How to get rid of the stereo dash rattle

M

my3needsaname

I noticed recently that as I drove along my dashboard sounded as if I had some "plastic on plastic" action, kind of like a creaking coming from near the center. I pushed on spots that I noticed were "creaking" from where the rattle was coming from and it seemed to be centralized around the clock, info/set, and stereo input selection buttons. (my faulty head unit...gotta love that BASS cutting out)

You will need:
gentle hands
a phillips head screw driver

Here's the "quick" fix:
1) Take off the black/aluminum looking trim piece running across the dash at the LCD screen height. Start from the center of the glovebox as there's a hook instead of a clip at the far right, pull on the trim piece firmly (without breaking it) and the two plastic clips will pop off rather easily, there's a metal clip to the left and right of the screen, once you have the right metal hook off you should be able to bend the piece enough to take out the hook on the far right and gently but firmly wiggle around the left side of the trim piece to pop it right off.*

2) You will notice a set of screws tying into the top of the head unit and a set tying into the dash board vent piece. I took off all four screws setting them down into a place where they won't roll around or get lost (the crevice next to the gear shift where the nav controls go) because it makes it a bit easier to pull out the head unit.

3) Tug on the head unit from the top wiggling it as you go to pull it right out. There are two plastic clips on the bottom securing the bottom part of the head unit and the top part of the A/C control panel onto the dash. be sure to not break these although they seem to be pretty darn tough.

4) Pull the head unit all the way out (it's a heavy little bugger) and make sure everything is sitting nice and in the right spot.

5) Put the head unit back in, put all four screw back into their original spots leaving room for the "creaking" to cease and desist (pushing on the clock, info/set, and stereo input bar to make sure it doesn't creak as you are screwing it back into place), secure the right hook of your trim piece and click in all two plastic clips and all two metal ones, and clean up your finger print magnet black trim or aluminum type trim.

6) Go for a spirited drive over some turbulent asphalt to make sure that it is gone for sure and...ENJOY A ONE-RATTLE-LESS RIDE!!!

If "creak" still exists, repeat steps 1-5 leaving the screws slightly looser (or tighter if this is your third attempt) than previously done to prevent stiffness...or provoke it...in the natural movement of your ride.

*I am not responsible for personal damage made to your car during the operation and/or physical damage to other property or yourself.
 
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I trie making them tighter first...maybe a lapse of sanity...but go for a bit looser first, just enough to where they are snug in the dash. That seemed to dull it over heavily corroded streets and potholes.
 
Same but different

I made todays project to fix all the squeaks and quiet the road noise.

I removed all the shiny black plastic from the dash, taped the back of them with black electrical tape and then reinstalled them.

Took care of 90% of the problem. The remaining squeaks were from the edges touching. That was simple enough.

Cut small strips of black trash bags. nice and thin material that in a sense will lubricate any edges. Just use an old credit card and wedge a little in between the pieces along the edges. Viola!

Now I have zero and I mean zero creaks from the center dash! Nice!!!
 
I got my new head unit in and it returned so I actually am believing that my creak is from the screws that hold the whole selector set of buttons onto the unit.
When I get around to it, I'm going to try and see if fiddling with that does teh trick on this head unit.
 
I was going to but then I thought my description was pretty good, although I feel that pdqgp should post up some pics...cause I have no clue where he's talking about putting the garbage bag.
 
i have a rattle, turns out its the very front piece on the passenger door that can only be seen when the door is open.
 
OMG thankk yoooooooooooou from the bottom of my heart haha...i finally went out and did it yesterday.. i tighted every screw on the trim and cd player now the rattle/creaking has stopped..i can enjoy the sound of the engine without being annoyed to death
 
Im printing this out and taking it to the dealer. Ill black-out the PI.

This noise has been bothering me since day one, and Im so glad that there is a fix for it. I would do it myself but i just picked my car up from the dealer after they told me that its something that all 3's do and that they dont know how to fix. SLAP in the face for the service rep.
 
Im printing this out and taking it to the dealer. Ill black-out the PI.

This noise has been bothering me since day one, and Im so glad that there is a fix for it. I would do it myself but i just picked my car up from the dealer after they told me that its something that all 3's do and that they dont know how to fix. SLAP in the face for the service rep.
HAHAHAAA!!!

My car is starting to annoy me again though, it was fixed then I got my new HU, and now it's back and on the new HU it's the entire button/piano black face plate and I found out where it's coming from, I just don't know how tight I can make the four screws on the back of the faceplate before I start breaking the screw holes.

But it's good to know that so many of you guys have great success with this being your fix.
 
haha yea sometimes i get annoyed cuz i try to riding around with some peace and quiet.. just didnt happen till now ^^.. why did u need a new hu?
 
The TSB on the BASS cutting out from the BOSE system...or treble amplifying, it was really annoying.
 
im srsly debating yanking out the piano trim between stereo and lcd screen
 
im srsly debating yanking out the piano trim between stereo and lcd screen
It's not that, it's the entire faceplate of piano black that contains the stereo controls so you're basically ****** with whatever you do. Thanks to what Mazda's great designers have done.
 
First Post!!

Are you reading this Mazda USA?!?! The solution is unscrewing your damn CD player a touch, and stuffing bits of trash bags in between your crappy dash design in desperate hopes of silencing it!

What is going on here? Car drives nice btw... you can keep the whole center creaking console!

My main complaint as a 6'0 guy is that the console bulges over into my accelerator pedal leg!!! It kills my leg on long drives.

- Chris
 
Are you reading this Mazda USA?!?! The solution is unscrewing your damn CD player a touch, and stuffing bits of trash bags in between your crappy dash design in desperate hopes of silencing it!

What is going on here? Car drives nice btw... you can keep the whole center creaking console!

My main complaint as a 6'0 guy is that the console bulges over into my accelerator pedal leg!!! It kills my leg on long drives.

- Chris
Maybe not trash bags per say...but foam tape? or rubber bits? I don't like putting trash bags inside parts of my car, it just doesn't give me that warm fuzzy feeling. Although if they made the damned thing flex less that might solve the problem too.
The console bulge is annoying for me also, I'm not anywhere near as tall as you are but even for me it just sucks. I always feel like I'm going to rip that thing off...there's my next How-To!
 
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