'08 Speed 3 Rattles
 

I have a very annoying rattle that seems to be coming from the dashboard where it meets the windshield. It is most noticable whenever I go over some kind of bump on the roads. I've had the car for just a few months, only has 2500 miles on it. I had a 2007 M3 GT and I never had this problem so I'm wondering if it it just a Speed3 problem.

I have another rattle coming from the "Piano Black" bezel that covers the stereo display/clock, it seems to go away for a few minutes if I push on it but comes right back.

Any other '08 Speed 3 owners having these problems?

All cars have rattles. It sounds like you are buying a new car every year, so you might have avoided it so far. Out here in Portland and Seattle, the roads are so bumpy that the rattles can really drive you crazy. Maybe since your car is new, they will de-rattle it for you under warranty. If not, it can be really expensive to have someone else do it, and they might not be hearing what you are hearing, unless you are right there with them. I just got through ferreting out some horrible rattles in my passenger door on an 04. I took it apart and beat on it to figure out where they were coming from. Then taped and stuffed some thin foam padding in a few places. It took 3 tries because I first thought it was coming from the seatbelt mechanism. I had to do the same process numerous times on my old Accord. It's just the way it is.

I live in Portland, Oregon... The rattles were not present for the first month I had the car. Everytime someone gets in they mention the rattles..thats how loud they are, so I'm not worried about a technician not hearing them. I plan on taking it to the dealer for the first oil-change and having them fix the problem.... Since I've posted this I've found other posts on other forums discussing the same problems. Apparanently there is a TSB (technical service bulletin) regarding the rattle at the base of the windshield.

That's good. Make them do it if you can.

I don' t know what it is about the roads around here. Lots of them are like washboards. All the highways near Seattle are the worst. I think all the rain washes the soft part of the asphalt away, leaving the rocky aggregate exposed.

Regarding my door, the problem is still not solved. It looks like the main issue is the plastic sub-panel itself is rattling against the sheet metal. I'm going to throw a few sheet metal screws in it tomorrow.

You should try dynamat to fix your door problem....

Here is a 19 page post regarding the windshield rattle I'm experiencing...It dates back to December of 2006 and goes up to today.

http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=63178.0

I've used dynamat on speakers before, but I don't see how I would apply it to this problem. It appears about 1/4 of the plastic sub-panel lost some kind of adhesive or caulk bead and the mounting screws are too far apart now. I suppose I could have taken the whole think off and caulked it, but that would have ruined the rest of the bead and possibly screwed up something else. 4 self-drilling sheet metal screws in the flappy areas seemed to do the trick.

Okay, make that 5 tries to get it right. After I stopped the plastic panel's flapping, another rattling emerged - this time it was the rod attached to the door handle. I gooped up each joint with some super-sticky double-side foam tape and now, finally there is no more rattle. The weird thing is that none of these structures rattle on the driver's side door.

My Speed3 just started making the same noise last week, at about 2500 miles.

Looks like Mazda has a release on this problem.

MTOL 5636 - CHATTERING NOISE AT BASE OF WINDSHIELD "COWL GRILL"