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| 911 Tech |
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Fighting
the dreaded sunroof rattle
by Steve Grosekemper
San Diego Region
(from THE WIND BLOWN WITNESS)
You
are driving along, enjoying a perfect sunny day in your 911. You decide to
open the sunroof to soak up the sights and sounds of bird songs and the
wind whipping by. You gently push the switch and listen as the sunroof
rolls back. But, instead of the sounds of nature's symphony, you are
overcome by a horrid metallic clatter like marbles in a tin can.
Since the perfect drive on the perfect day is not compatible with this
wretched noise, you reach up with your hand and push and tug on the
sunroof. As you do this the tone and volume of the marbles change but they
do not go away. Your thoughts now turn to those rotten neighborhood kids
and how on earth they could have gotten all those marbles in your sunroof
anyway! Fortunately, the likelihood of your having to fish out a dozen
marbles is fairly low.
What has most likely happened is that the sunroof guide felt has
deteriorated, resulting in an unwanted metal-to- metal contact.
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Figure
1: Here is the sunroof panel with the felt missing.
Note pointy bare tab sticking down. |
As the sunroof lowers and
slides back into the roof, it lays down onto the sunroof rail. If the rail
felt is missing (see figure 1) the metal tab lies onto the metal sunroof
rail causing the aforementioned bag-o-marbles clatter.
One would think that the repair would be as easy as ordering a new felt
and performing a quick installation. While that is a great idea, there is
one catch. In order to get a new factory felt, you must purchase a new
sunroof! I prefer to make a trip to the hardware store and pick up a few
adhesive felt pad strips like the ones used under furniture legs and such.
After your quick trip to the hardware store, follow these steps to
eliminate the noise.
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Figure
2: Here is the sunroof panel with the furniture feet
felt pads (dark circles) installed. Now roof operates quietly. |
1. Open the roof about 2
inches.
2. Gently pull down on the leading edge of the sunroof headliner and
separate it from the sunroof.
3. Slide the headliner back all the way and locate the missing felt pads
towards the rear of the sunroof.
4. Flatten the existing tabs and attach an adhesive pad in its place (see
figure 2).
5. Re-install the sunroof headliner and drive the car to verify that all
rattles are gone.
Good Luck
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