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Old 01-22-2011, 12:09 AM   #1
Kontankerous
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Default 2011 Impreza WRX/STI Sedan Rear Shelf - Stopping The Rattle [Part I]

I call this Part I, because i will eventually get down to the entire car as I slowly progress to other areas during the installs of aftermarket bliss.

I started off with the rear shelf because that and the front door panels are the most annoying thus far in the rattle dept. Plus I removed the rear shelf plastics so I could get closer to the rear window to install my tint (although it didn't provide me with much extra room].

Step I:

Disassemble the rear c-pillar trim. The piece closest to the rear window comes out first. The top most corner is held on by a plastic push rivet. Be careful as you pull the front trailing edge, it does just snap in 3/4 of the way into the rear triangle surround plastic, but you have a metal push clip that you will need a flat head to depress the tab to release (unless you have REALLY small hands).





Step II:

Pop off the bolt cover on the rear triangle glass surround. Using a 10mm socket remove the 3 bolts securing the rest of the c-pillar in place. Gently pull to release the one plastic pin, slide the surround down the seat belt to where it sits safely on the back of the lower rear seatback.





Step III:

Remove the rear brake light assembly (if you have it). Held on underneath the shelf with two 10mm bolts and a plastic clip toward the rear of the assembly (front of the car). Unhook the wiring harness and remove light.

There are 2 plastic pins holding the rear shelf plastic in at the front left and right corners you need to remove (rear seat back of course has to be down to see and get to these). Gently/firmly pull out and up on the front lip of the plastic shelf to release.

Underneath (from inside the trunk)you will notice 3 accessible WHITE pins. Using a pair of needle nose, gently pinch and push up. There are a total of 5 pins, you can only get to 3 of them.

Gently pull up on the front of the shelf plastic to release the 2 front white pins and you should now be able to maneuver the plastic out off the shelf exposing the wiring for the airbags, brake light, defroster, and keyless module.

**I'll grab some pics of this, I forgot***
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Old 01-22-2011, 12:10 AM   #2
Kontankerous
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Step IV:
There are 6 points of contact that I found that cause the rattle.
1-4 are the rear edge of the plastic shelf, it has 4 fins that are covered in an adhesive foam. You can see that it's worn through from rubbing the metal shelf underneath. i pointed out the spots on the metal shelf where you can see the rubbing from the plastic fins on the bottom of the plastic cover.










5 is the trailing edge of the plastic shelf where it touches the glass.



6 is the keyless module; it's a small metal clip suspending the module slightly above the metal shelf, the thin metal support flexes quite a bit allowing the module to vibrate against the metal. Remove this with a 10mm socket.

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Old 01-22-2011, 12:11 AM   #3
Kontankerous
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Step V:

Cut pieces of vibration dampening material, be it foam tape or butyl mat.



Place (4) 1.5"x.75" pieces where the 4 fins rub against the shelf.





Take a roll of .25 foam weatherstrip and adhere it to the trailing edge of the plastic shelf covering (topside where it meets the window).



Cut another 1.5"x3" piece of butyl mat or foam tape and adhere it where the keyless module



Step VI:

Install everything in reverse order of removing it.

Step VII:

Drive around and ask yourself, "Why the hell didn't I do this before".
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Old 01-22-2011, 12:34 AM   #4
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very nice. . . . i always figured it was the plastic covers over the hooks for a car seat because i after i used them they grew alot louder.

i really need to stop being lazy and fix this rattle, im just going to sound dampen the whole area
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Old 01-22-2011, 03:31 PM   #5
deanesn
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Very nice write up. Finally someone brave to tackle this problem. I'm definitely doing this as soon as it warns up outside. Thanks a lot.
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Old 04-02-2011, 12:42 PM   #6
101101
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Any chance you could update this thread when you do more rattle tracking down in other places? I had this same issue in my sedan and this thread was very useful.
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Old 04-02-2011, 02:11 PM   #7
chester09
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Just a heads up, I took my car to the dealership and they did all this for me for free under warranty, even the rear shelf. For the doors they knew were the rattles were and for the rear deck I showed them where I thought the rattles were coming from. Been a month now and still no rattles
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Old 04-02-2011, 07:27 PM   #8
Stu_Gotti
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Nice write-up, thanks man!
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Old 04-05-2011, 01:45 AM   #9
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I took my car to the dealer today to ask them about fixing my rattles after mentioning this thread, they said they couldn't recreate it after going out on a 5-min drive with it. They said they don't want to tear it apart for nothing.

I heard the rattling on the back shelf pretty much as soon as I was exiting the place and my drive home.
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Old 04-05-2011, 07:34 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Omutax View Post
I took my car to the dealer today to ask them about fixing my rattles after mentioning this thread, they said they couldn't recreate it after going out on a 5-min drive with it. They said they don't want to tear it apart for nothing.

I heard the rattling on the back shelf pretty much as soon as I was exiting the place and my drive home.
when I go in for rattles, I ask for a tech to go out with me right off so I can recreate and point out for them the rattles. I have one in each front door to point out when they get worse.
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Old 04-11-2011, 06:45 PM   #11
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Over the weekend I did this but when I took off my shelf I didn't have as much wear as you do (there was some wear). I did the foam on the contact points to play it safe but also put the soft side of velcro on all plastic pieces (C pillar components) where plastic-on-plastic contact would occur. If you do it right, you can't see the velcro once the pieces are installed.

These two things combined eliminated all squeaks / rattles from the rear of my sedan.
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Old 05-23-2011, 12:14 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 101101 View Post
Over the weekend I did this but when I took off my shelf I didn't have as much wear as you do (there was some wear). I did the foam on the contact points to play it safe but also put the soft side of velcro on all plastic pieces (C pillar components) where plastic-on-plastic contact would occur. If you do it right, you can't see the velcro once the pieces are installed.

These two things combined eliminated all squeaks / rattles from the rear of my sedan.
Also did this this weekend, but im having problems with the lower piece of the panel below that is closest to the windshield not staying "clipped" in place. I used the quotations, because all i can see are two little notches that i guess are supposed to hold it in?? To clarify what im talking about, its the section in the upper right corner of this photo.

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Old 05-23-2011, 06:59 AM   #13
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I don't remember that from doing it; to further make you disappointed, the rattle came back in mine. I'm guessing the velcro fuzz got compressed over time and lost its padding ability. I ordered some single-side foam tape from McMaster-Carr and if it doesn't rain will replace the velcro this weekend (and take off the plastic shelf cover again to measure for more padding).
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Old 08-04-2011, 11:59 AM   #14
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Sorry to bring up an old(er) thread, but this might be helpful.

I followed this procedure on my 2.5i (thanks for the tutorial by the way)! Although I noticed similar wear as you on the metal portion of the rear shelf, adding the butyl mat and weather stripping didn't seem to fix the rattling I was experiencing.

It turns out that the rattling was coming from the airbag brackets vibrating against the shell of the car. You can sorta see these brackets in the second picture of Step II in the OP. I could duplicate the noise by bumping the plastic piece surrounding the triangular window. Gently pushing on the airbag cylinder would make an audible clicking noise, so I figure a higher frequency vibration would sound more like a rattle.

At any rate, if you stick some butyl mat between the brackets and the shell of the car, the rattling disappears! (I tried tightening the bolts at first, but they were already fully tightened).
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Old 08-04-2011, 12:04 PM   #15
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anyone else getting a noise at the b pillar? i think its where the shoulder harness attaches.
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Old 08-04-2011, 12:07 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by n2oiroc View Post
anyone else getting a noise at the b pillar? i think its where the shoulder harness attaches.
yes, I patched it with a wad of napkins pushed into the seam of the pillar & deck. On my last visit to Subaru, they fixed it correctly.
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Old 09-27-2011, 07:25 PM   #17
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awesome! any updates?
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Old 09-29-2011, 11:16 PM   #18
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i was waiting for this thread to show up. that back deck is the loudest rattle.
happens when engine is struggling due to too low RPM.
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Old 10-23-2011, 11:53 PM   #19
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Finally got around to doing this fix today. Worked great. Thanks again for the write up.
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Old 10-24-2011, 02:12 PM   #20
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need to do this!
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Old 10-24-2011, 09:07 PM   #21
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Nice!
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Old 10-25-2011, 12:55 AM   #22
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i have the same issue on my 2010 hatch but seems the rattle comes from the headboard at the back. cant really find where the rattle is coming from.
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Old 11-04-2011, 02:39 AM   #23
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and i thought i was the only, great write up, gonna try it on my day off...temp fix i did that actually took most of the rattling out when im on the highway was .... stick pieces of folded cardboard around the plastic edges!..LOL...cured most of it, but i want to do it the correct way!
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Old 11-04-2011, 09:57 AM   #24
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I'm going to try this tomorrow but I'm going to Dynamat the whole rear shelf.
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Old 11-24-2011, 02:41 PM   #25
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So I have a weird tapping sound from the rear deck area (I think on the driver side). If I put the passenger-side rear seat down flat, the noise goes away. As soon as I snap it back in place the noise returns while driving.

I tried stuffing stuff behind the rear seat where it touches the deck, but no use. Any ideas?
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