

[ColinBarber]

2 hours ago, thegadgetman said:

I have a rattle that sounds as if it's coming from the glovebox. I've tried everything and cannot get rid of it. Any ideas welcome as it's spoiling an otherwise excellent car

If you drive with the glovebox open does the sound go away? Definitely try some silicone spray or Gummi Pflege on the passenger door seals. Noises have a habit of appearing to come from somewhere completely different to where the noise is actually being made.

[darrude]

The grey plastic wings on the console on mine started rattling last year, worse when hot, maybe try pinching them when driving, or the front door window switch pack were terrible in mine.

Last thought I ended up putting some felt tape between the small plastic moulding where the glovebox meets the centre console, maybe press around there while it's happening as well.

 

I'll second what Colin says as well. I can't believe where my hearing made me think rattles were coming from to where they actually were. I was convinced for 2 years the steering shroud or dial trim was rattling, turned out to be the lower driver's knee roll by the airbag.

 

Think I must have got a Friday car, 2nd worst car I've ever owned for rattles!

[thegadgetman]

I've tried glovebox open, empty, bit of card wedged between button and centre console. If i poke my finger in the aperture for the glovebox lock and pull it to one side it improves a little. I think it's exacerbated by a genrally quiet cabin.  As you rightly say, it might be a red herring and be from somewhere totally different. It does have a loose spring/washer metallic sort of sound, and only on bumpy roads, which unfortunately is most roads seemingly

[Pink]

On 1/22/2019 at 9:47 PM, darrude said:

I put it on the inner rubber seal interface, on the metal not the rubber, so the seal shuts of against the felt strip rather than the metal work. 

I’ve just ordered some anti-rattle felt tape to give this a try.

Does putting tape on affect the waterproofing of the car much, if the rubbers now close against the felt tape rather than the metal? 

[darrude]

Not caused any issues on mine, you can always remove. Positioned mine the same.

[bobmc]

Until recently, I had a fairly typical level of dashboard noise. Some minor dashboard creaks and rattles that seemed very dependent on ambient temperature. Some days there was hardly any dash noise at all.

However, I decided that I could make it much better by buying some rubber sealing strip and inserting it between the dash and windscreen. Once installed, the strip was pretty much invisible unless you knew it was there, and it did completely silence any of the exsiting dashboard noises. And I felt pretty pleased with myself .. for a while.

Quite soon after I'd installed this strip, I noticed a new noise and this was really unpleasant. Oh well, I thought - I'll pull the sealing strip back out and it will go back to how it was before. I'd made such a good job on installing the strip that it wasn't easy to get to and I needed to fashion some sort of hook to pull it out so it was a full week driving round with this maddening noise.

Dear reader, you will have guessed by now, that removing the rubber strip didn't make the noise go away and despite having stripped out the whole centre console, poked and prodded and done everything I can think of, it's still there.

Take a listen to the short video for an example of the noise.

My theory is that the strip has caused the vibrations to travel further and they have shaken something loose somewhere behind the instrument cluster.

The noise is so loud and irritating that I don't think I can live with it. I think I either need to find someone to fix it or the car will need to go.

 

 

[darrude]

Wow that's bad, could you have maybe partially unclipped something, I can't imagine vibrations have traveled and shaken something lose.  There is normally a sealing strip (foam) in that area any way, maybe you could have accidentally pushed this out of position. 

Can you influence the rattle by holding the dash in that area.

[bobmc]

You might have a point about dislodging something but if that is the case then it's not an easy fix.

I've had passengers in the car try holding and pushing various areas of the dash without any success. 

 

 

[Martin F]

Bob, is your car actually a third generation IS or really 12yrs old as per your post profile? 

[bobmc]

No, you caught me - it's a Gen2 IS

😚