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" You&amp;#039;re coming to the end of a gas tank&amp;#039;s worth of superslab, the pavement as fresh and as smooth as your brother-in-law&amp;#039;s balding pate. A quick trip to the Men&amp;#039;s and a tankful of gas get you rolling again, this time on a secondary road that&amp;#039;s not so smooth. With the new bumps comes a minor rattle that starts under the dash. Within an hour it&amp;#039;s as annoying as myelin being flayed from the nerve endings in your inner ears. This is why the term &amp;quot;rattletrap&amp;quot; was coined. You might even begin thinking of the old story about the disgruntled assembly line worker who used to hang empty beer cans inside body panels to sabotage the car company&amp;#039;s reputation. Location, Location, Location These annoyances can be easily fixed, but finding them is a challenge that requires focused concentration. We once worked with a mechanic who was hearing impaired. He wore an old-fashioned hearing aid that had an earpiece and a wire that ran down to the amplifier, which he kept in his shirt pocket. Whenever the other guys in the shop were presented with a mysterious noise, they&amp;#039;d get him to take a ride with them and he&amp;#039;d pass the amp over the likely spots until he zeroed in on the offending area. Similarly, you can take a piece of heater or garden hose and hold it to your ear. Enlist a helper to drive over the type of pavement that elicits the unpleasant sounds while you climb around, hose to ear. Or, use a stethoscope (electronic versions are available). At this point, we should mention the obvious: Make sure the noise isn&amp;#039;t being caused by something you&amp;#039;ve put in the car and forgotten. We&amp;#039;ve found rattles that turned out to be a socket set in a steel box, other assorted tools, a loose fire extinguisher, etc. Speaking of loose cargo, are the jack, lug wrench and spare properly secured? This problem will be especially noticeable in vans and SUVs. It can take awhile to figure out what that diagram inside the jack compartment cover is trying to tell you to do, but it&amp;#039;s worth looking.  Pressure Points Now that you have a general idea of the location, it&amp;#039;s time to go hands-on. Press on panels, doors, windows, handles and trim until the sound changes. Sometimes this will require quite a push, especially if you suspect the dashboard or a door panel. Beating on the dash with your fist may also cause a change in the noise, but you&amp;#039;ve probably done that already as a means of venting your frustration. Besides aural and tactile, this is also a visual inspection. Glove compartment and console doors typically close against little rubber bumpers. Is one missing? Do they look dried out and shrunken? How about the window channels? Are they worn out? Gone altogether? Also look for missing screws. Once you think you&amp;#039;ve found the problem, try wedging cardboard or a wooden tongue depressor between the offending components to eliminate vibration. Close Range Dashboard noises are particularly annoying. After all, they&amp;#039;re right in your face. They may be coming from any of those places where metal and plastic meet, from components such as timers and relays that dangle from the wiring harness, or from heater and air-conditioning control cables. This wouldn&amp;#039;t be so bad except that all of this is hidden, requiring you to remove trim panels. The pushing and pounding routine is the first step. You may find that a high-frequency rattle or buzz is coming from the interface between a piece of trim and the dash itself, or between the dash and the instrument panel. If screws hold these pieces together, try tightening them. If that doesn&amp;#039;t work, remove the screws and the component, cut pieces of foam to fit in the seams, and reinstall. You might be able to find a rattle in the dashboard by reaching underneath and shaking whatever bundles of wires are there. Sometimes you can improve access to the nether regions of the dash by removing the glove compartment liner. Older-style window mechanisms can become loose and create loud rattles. Power lock linkage is another possibility, as are speakers, especially if they&amp;#039;ve been added on (stereo shops don&amp;#039;t employ NVH engineers). Giving a door a solid blow while it&amp;#039;s open, or just shaking it vigorously, may confirm your suspicions as to the location, but you won&amp;#039;t really know what&amp;#039;s going on without a look-see. You have to remove the door panel, which can be tricky. Check the factory procedures. Special tools are available to help you get under the door panel and pop the clips or push-in plastic plugs with as little damage as possible.  While a patient helper drives, press any potential sources of rattles, such as a door panel.  A console door&amp;#039;s latch may need minor adjusting. Likely Suspects Latches, say, for the glove compartment or console lid, usually can be adjusted. Move the latch in the direction that makes the fit as tight as possible while still being lockable. Those overhead storage compartments for glasses and garage door openers are sure convenient, but they&amp;#039;re made of hard plastic and are likely to generate an excruciating buzz. Unfortunately, the catches on these aren&amp;#039;t adjustable. Press various spots while driving to isolate the offending seam, then cut and glue in foam strips of a suitable thickness to make the mating tight. Sometimes an unoccupied passenger seat will produce a rattle that&amp;#039;s downright thunderous. What&amp;#039;s the problem? Too much space in the tracks. You should be able to fix this by taking up extra clearance. Loosen the bolts that hold the seat tracks down, then spread them as far as you can and retighten. Tailgates, whether on a pickup or a truck-based SUV, can sound like a handful of bolts in a cement mixer. Typically, the rubber rings on the hinged arms that keep the tailgate from falling away dry out or break off. As a result, the heavy steel arms come in contact with both the body and the gate. Replace the rubber, or substitute rubber-coated cables for the hinged arms. Hatches on minivans, SUVs and hatchbacks can drive you crazy. They are big parts of the vehicle structure and naturally make noise as the body twists and bends. Okay, open &amp;#039;er up and take a look. Are there rubber wedges intended to impede movement? What kind of shape are they in? The sliding doors of vans also can be noisy. Many versions use steel rollers riding on steel tracks--the potential for trouble is obvious. Try to take up excess clearance by loosening the roller-bracket bolts, then moving the bracket down. Most doors latch onto striker bolts that are surrounded by thin plastic or nylon wear tubes. When these disintegrate, there&amp;#039;ll be excessive clearance in the latching mechanism and a good chance of a heavy rattle. For most vehicles, you can buy replacement striker bolts from the aftermarket, but anything exotic will require a trip to the dealer. Sometimes there&amp;#039;s a noise that is not so much a squeak as a creak, which may be the result of torsional flexing in the unibody caused by undulations in the road. You can try jacking each of the corners one at a time and bouncing your own weight around inside until you hear the noise (sometimes you can actually feel it). See if the screws or push-in fasteners that hold the trim panel over the area in question are tight. If that&amp;#039;s not the problem, remove the panel and try to duplicate the sound. Can&amp;#039;t do it? Then cut foam strips or use foam tape to insulate the panel from the sheetmetal. Stuffing And Strapping What materials make sense for insulating one component from another? Whatever will fit easily and stand up to the environment. Try some dense foam rubber. A piece of an old wet suit, perhaps? Or, household door and window weatherstrip foam tape with a peel-off backing. For glue, automotive weatherstrip adhesive is the standard. Finally, get an assortment of nylon wire ties--one of mankind&amp;#039;s great inventions--with which you can keep things away from other things, thus restoring blessed silence.  Self-adhesive foam intended for household interior weatherstripping can be used to eliminate noise.  Missing or compressed rubber cushions can let interior panels vibrate.  Try using a big rubber band or bungee cord to secure tools and jacks. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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