Subwoofer Rattle? I think I gotter licked.

[nwGTS]

This thread is a blast from the past. I had my rattles licked, until they weren’t. Finally tracked down the new rattle and it is the rear seatbelt mechanism mounted close to the sub. Isolating with rubber doesn’t help, as it’s the internal spring loaded windup part that rattles. Just and FYI for anyone else loosing the battle.

Does the seatbelt rattle both when it's retracted AND when it's buckled in?

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[Ksjrb03]

Does the seatbelt rattle both when it's retracted AND when it's buckled in?

Good question. Haven’t tested that. Is just me in the Bronco 99% of the time. I’ll have to buckle it and see.

 

[Dbra]

Maybe I’ll try fixing the one clip I can see, but that panel has several, I can hear one going crazy closer to the rear seat belt. Maybe in the summer I’ll try to rip it off and get them on better. With the base going I can see them spinning, if I thought them it silenced the noise. If the panel is pushed against the frame all plungers engage and there is zero sound at all, it’s just a really bad design and fit. Crazy this is something we have to do at this price point.

 

[BScampbell]

How do you get the panel off, just pry at the edges and it pops off? I haven't done any of that before but I know that's the problem because if I push on that panel the rattle goes away.

 

[bcb1]

For you guys with the passenger rear seatbelt rattle, there is a thread on that. To summarize with the reader's digest version: There is a metal ball bearing in there, in the mechanism box that causes the rattle. It can't be fixed because then the mechanism won't work as designed.

However, there is hope! The guy used a bunch of kilmat/dynamat on the outside - like a double layer, and said that silenced 99% of the rattle. Obviously it's still there, but it dampens it so you can't hear it anymore.

 

[Mechanicsmechanic1]

All I did was tighten the 10mm bolt’s holding the sun enclosure to the body and it stopped the rattle completely

 

[Mechanicsmechanic1]

All I did was tighten the 10mm bolt’s holding the sun enclosure to the body and it stopped the rattle completely

Subwoofer not Sun. Typo

 

[Tex]

All I did was tighten the 10mm bolt’s holding the sun enclosure to the body and it stopped the rattle completely

LOL, that does work, but they're gonna get loose again. Eventually the vibration will cut through that nut plate and it'll rattle like crazy. My nut plates already had a good sized cut through the thin metal legs, and eventually they would've cut all the way through. The underlying issue is that the nut plate was a poor choice for the application it's being used for and they should've done it a different way. If you noticed a bit of brown dust on that nut plate, that's fretting corrosion from all the vibration.

When you get some free time, stick on a square of kilmat or similar over the hole, push the nut plate through it, and tighten again. The cushion of the kilmat will prevent metal on metal fretting corrosion which caused it to get loose in the first place. Your other option would be to get a nut on a stick, some loctite, and torque that puppy down like you mean it. So far I have about 20K miles on mine since I did the kilmat so I'm optimistic it'll last, but if it gives me problems again I'll be using a nut on a stick.

 

[Mechanicsmechanic1]

LOL, that does work, but they're gonna get loose again. Eventually the vibration will cut through that nut plate and it'll rattle like crazy. My nut plates already had a good sized cut through the thin metal legs, and eventually they would've cut all the way through. The underlying issue is that the nut plate was a poor choice for the application it's being used for and they should've done it a different way. If you noticed a bit of brown dust on that nut plate, that's fretting corrosion from all the vibration.

When you get some free time, stick on a square of kilmat or similar over the hole, push the nut plate through it, and tighten again. The cushion of the kilmat will prevent metal on metal fretting corrosion which caused it to get loose in the first place. Your other option would be to get a nut on a stick, some loctite, and torque that puppy down like you mean it. So far I have about 20K miles on mine since I did the kilmat so I'm optimistic it'll last, but if it gives me problems again I'll be using a nut on a stick.

I added the loctite. I’ll try the kilmat too if this doesn’t last. Thank You!

 

[Badmommallama]

Thanks for this thread. I had to take the whole side panel off of my two door, but was able to use felt with adhesive to stop my rattle. All bolts were tight and checked to make sure everything else was secure. Can finally use surround and bass without that awful rattle. Sounds so much better. And buys me some time to figure out what speaker upgrades I would like elsewhere.

 

[Jwalker2244]

I had a sub rattle so I did the towel trick. Made it better but a couple days after the sun started making a rattling noise inside it sounded like. Previously I could tell that the rattle was coming from the trim/enclosure around the sub but now sometimes it seems like there are plastic screws that are rattling around inside the sub itself. I tore off the whole and tightened everything down as tight as it would go and tested everything out. I even took the sun out of the box to make sure nothing had fallen behind it or anything looked broken and everything looked fine ti me. The rattle outside of the sub is pretty much taken care of and it sounds great now even when listening at 22-25 volume and the sub maxed out. The only thing is the plastic screw inside the sun noise is still there. It only occurs when I play heat wave by glass animals and it’s the really high heavy bass note. Iv tried lots of other heavy bass songs across other genres and haven't really been able to reproduce that.

Like I said before everything sounds great except for that one song so I don’t think the sub would be blown but it didn’t use to make this sound so not sure what happened. I have some kilmatt but I didn’t end up using it because I didn’t think it would help that.

I guess if it bothers me enough I may take it to the dealer at some point but it sounds loads better after tightning everythin up. I don’t know much about AudiO systems if anyone has any tips onto that rattling sound inside the sub that would be nice.

TLDR:
Used the towel trick for a while, but then rattling sound developed inside the actual sub it sounds Like. Can only reproduce on one song, everything else sounds great and tigining all the bolts took care of 99% of other rattle excluding inside the sub

 

[Theherofails]

I had a sub rattle so I did the towel trick. Made it better but a couple days after the sun started making a rattling noise inside it sounded like. Previously I could tell that the rattle was coming from the trim/enclosure around the sub but now sometimes it seems like there are plastic screws that are rattling around inside the sub itself. I tore off the whole and tightened everything down as tight as it would go and tested everything out. I even took the sun out of the box to make sure nothing had fallen behind it or anything looked broken and everything looked fine ti me. The rattle outside of the sub is pretty much taken care of and it sounds great now even when listening at 22-25 volume and the sub maxed out. The only thing is the plastic screw inside the sun noise is still there. It only occurs when I play heat wave by glass animals and it’s the really high heavy bass note. Iv tried lots of other heavy bass songs across other genres and haven't really been able to reproduce that.

Like I said before everything sounds great except for that one song so I don’t think the sub would be blown but it didn’t use to make this sound so not sure what happened. I have some kilmatt but I didn’t end up using it because I didn’t think it would help that.

I guess if it bothers me enough I may take it to the dealer at some point but it sounds loads better after tightning everythin up. I don’t know much about AudiO systems if anyone has any tips onto that rattling sound inside the sub that would be nice.

TLDR:
Used the towel trick for a while, but then rattling sound developed inside the actual sub it sounds Like. Can only reproduce on one song, everything else sounds great and tigining all the bolts took care of 99% of other rattle excluding inside the sub

That song trashes my subwoofer as well. Sounds absolutely terrible.. the frequency is just right to make the whole area rattle like a gypsy wagon.


You really need dynamat around every single trim fastener and any place the plastic touches I guess.

I found my biggest rattle these days is actually the body panel behind the sub.

 

[Jwalker2244]

That song trashes my subwoofer as well. Sounds absolutely terrible.. the frequency is just right to make the whole area rattle like a gypsy wagon.


You really need dynamat around every single trim fastener and any place the plastic touches I guess.

I found my biggest rattle these days is actually the body panel behind the sub.

Ya I was planning on doing the sound deadening but I don’t have a garage so I was running out of daylight. Also didn’t feel like taking the whole sub out because I felt like I had isolated the rattle to inside the actual sub but I could be wrong and it may be behind it. I’ll probably just wait until the next time I go out of town and drop it at the dealer.

Also could poking around in there void any warranty? I was thinking if I did the whole Killmatt thing and it turned out my sub was going bad it would be easy for them to blame me when they get in there and see I had messed around with stuff and didn’t want to chance that on a 3 week old Wildtrak

 

[Theherofails]

Ya I was planning on doing the sound deadening but I don’t have a garage so I was running out of daylight. Also didn’t feel like taking the whole sub out because I felt like I had isolated the rattle to inside the actual sub but I could be wrong and it may be behind it. I’ll probably just wait until the next time I go out of town and drop it at the dealer.

Also could poking around in there void any warranty? I was thinking if I did the whole Killmatt thing and it turned out my sub was going bad it would be easy for them to blame me when they get in there and see I had messed around with stuff and didn’t want to chance that on a 3 week old Wildtrak

Not unless you actually modify something.. the sound deadening material is removable if it ever needs to be. I covered the entire rear cabin area floor under the the rubberized floor mat to deaden quite a lot of road noise. It helped quite a lot actually. Stuck it right to the painted tub and the floor goes together just fine after.

I still need to add more to the sub side of the rear cargo area.


I only hear wind noise these days and I haven't started replacing gaskets etc on my hard top to fix that.

 

[Tex]

Iv tried lots of other heavy bass songs across other genres and haven't really been able to reproduce that.

Use a tone generator to isolate what frequency range the rattle occurs
Bluetooth your phone to the Bronco and pull this website up:
https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/

Just work you way up the frequencies until you find the rattle, I bet you'll find it somewhere between 55-70hz. Take the panel off and isolate the source of the rattle. Also going to bet you'll find it's from the upper sub mounting bolts. The fix is simple. Remove the nut plates for the upper mounts and cover that area in kilmat, locate the square holes where the nutplates go by pushing with your thumb until it makes a little crater, then push the nutplates through the kilmat...you don't even have to cut it, it'll pop right through with a little pressure. If you have the high or lux package, there may be a module forward of the sub bolted on the same ledge that the sub is mounted on with the same type of nutplate, just do the same thing for that one too.

Now, this fixes the sub rattle itself, but it won't fix any other rattling stuff in your Bronco, and there are a few places prone to it. You can isolate those in the same way with a tone generator and apply kilmat or whatever other fix you find useful.

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