350z Sound System Sounds Bad Because Of Ratting Plastic, Help?
06-21-2023, 08:25 AM
#1
New Member
Thread Starter
350z Sound System Sounds Bad Because Of Ratting Plastic, Help?
Hello! I have a 2003 Nissan 350z Touring Coupe, and I have the base sound system with an aftermarket head unit and aftermarket speakers, and when there is a song playing that has enough bass, its not the speakers that get maxed, its the plastic panels that make it sound bad beacuse they just rattle like against each other, is there a way that you guys reduced the plastic rattle???
06-21-2023, 03:41 PM
#3
Hey Tech,
Exactly what Trav recommended. To aid with the door cards, I highly recommend picking up some . These help direct the sound (mostly bass) out of the speaker grille instead of bouncing off the inside of the door and door paneling. The center circle portion of foam is supposed to be stuck inside your door on the opposing side of the door panel, behind the speaker driver. This helps cut down on resonance inside the metal door frame. If the rattles are really bad, you can also apply small pieces of dynomat or equivalent onto the backs of the plastic or metal paneling/framework. Usually just a small strip or circle cut out will be enough to cut down on resonance. Panel gaps or areas where two panels or metal body make contact can be insulated with . I use this stuff all over the Z! Especially in the hatch/trunk paneling...really anywhere you have plastic paneling contacting the metal body. You can get the felt tape in varying thicknesses and widths to suite your application. I think I use a roll of 3/4" wide x 1mm thick and I have another roll of 3/4" wide x 4mm thick. I don't use the 4mm thick stuff often, most issues can be resolved with the 1mm stuff.
Whenever I pull a plastic interior panel off, I always check adjacent paneling or metal framework for witness marks where the panel might have been rubbing/scratching/scuffing. I cover those areas with the felt tape to tighten things up. There's a lot of these spots on both door frames, lower kick panels, and rear trunk/hatch. I really notice the differences this had made with each application. I still need to tackle my rear hatch, I'll get to that when I install the backup camera.
Good Luck!
-Icer
Exactly what Trav recommended. To aid with the door cards, I highly recommend picking up some . These help direct the sound (mostly bass) out of the speaker grille instead of bouncing off the inside of the door and door paneling. The center circle portion of foam is supposed to be stuck inside your door on the opposing side of the door panel, behind the speaker driver. This helps cut down on resonance inside the metal door frame. If the rattles are really bad, you can also apply small pieces of dynomat or equivalent onto the backs of the plastic or metal paneling/framework. Usually just a small strip or circle cut out will be enough to cut down on resonance. Panel gaps or areas where two panels or metal body make contact can be insulated with . I use this stuff all over the Z! Especially in the hatch/trunk paneling...really anywhere you have plastic paneling contacting the metal body. You can get the felt tape in varying thicknesses and widths to suite your application. I think I use a roll of 3/4" wide x 1mm thick and I have another roll of 3/4" wide x 4mm thick. I don't use the 4mm thick stuff often, most issues can be resolved with the 1mm stuff.
Whenever I pull a plastic interior panel off, I always check adjacent paneling or metal framework for witness marks where the panel might have been rubbing/scratching/scuffing. I cover those areas with the felt tape to tighten things up. There's a lot of these spots on both door frames, lower kick panels, and rear trunk/hatch. I really notice the differences this had made with each application. I still need to tackle my rear hatch, I'll get to that when I install the backup camera.
Good Luck!
-Icer
Last edited by icer5160; 06-21-2023 at 03:44 PM. Reason: spellcheck
06-21-2023, 04:17 PM
#4
I still can't get the panel that covers the 3rd brake light to stop rattling. It's crazy annoying. Used felt, spacers against the glass, everything. Anyway...
Identify the location of the rattle and use felt pads. If it's inside a panel, butyl rubber can be your friend too. If it's in the doors, the panel needs to come off.
Identify the location of the rattle and use felt pads. If it's inside a panel, butyl rubber can be your friend too. If it's in the doors, the panel needs to come off.
06-21-2023, 07:00 PM
#5
Hey Blue,
It may not be your 3rd brake light cover. Sound from the rear hatch has a tendency to bounce around before it reaches the ears in the front seats. This can confuse the listener with the source of the noise. I know I sure as hell struggled to pinpoint a noise coming from the front passenger door/dash area. The entire time the sound was actually coming from the passenger seat frame rails (down low), but I swear my ears heard it coming from dash height, not under the seat! What lead me to discovering the true source was having my buddy drive the Z while I sat shotgun. The noise never showed itself while there was weight in the seat. After the drive, I got out and just banged on the passenger seat cushion with my open palm and was able to reproduce the noise.
Were you able to pinpoint the source of the noise to the brake light cover with a buddy?
Cheers!
-Icer
It may not be your 3rd brake light cover. Sound from the rear hatch has a tendency to bounce around before it reaches the ears in the front seats. This can confuse the listener with the source of the noise. I know I sure as hell struggled to pinpoint a noise coming from the front passenger door/dash area. The entire time the sound was actually coming from the passenger seat frame rails (down low), but I swear my ears heard it coming from dash height, not under the seat! What lead me to discovering the true source was having my buddy drive the Z while I sat shotgun. The noise never showed itself while there was weight in the seat. After the drive, I got out and just banged on the passenger seat cushion with my open palm and was able to reproduce the noise.
Were you able to pinpoint the source of the noise to the brake light cover with a buddy?
Cheers!
-Icer
06-22-2023, 07:58 AM
#6
New Member
Thread Starter
Hey Tech,
Exactly what Trav recommended. To aid with the door cards, I highly recommend picking up some FAST rings. These help direct the sound (mostly bass) out of the speaker grille instead of bouncing off the inside of the door and door paneling. The center circle portion of foam is supposed to be stuck inside your door on the opposing side of the door panel, behind the speaker driver. This helps cut down on resonance inside the metal door frame. If the rattles are really bad, you can also apply small pieces of dynomat or equivalent onto the backs of the plastic or metal paneling/framework. Usually just a small strip or circle cut out will be enough to cut down on resonance. Panel gaps or areas where two panels or metal body make contact can be insulated with felt tape. I use this stuff all over the Z! Especially in the hatch/trunk paneling...really anywhere you have plastic paneling contacting the metal body. You can get the felt tape in varying thicknesses and widths to suite your application. I think I use a roll of 3/4" wide x 1mm thick and I have another roll of 3/4" wide x 4mm thick. I don't use the 4mm thick stuff often, most issues can be resolved with the 1mm stuff.
Whenever I pull a plastic interior panel off, I always check adjacent paneling or metal framework for witness marks where the panel might have been rubbing/scratching/scuffing. I cover those areas with the felt tape to tighten things up. There's a lot of these spots on both door frames, lower kick panels, and rear trunk/hatch. I really notice the differences this had made with each application. I still need to tackle my rear hatch, I'll get to that when I install the backup camera.
Good Luck!
-Icer
Exactly what Trav recommended. To aid with the door cards, I highly recommend picking up some FAST rings. These help direct the sound (mostly bass) out of the speaker grille instead of bouncing off the inside of the door and door paneling. The center circle portion of foam is supposed to be stuck inside your door on the opposing side of the door panel, behind the speaker driver. This helps cut down on resonance inside the metal door frame. If the rattles are really bad, you can also apply small pieces of dynomat or equivalent onto the backs of the plastic or metal paneling/framework. Usually just a small strip or circle cut out will be enough to cut down on resonance. Panel gaps or areas where two panels or metal body make contact can be insulated with felt tape. I use this stuff all over the Z! Especially in the hatch/trunk paneling...really anywhere you have plastic paneling contacting the metal body. You can get the felt tape in varying thicknesses and widths to suite your application. I think I use a roll of 3/4" wide x 1mm thick and I have another roll of 3/4" wide x 4mm thick. I don't use the 4mm thick stuff often, most issues can be resolved with the 1mm stuff.
Whenever I pull a plastic interior panel off, I always check adjacent paneling or metal framework for witness marks where the panel might have been rubbing/scratching/scuffing. I cover those areas with the felt tape to tighten things up. There's a lot of these spots on both door frames, lower kick panels, and rear trunk/hatch. I really notice the differences this had made with each application. I still need to tackle my rear hatch, I'll get to that when I install the backup camera.
Good Luck!
-Icer
06-25-2023, 12:24 PM
#7
New Member
Thread Starter
Alright, so I tore down the hatch, and the behind the seats area, took out the speakers, filled the speaker compartment with sound deadening, put the foam speaker rings on, and then I also put felt tape on all the panels where it clips to the metal, and then now im working on the door panels, and while I have been working on them I have been thinking about the dash, how would I make the dash not rattle? Is there any simple places to put felt or sound deadening? Because i really dont want to take apart the dash, that would be miserable
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06-26-2023, 05:30 PM
#8
Which dash rattle(s) are you experiencing. There are different fixes for each, but if you have the defrost vent area tapping the glass, there's a few different options. Some just jam a piece of felt in there, I think a cleaner solution would something
. I haven't tried this out myself yet, but it's on my list. Overall the dashboard in the 350Z is pretty solid with very few noise issues. Most of the noises come from the rear hatch/trunk area, seats, B-pillar moldings, and doors.
I've seen reports of the passenger side knee plate making some noise, I used dynomat to insulate the knee plate and it's mounting brackets. I also used Tessa tape around the wire harness that may have been making contact on hard plastics or body/metal. Finally, I checked all the harness mount locations for anything loose and I did discover some connectors in the passenger footwell corner (ECM ground harness) to be very loose and potentially rattle under the right conditions. I insulated these with Tessa Tape and felt tape. Otherwise the dash is pretty solid, I haven't had any serious rattles or noises coming from it accept for the defrost plastic tapping the glass (changes depending on temperature, cold = more noticeable, hot= less noticeable).
Cheers!
-Icer
I've seen reports of the passenger side knee plate making some noise, I used dynomat to insulate the knee plate and it's mounting brackets. I also used Tessa tape around the wire harness that may have been making contact on hard plastics or body/metal. Finally, I checked all the harness mount locations for anything loose and I did discover some connectors in the passenger footwell corner (ECM ground harness) to be very loose and potentially rattle under the right conditions. I insulated these with Tessa Tape and felt tape. Otherwise the dash is pretty solid, I haven't had any serious rattles or noises coming from it accept for the defrost plastic tapping the glass (changes depending on temperature, cold = more noticeable, hot= less noticeable).
Cheers!
-Icer
06-27-2023, 11:11 AM
#9
New Member
Thread Starter
Which dash rattle(s) are you experiencing. There are different fixes for each, but if you have the defrost vent area tapping the glass, there's a few different options. Some just jam a piece of felt in there, I think a cleaner solution would something like this. I haven't tried this out myself yet, but it's on my list. Overall the dashboard in the 350Z is pretty solid with very few noise issues. Most of the noises come from the rear hatch/trunk area, seats, B-pillar moldings, and doors.
I've seen reports of the passenger side knee plate making some noise, I used dynomat to insulate the knee plate and it's mounting brackets. I also used Tessa tape around the wire harness that may have been making contact on hard plastics or body/metal. Finally, I checked all the harness mount locations for anything loose and I did discover some connectors in the passenger footwell corner (ECM ground harness) to be very loose and potentially rattle under the right conditions. I insulated these with Tessa Tape and felt tape. Otherwise the dash is pretty solid, I haven't had any serious rattles or noises coming from it accept for the defrost plastic tapping the glass (changes depending on temperature, cold = more noticeable, hot= less noticeable).
Cheers!
-Icer
I've seen reports of the passenger side knee plate making some noise, I used dynomat to insulate the knee plate and it's mounting brackets. I also used Tessa tape around the wire harness that may have been making contact on hard plastics or body/metal. Finally, I checked all the harness mount locations for anything loose and I did discover some connectors in the passenger footwell corner (ECM ground harness) to be very loose and potentially rattle under the right conditions. I insulated these with Tessa Tape and felt tape. Otherwise the dash is pretty solid, I haven't had any serious rattles or noises coming from it accept for the defrost plastic tapping the glass (changes depending on temperature, cold = more noticeable, hot= less noticeable).
Cheers!
-Icer
06-27-2023, 11:12 AM
#10
New Member
Thread Starter
Which dash rattle(s) are you experiencing. There are different fixes for each, but if you have the defrost vent area tapping the glass, there's a few different options. Some just jam a piece of felt in there, I think a cleaner solution would something like this. I haven't tried this out myself yet, but it's on my list. Overall the dashboard in the 350Z is pretty solid with very few noise issues. Most of the noises come from the rear hatch/trunk area, seats, B-pillar moldings, and doors.
I've seen reports of the passenger side knee plate making some noise, I used dynomat to insulate the knee plate and it's mounting brackets. I also used Tessa tape around the wire harness that may have been making contact on hard plastics or body/metal. Finally, I checked all the harness mount locations for anything loose and I did discover some connectors in the passenger footwell corner (ECM ground harness) to be very loose and potentially rattle under the right conditions. I insulated these with Tessa Tape and felt tape. Otherwise the dash is pretty solid, I haven't had any serious rattles or noises coming from it accept for the defrost plastic tapping the glass (changes depending on temperature, cold = more noticeable, hot= less noticeable).
Cheers!
-Icer
I've seen reports of the passenger side knee plate making some noise, I used dynomat to insulate the knee plate and it's mounting brackets. I also used Tessa tape around the wire harness that may have been making contact on hard plastics or body/metal. Finally, I checked all the harness mount locations for anything loose and I did discover some connectors in the passenger footwell corner (ECM ground harness) to be very loose and potentially rattle under the right conditions. I insulated these with Tessa Tape and felt tape. Otherwise the dash is pretty solid, I haven't had any serious rattles or noises coming from it accept for the defrost plastic tapping the glass (changes depending on temperature, cold = more noticeable, hot= less noticeable).
Cheers!
-Icer
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