Not had any of these issues but why not to use your Tesla app and actually book a service for these faults. Surely it is covered under warranty...

 

Now Hubert I know I probably could do that but I feel like such a tw4t booking it in for "an annoying rattle". Especially if someone else has had them and they are like "yeah squirt some silicon on the mounts and it's all good".

If nobody has self-repaired this easily then I might just give the wonder can a go and see what happens and if it doesn't help then I'll have to swallow my embarrassment and book it in.

 

Fully agree Graham (at least for the rear seats) but the drivers door rattle might actually be something Tesla mobile service will actually be required.

 

One trick I was told by another Tesla owner about the back seat....If you pull (just pull) the side boolsters (the piece between the back of the seat and the door) you will see empty space behind. Put tea towel or if you have a piece of foam. Pack it tightly and clip the pieces back. The car becoming quieter because this is the top of the wheel arches and the squeaks are gone. Try it. I've done it to both sides and the decibeles inside the car went from 74dB to 71dB

 

One trick I was told by another Tesla owner about the back seat....If you pull (just pull) the side boolsters (the piece between the back of the seat and the door) you will see empty space behind. Put tea towel or if you have a piece of foam. Pack it tightly and clip the pieces back. The car becoming quieter because this is the top of the wheel arches and the squeaks are gone. Try it. I've done it to both sides and the decibeles inside the car went from 74dB to 71dB

View attachment 189373

Do you mean the space above the cables or the space next to the tether icon on seat (or both)? Will certainly look at doing this, have plenty of foam kicking about.

I haven’t investigated yet but I’m planning on it when the weather improves. Also thought about cleaning and treating the p(leather) as it seems to squeak quite a lot and should be more supple when treated. I did notice the plastic trim of the parcel shelf seemed quite rattly when I put the seats down.

 

@Padrino how easy is it to get those bolsters off? I'd be very worried about getting them off and then not being able to getting them back on.

 

Grab the top and just pull with a snap movement towards you (away from the back) they are hold by metal clips and are very, VERY sturdy. You will not brake anything.
After you are done just pres back in.

 

Yes I have fixed all the rattles squeaks coming from the rear seats.
lots of different places it could be, they can also be adjusted from the 40/60 split bracket. It’s hard to define and say what to fix until i could hear what it is. As for the door rattle another easy fix. Probably the cable for the emergency release vibrating.
If you lived close I could have fixed this for you!!

 

Yes I have fixed all the rattles squeaks coming from the rear seats.
lots of different places it could be, they can also be adjusted from the 40/60 split bracket. It’s hard to define and say what to fix until i could hear what it is. As for the door rattle another easy fix. Probably the cable for the emergency release vibrating.
If you lived close I could have fixed this for you!!

Actually thanks anyways, the fact that you reckon you know what it is in the door that is vibrating is great I might use that quote (unattributed naturally) in the ticket I think I will put in to Tesla. It does kind of have that vibe, my instinct was that it sounded like something like a cable or similar trapped between the door panel and the door structure hence the lightest of pressure on the panel stopping it immediately.

I mean it was a 44 grand car, I should be able to expect some freedom from rattles for a year or two. My guess is the service guys get quite a few of these types of call out.

So for the rears, would a splash of the old three in one on the support mounts potentially help do you think? I should I just whack them on the ticket too and let Tesla Guy sort.

 

Good tip about the rear wheel arches, think I'll try that myself. I put some old carpet in the frunk after reading something elsewhere about that being a source of noise and it seemed to help.
I would say that the M3 is a disappointingly noisy car for an EV. Our Kia Niro is much quieter, and it's by no means class leading, and it has much comfier seats than the Tesla.

 

I did the rear seats on mine. Incredibly easy to do, takes about 5 minutes to remove them, bung a washer on and job done

 

I think I've already watched some dude on the YT do that, must admit didn't look difficult but surely Elonski sorted that one on more recently built cars.

Just like a thickish nylon washer IIRC.

 

Soundproofing An Older Tesla Model 3 - CleanTechnica

Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. In my recent article about reaching 100,000 miles in my 2019 Tesla Model 3, I mentioned how I got it acoustic dampened professionally. With so many used Model 3s being available on the market today, I thought it would be...

cleantechnica.com

 

Having a skim through that article it seems a lot of work and expense for at best equivocal results. The road noise I am not as bothered about so I certainly wouldn't go for something like that, for me if I could just resolve the couple of rattly bits that have come to the fore (which to be honest are hardly a hardship) then I would be delighted and that would be enough for me.

Righto I think it is time to put in a Service Call on the Driver's door. I am considering whether to mention the rear seats too, but my guess is a tech will only work to resolve what is there, so they wouldn't be adding in new washers and so on anyways. Maybe there is just something on the rear seats that needs tightening. I might just leave the call at the driver's door and then when a tech arrives I'll have a chat to them about the rears for some advice.

 

So I booked a Service call and I'm in next week for drivers door rattle and rear seats. Yesterday managed to persuade Mrs Scorzon to drive a while and I sat in the back, first time ever.

Turns out the rear seat rattles are no such thing, they are further back in the rear parcel shelf area. I've been 3 in 1 Siliconing the shit out of everything the last few days anyways just in case and did the boot lid hinges thoroughly but the rattly sound from back there persists.

I'm off to update the service call 😁

 

Right just for info purposes in case anyone experiences this, after some further checking and footling on my part I backtracked and became convinced that the issue centred around the clasp points in the back of the rear seats where they grab the retaining loops. This was sort of confirmed because with the seat backs down the rattling essentially stopped.

Anyways, after some rearranging mostly to suit me, the TR arrived good and early today, nice guy called Chris, very laid back, as soon as I described the rear seat issue he pretty much knew what it likely was, he had a tap around, said "yep, seen before" and got on with it. He tightened up the rear seat back clasps or whatever etc while I sat inside eating a fat subway.

He also had the driver's door panel off to tighten up all the retaining clips to sort that annoying buzzy rattle too and without me realizing it he replaced the instrument panel speaker grille (narrow black cover that sits just under the bottom most part of the windscreen). Apparently this is subject to deformation under intense heat conditions (I suspect aimed more at USA and Oz) but as the subject of a non urgent recall he just fixed it anyways as a courtesy.

He was only here 45 mins or so and that included the 5 minute test drive that we took to confirm it. All nasty rattlyness gone now and I am at one with the world.......... hmmmmm, now I'm sure I had some errands that I needed to run and dash it all, would you look at that, I forgot to charge up the Leaf last night...........

 

My model S refresh (2021 Plaid) has the squeaky rear seats. Goes away with rear a passenger/s, or with one of either rear seat back down. Appears to be an issue with rear seat latches and body twist causing seat backs pushing on the other causing the latch to squeak. Just discovered this. Will not start on a solution.

 

Well interestingly I'm booked in again this Friday as the rear seat rattle/creak/squeak came back after a few weeks worse than ever. I'm my case with rear seat passengers in it's horrific and I'm now deeply embarrassed to have people other than immediate family riding in the rear of the car it's so bad.

Definitely to do with the contact points between seat backs and rear parcel shelf. Seat backs forward it doesn't happen. With car stationary if I just reach in to the rear seat area, grab the top of the seat and just wiggle it a bit it makes the same horrible noises.

Definitely not right on any new car let alone a fairly pricey one. Will keep you posted.

 

Hi Scorzon, did you ever get to the bottom of this? I have a similar problem and wondered if you found a lasting solution. Many thanks.

 

It's been a minor saga Russ. Initially a visit from the ranger who tightened up a couple of bits, OK for a short while then back worse than ever, constant click clack especially with passengers in the back when it got quite intrusive.
Visit to Serv Cent and they tackled it with a change of a part of some kind and that seemed to be a lot better but again within a few months it has gradually come back to some degree.
To be honest it is still much better than it was so right now, given I'll hand it back at PCP end I am just going to put up with it and then hope the Highland I replace it with doesnt have that issue.
I'm sorry I don't have more detail, I get bored pretty quick when a service guy is describing stuff so all I hear is something something tightened or blah blah replaced a something or other.
Bear in mind that after the first year of warranty is up rattles and squeaks are not covered in general.

 

Many thanks for the update. I have a Model 3 Highland standard range that I bought new July last year and have only noticed the creaking noise in the last couple of months since it’s warmed up. I’ve only done 6k miles. It only happens on uneven residential roads, on all other surfaces it’s fine. If I can’t find the culprit, I must get it booked in before July if they only cover squeaks and rattles for the first 12 months. Thanks again.

 

Yeah don't worry about looking daft, which I did, just book it in, you pay a lot for this car, you should expect a decent amount of time free from creaks, squeaks and rattles.