How To: Stop the P5 spoiler from rattling!

[ChopstickHero]

Materials needed:

Flat head screwdriver
Phillips screwdriver
Deep socket (size 10 metric) and ratchet
Sharp Exacto Knife
Masking tape
3/16" thick weatherstripping
2 beers

1. Open hatch and locate the 4 plastic covers on the underside of the hatch

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1522-vi.jpg


2. Wrap up your flat head screwdrive with masking tape and pop out the plastic covers. if it's cold, the plastic may crack or deform a little. but careful not to scratch up your paint (hence, using masking tape). Repeat for all 4 covers.

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1523-vi.jpg


3. Use your phillips screwdriver to take out one screw. you should only need to take out one screw and leave the other screw in b/c it will swivel.

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1524-vi.jpg


4. To detach the parking brake wire, pull out the wire and detach the little white clip.

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1526-vi.jpg


5. Take your deep socket metric 10 size and ratchet to loosen and remove the bolts that attach the spoiler to the hatch. becareful not to drop them inside the hatch or else you'll have a b!tch of a time taking them out. if you do drop it, use a magnetic picker upper or a piece of wire with some tape attached to it. repeat for all 4 bolts.

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1525-vi.jpg


6. There are 2 clips that attach the spoiler to the hatch. Remove the spoiler by pulling spoiler upward, away from the hatch. Also, there is a rubber grommet that prevents water from entering the hatch, wiggle it and pop that out too.

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1538-vi.jpg


7. This is the part that rattles. The black plastic surrounding the brake light is the piece vibrating against the spoiler. Remove the 7 screws that hold this black plastic to the underside of the spoiler. There are actually more holes than screws (7 screws and 9 holes), so remember where the screws came from.

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1527-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1528-vi.jpg


8. The weatherstripping that i used was 3/16" thickness. you could use a thinner one, but i wanted to be sure there would be enough dampening.

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1531-vi.jpg


9. Cut the appropriate lengths of weatherstripping on each side of the brake light. tape them securely, making sure that the tape is evenly spaced and not sticking out anywhere.
http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1535-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1532-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1533-vi.jpg


10. You may find that when test fitting the black plastic and spoiler, the weatherstripping foam maybe a little thick. Begin to insert the screws and you will see that the weatherstripping will compress nicely between the black plastic and spoiler. do some test fitting so that the weather stripping fits correctly. make sure you tighten the screws on the brake light as well.

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1534-vi.jpg


11. At this point, i used a sharp exacto knife and trimmed the weather stripping. it cuts very easily and i wanted a cleaner look.

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1537-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1536-vi.jpg
Johnny5 being very helpful with the project and playing Vice City....


12. Before installing the spoiler back, make sure to clean the spoiler and hatch areas. Now install in the reverse order of removal.


13. Done! Now open your beers and blast some tunes and enjoy some of the bass instead of the damn spoiler rattle! I had NO spoiler rattle whatsoever .... but did hear some rattle in the bumper ... :crazy: ... but that's another How-To.

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1539-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1540-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/7/73230/550051/115_1541-vi.jpg
Johnny5 gives his seal of approval!

[cbcbd]

Nice write up. I'll have to check to see if I do have this rattle. I have other rattles that are more apparent that I yet have to tackle.

[YlowP5]

Great, easy to follow write-up. I haven't noticed a rattle in the spoiler... I'll have to crank the bass, get out of my car and listen for the rattle.

[ChopstickHero]

Thanks for the compliments. It was really easy to do.

I only have one 12" Alpine Type-S with about 200W RMS... and it rattles like a mofo!

after i got rid of the spoiler rattle, i found 2 other rattles in the bumper; one on the left side and one on the right side. apparently they are some kind of wind noise reducing hard rubber/plastic fins that are on the sides of the bumper. if you open your jack access, put your hand through that hole and you can feel it vibrating if you have your subs on. it'll be harder to get to this, but i'm gonna try soon.

[NRRfrogmanP5]

thats prolly what rattles on my car...i never thought of it bein the spoiler

[DeanSweet]

Great write up on how to remove it.
I just applied a couple strips of dynamat to the inside back of mine and voila, no more rattle. Same idea, just removes the chance of that pos plastic from vibrating against the glass.

[ottawaP5]

Shouldn't you drink the beers while working?

[Douggie]

Great job! This is the stuff that makes this forum so great! (thumb)

[ChopstickHero]

Originally posted by ottawaP5
Shouldn't you drink the beers while working?

that could work too. but being 11am when i was working on this, i had to wait at least an hour... just to tell myself that i'm not an alcoholic... :D but the beers were flowing just after noon ... (drinks)

[CitizenPro]

I had the same rattling....in the spoiler and inside of the bumpers! I got rid of my sub awhile back, but ill be getting some more....ill be sure to use this "How-To" to stop it.

[RAAZ227]

good write! Felt like I was reading a color instruction manual! :D

[nightbluknight]

Man I must say that due to the beat out that I have in my MP5 this info was highly need. Thanx cat for the post. 1

[black&chromep5]

good post i will be doin some work before long. thats my main rattle and all i have is 2 kicker comp 12's but gettin rid of them for 2 solo barics or 2 w6 12s. and im sure ill have a fe more after gettin them.

[niko]

dang, i feel stoopid!! i just put up a thread on asking how to stop vibration in the wing!! sorry guys ill go delete it! thanks!!


peace....

[niko]

gonna do it this weekend! the rattling is horrible!

chopstick hero...thanks alot! was thinking bout putiing the dynamat but well see! i also noticed a rattle on the right side of the rear bumber! real suttle tho, not as bad as the spoiler! but again thanks! ill let you know how it turned out! the liscense plate is a prob too! not a biggie tho! just the real deep bass songs! thinking bout using double sided tape to just hold but i dunno? got n-e-other ideas for this one?

[misbehave]

Thanks so much for the well put together instruction!!!

[ChopstickHero]

Originally posted by niko
gonna do it this weekend! the rattling is horrible!

chopstick hero...thanks alot! was thinking bout putiing the dynamat but well see! i also noticed a rattle on the right side of the rear bumber! real suttle tho, not as bad as the spoiler! but again thanks! ill let you know how it turned out! the liscense plate is a prob too! not a biggie tho! just the real deep bass songs! thinking bout using double sided tape to just hold but i dunno? got n-e-other ideas for this one?

yeah those flaps at the side are hard rubber flaps that help with trunk ventilation. you could remove your bumper and try to glue or add some weather stripping there to prevent them from vibrating.

[niko]

thasnk! ill go check into that! i also noticed a rattle UNDER my car! hows that one! haha!

[Brian MP5T]

Nice "LOD" level Of Detail!!

[MP5s Make Ready]

Thanks man!!

That rattle is amazing, I only have 1 10" Alpine Type E sub, and it rattles like crazy.....

[misbehave]

What does the rattling sound like?
I seem never notice any of it.
Or maybe it's just my hearing not too well.

[ChopstickHero]

hard to explain, but it just sounds like plastic vibrating everytime the bass hits.... kinda like a bzzzz bzzzzzz sound. it's unmistakeable cuz nothing else should be vibrating (unless it's your license plate).

[niko]

from the inside its hard to tell but if you get out of your car and stand in front your hatch youll notice it! hahaha! its like this *BRRRAAANNNGG BRRRAANNGGG* what sucked was i was gonna video the noise before and after doing this but never did it before! but maybe ill vid a after!



peace.....

[Mxyzptlk]

Pics no worky :(

[ChopstickHero]

Originally posted by Mxyzptlk
Pics no worky :(

really? works for me. try clearing your browser cache and reloading the page.


update: still no vibrations, so it's holding well. also went through the frikkin -40C cold weather in Canada, so it's durable thus far.

[Mxyzptlk]

Spoiler rattle has moved to either bumper or new exhaust...

[mazda2002]

Since I have read this post, I have gone wether stripping happy, I have used about 30feet of the stuff and I still hear rattles everywhere in my car when I blast the subs.

Anyway, I wanted to say that it worked very well on the plastic over the rear speakers on my LX, it is essentially the same procedure,very easy.

[GRMYSZN]

I did almost the same thing except I put the weatherstrip between the glass and the spoiler and it doesn't rattle anymore. My license plate was the worst thing to rattle but I put some behind there as well. Now if I could only find a way to get the guage cluster and the rear windshield wiper to stop rattling.

[RicesP5]

Nice how to... Doesnt make me feel as dumb as some of the ones wiht no pics and just words that dont describe what your looking for.. Prolly do this one this weekend, after that is gonna be on how to finger out how to get rid of the bumper, license plate, exhuast,gauge cluster,and the door panels from rattling a bit.. Btw the rattling is insane when you have 4 10's that hit really low low bass... i thought something was breaking when i first heard it

[RichMP5ard]

Great Job on the "HowTo" NICE PICS!~ They really helped.

I actually ran the weather stripping between the spoiler and the window. Worked like a charm. My rattle was so bad, even the idle of my exhaust was rattling the spoiler. :D

[RedKatanax9]

Nicee! Just did it today, thanks for the instruct. It worked great. (2thumbs) Now, what about the damn bumper rattling?? I could only hear it outside the car, but still nuts. (crazy) It's coming from inside the left and right bumper, so can't see it, can't touch it, would have to take off the bumper to check what's quaking! :confused:

[TeamPlayers]

I had the same rattle after I stopped the spoiler, but then I said to hell with it cause it will be a never ending battle as long as there is a sub in the trunk.

[RedKatanax9]

I had the same rattle after I stopped the spoiler, but then I said to hell with it cause it will be a never ending battle as long as there is a sub in the trunk.

Ya but at least it will be as little as possible. Although there really isn't as much rattle as I was expecting when I was putting in two 10" JLs. The bass is as tight as a nun's ______(insert inappropriate metaphors here.) and I luuuv it! :D

[bigj884]

just completed this mod....excellently done........cant think you enough.......now just need to paint the weatherstripping to match the color of the car......gray and black dont match.......will paint it later.....

[ChopstickHero]

just completed this mod....excellently done........cant think you enough.......now just need to paint the weatherstripping to match the color of the car......gray and black dont match.......will paint it later.....

nice, glad to see people trying this out.

just to update, I've sold my car to my brother, but last time i saw the car (April 2005), the weather stripping is still in great shape. remember, this has survived grueling Canadian winters. anyways, it's still effective against the damn spoiler rattle. i never got to those metal panels that rattle under the rear bumper skin. maybe adding some dynamat can kill the vibration.

[2003newlyack]

i just did this to my car, and it worked perfectly!! great job on the write-up too (thumb)

[ScaryFast]

I just followed this how-to on my car as well and it worked great. when I got the car I noticed rattle and tracked it to the center of the brake light housing where it touched the spoiler and jammed some stuff in there which seemed to help for a while, till it fell out. This past week it's been driving me nuts because I could hear the rattle loud inside on some music.

The difference between driving the car earlier today and now is like night and day, music sounds so much better without that little rattle in the background. After doing this "mod" though I discovered that there's a slight rattle between the spoiler and glass so I might have to put a couple squares of stripping in there too to stop that. My license plate still rattles though even though I've put stripping in there. I'll have to try something else, maybe some double sided tape so the license plate frame stops bouncing against the plate.

[Phoenix5]

Thanx Mike!This'll come in handy when I hopefully get my MTX 10" back to bumpin'!

[Thieu]

Did this today. Worked great. I added the "missing" 2 screws to the black piece that attaches to the spoiler itself to be sure that nothing will rattle. I actually bought 5/16" stripping which was too thick.. but I ended up being able to trim it down to fit.

[scaumster]

cannot find the clips to remove the hatchafter removing all 4 screws...anybody. Right in the middle of the process now..cheers!!!

[scaumster]

Hey All,

Found clips...great How 2 btw! One piece of advice when taking out the 4 screws prior to removing the spoiler. You may just drop the screw in there as it states in the instructions so be careful. What I did was have by buddy close the hatch so the mirror was flush with the roof and I undid each screw with the ratchet. This was if the screw did fall, it would increase it's chnaces of gong through the hole as opposed to inside the shell of the hatch (which would be a real bit#$ ) All sounds great, played "Going Back to Cali" LL Cool J...great song for testing rattle. 10/10

[Tasty]

Did the mod today, rattle gone. Only thing that happened to me that was a bummer is the guiding tip of one of those clips broke off, and one of the little weatherseal circles around the screw hole tore in half. I put some weather strip in a U shape above the hole. I don't think it will be a problem though (I hope) because the hatch does have drain holes in the bottom, and I don't think any small amount of water that may enter there will drain onto the headliner. I don't want a water stain in my ride. Anyway, after the mod Tupac's "So Many Tears" no longer caused me to shed having to listen to spoiler vibrations.

[Quigz]

Hi guys,

I just finished doing this fix this evening. The walkthrough is great by the way! I decided to go with a 1/8" weatherstripping instead of 3/16". Either way seems to work, but I think the 1/8" stuff is easier to work with. When I did it I also added little bits of weatherstripping to the tabs on the edge of the black plastic piece that sit against the rear windshield just to be on the safe side.

Just a side note.. Make sure you have a 10mm deep socket before you start pulling everything apart. I thought I would be able to get by without it, but I ended up having to take a trip to Home Depot halfway through the work.

Cheers!

[musiclikscreams]

mine rattles like mad. i could cough and make it rattle. once i get some time i'm definately gonna do this. props on the write up

[2xsess]

Here's how I fixed my spoiler rattle
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s46/kresge1975/DCP_0135.jpg
Ok, joking aside, I was getting ready to follow this amazing how-to right before I got the awesome deal on the Erebuni spoiler. That spoiler rattle is awful.
Has anyone had any luck with the flapper things behind the rear bumper cover?

[BadKarma]

Hmm... Never considered the spoiler. I have a bit of a clunk from the rear when I hit bumps, doubt it's the spoiler, but I'll have to check into it after reading this. Thanks! ;)

[mazdaspeed777]

Subbin... Mine finally started rattling now so time to do this

[mazdaspeed777]

Hmm... Never considered the spoiler. I have a bit of a clunk from the rear when I hit bumps, doubt it's the spoiler, but I'll have to check into it after reading this. Thanks! ;)

This deffinately isn't from the spoiler. You will usually only hear the spoiler rattle at high way speads unless its real loose. Most likely your clunk is from your rear sway bar or from the struts, or just something loose in the back of your car like the spair tire or jack.

[SoonP5ismine]

Hey! thanks for the info on this. i did this last night except i modified it somewhat to make sure i dont get any rattles ever again. i used a D type of weather striping from home depot which cost about 6$ for 17 feet. (Frost King X-Treme Rubber Weatherseal 3/8" wide 1/4"thick). Its gray so its visible a but it looks stock as i applied it perfectly even. after taking off the spoiler i noticed quite alot of paint and window scratches that the spoiler created over the 4 years i have the car so now i have every surface of the spoiler that was within 3 milimeters from the window or door surface covered with the weatherseal. i did this in 35F temperature and it was no problem. if anyone needs pics let me know and ill try to take some one day.

[i12drivemyMP5]

I think the trick here is to make sure that, at some sort of regular intervals, some bikes get hauled using a rack that clings to the back door standing on the back bumper so that the top straps pull down on the wing keeping the rattle from ever getting a foothold. Caution: Always make sure to have a bumper protector for the rack to stand on.