Raevik

I've seen plenty of posts on here about door rattles with bass that the dealer corrected with some added insulation.

Can someone describe this rattle to me?

The sound I'm hearing only is generated essentially with the Bass drum instrument off a CD. Simulated bass (ie rap music) actually sounds great. When I put in metal, though, like my favorite old-school Metallica and turn it up, it sounds like my door is farting in my ear.

It shocks me how a system can generate tight sounding solid bass for rap, but sound like a crappy 1983 Honda factory speaker "fibrillating" to no end when trying to play metal.

I love Lars's double bass action....and I'm forced to hear it this way??

I'm taking it to the dealer Monday for "door rattle", so hopefully it fixes the issue. I'm planning to get a sub installed, which should help, but I don't want to mask the problem, I want to fix it.

adrian-1

Take off the door panels and you'll find that the yellow foam pieces in the picture below are loose and are most likely the cause of your rattling issue.

Raevik

Taking it to dealer Monday to get airbag recall work done, so I'll have them take the door off and check those foam blocks.

Thanks

mikeb

no thanks

I'll just turn my music up and avoid the noise

Raevik

Um...turning up the music makes the noise louder...

mikeb

oh
not in my car
I must be talking about a different noise

Raevik

This is basically a door rattle that happens when you hit a deep bass tone (usually lower than Rap thumps). My sample tracks come from old Metallica where Lars is wailing on his bass drum. It resonates in the door and rattles....about elbow height.

God bless my dealership, they're trying to help. I think something was lost in translation though, they spent all day sound-testing my speakers and seeing if it sounded like other RX-8s.

I really just want to add some spray-foam insulation or a foam block or tighten down my existing foam blocks. I don't want to simply accept that my speakers generate rattles in my door just because Volume level 15 with Bass +3 or Bass +6 is just "too much sound".

I didn't spend $1000 extra dollars for a car stereo to have someone tell me it's just manufactured to rattle. I'm not trying to blast out the neighborhood here, it's Vol level 15. I can hear it at 10 with only Bass +3 with the right track on the CD. It's annoying as hell and not acceptable on a system that's marked and CERTAINLY sold as "premium". My 6 year old MX-6 with factory speakers didn't rattle at those volumes, I expect a brand new car not to.

Dealership's been great so far, hopefully things work out.

OBryanRX8

good luck

Raevik

Thanks for the "good luck" wishes, unfortunately, they didn't work.

The dealer basically said that they couldn't reproduce the effect in the 8 hours that they had my car and were "testing" it.

I reproduced it for them in about 30 seconds, but they said they couldn't/wouldn't add any parts to the car including sound tape/foam, etc. Somehow, without opening the door panel, they just "knew" that the foam blocks inside that I repeatedly told them about were not loose.

Sigh. I just got frustrated and left, taking my 8 with me.