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Sunglass holder rattle fix!

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Some of you have the dreaded sunglass holder rattle, even without sunglasses in the compartment. If you have a subwoofer in your car you've probably noticed the rattle even more. It's an obnoxious rattle, and the fact that it's so close to your ear makes it even worse. The good news is, it's easy to fix, and despite the long process you'll see here, you can even fix the rattle without taking anything apart!

First I had to find the source of the problem, so I disassembled the overhead console to have a closer look (if you need instructions on that, let me know and I'll add the step by step for that too). Again, as you'll see, you won't need to take apart anything to fix this. I took it apart because I needed to figure out how what the problem was, and because I had bigger plans than just fixing the rattle (you'll see).


After a quick inspection the source of the rattle was obvious. One side of the lid has a molded in protrusion that acts as a stop, the other side does not have the same protrusion.

Side 1 (with):
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Side 2 (without):
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There is just enough play in the lid, due to only having a stop on one side, that all it takes is a rough road, or bass heavy song to make this bastard buzz like crazy.

The solution is to add a protrusion on the other side to eliminate this play. Simply add a dab of hot glue and be done, or...

I'm a nerd, so I have scrap model car parts in a box, so I used the tie rod off of some long forgotten plastic sports car. All you need is a thin rod made from whatever you can find around the house (for other activities a thick rod is preferred, but we will not be covering such activities in this thread ). A toothpick, or similar should work. A toothpick will likely be a bit thicker than what I used, you'll either need to thin it down (with fine sandpaper, or whittle it down with a sharp blade), or you can attach it further away from the corner of the lid where it will fit the gap better.

Lightly scuffing the area with some fine sandpaper will help to ensure the adhesion is good. Use some superglue, and a tiny clothes pin to clamp your rod down while the glue dries.

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If you're thinking "damn, I don't have any tiny clothes pins. I guess I can't do this project!" Don't worry, all you have to do is make sure your new piece gets glued in place, if you were careful with your super glue you can even pinch it between your fingers. If you're not careful with your superglue, then you'll glue your finger to the lid and think "damn, I wish I had used a tiny clothes pin."

Let the glue dry, then either reassemble, and reinstall. If you left it installed while you did this, then you're done, close the lid.

At this point you're probably saying "hey, GIJOE why didn't you do this in a fraction of the time with a small, carefully placed blob of hot glue or something?" To which I would probably reply, "mind your business, smarty pants." (for most of you, fixing this rattle can be that simple, but I took it a step further.)


Coming up is why you may want to remove the entire sunglass holder from the car, instead of leaving it installed. If you want to actually use the sunglass holder for sunglasses, you certainly don't want the sunglasses themselves clunking around causing yet another rattle, so do this...
 

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gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
So, you fixed the rattle, but now your sunglasses are rattling around inside. Why have a sunglass holder if you can't actually store your sunglasses in it? I've already sat on 1 pair of Persol sunglasses, I'm not trying to sit on another.

Lining the inside of the compartment is easy. I have some old speaker box carpet that I used for my subwoofer box, but you can use just about anything you can find. You won't want something as thin as a t-shirt, but you don't need to spend any money on speaker carpet, upcycle an old sweatshirt, or anything else that will be easy to cut to size and offer some cushion.

Step 1:

Separate the holder into its 2 halves, there is a spring on one side, don't lose it:
View attachment 175484

Remove the rubber liner, apply a piece of masking tape, and put the rubber liner back in as shown:
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Use a sharpie to make a line following the top edge of the liner. Remove the tape (keep the liner installed, if you can get the tape out, or put it back in after removing the tape) , and stick the tape to your chosen material. Make sure to make masking tape templates of both sides of the lid:

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Carefully cut along the line that you drew, test fit, and then cut the rest of your material down to a more appropriate size once you know how much you need to cover the entire side of the lid:

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With both sides cut out, line them up with the rubber liner and carefully glue them to their appropriate places. Don't get sloppy with the superglue, apply it in a thin layer with a toothpick, and be careful to keep the glue edge far enough away from liner that when you apply the fabric the glue doesn't spread out and get all over the liner (making a mess, and gluing it and your finger in place).

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Once the glue is dry, cut off the excess fabric with an x-acto knife and something cut resistant as a backer.
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Now that the sides of the lid are rattle free, you'll need to make a masking tape template for the top half of the holder. Apply a piece of tape to the inside of the upper section, and use a sharpie to mark the maximum width that you want the fabric to be. Line up your tape as shown following the natural line in the plastic as your guide. Pay close attention to where the tape line is, you cannot apply fabric above that line because the compartment won't close if the fabric is in the way. Also note how wide I made it.

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gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Transfer the tape to your material (you'll want a straight edge), and cut your material to the width you just measured. Carefully glue just the very top edge of your material to the upper plastic half.
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If you've gotten this far, you see where this is going. Glue the rest down, use a screwdriver, or panel tool to tuck the material along the creases, cut off your excess with your x-acto knive:

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Install the spring as shown, re-attach the top and bottom halves, re-install in the car, and have a rattle free sunglass holder that is actually useful now:

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torga

Autocross Champion
Great write-up! I just shimmed the gap between the sunglasses holder and the ceiling console with a small stack of index cards. Easy, hidden, and it's worked for over a year and counting.
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Great write-up! I just shimmed the gap between the sunglasses holder and the ceiling console with a small stack of index cards. Easy, hidden, and it's worked for over a year and counting.
Haha, for sure! I'll openly admit that there are much easier ways to fix this problem, haha.

I build SQ car stereos, so I go through great lengths to sound deaden, and keep rattles to a minimum. Pulling a couple of trim pieces off in order to identify the source of a rattle is nothing new to me. Now, I can store my nice sunglasses in the intended storage compartment, while still being about to listen to music enthusiastically without the stupid buzzing from just above my head ruining everything. As unnecessary as this project was to most people, it was a nice little touch that brings the car up to a standard that would have been nice from the factory, and it only took me an hour.
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
There are much easier ways of fixing this, for sure! I was disassembling it anyway to inspect how the parts worked, and to line the inside. I wouldn't necessarily recommend going through this much effort if all you need to do is fix the lid rattle, but maybe the photos are useful for someone who may want to take it apart as well.
 

dbworld4k

New member
Great write-up! I just shimmed the gap between the sunglasses holder and the ceiling console with a small stack of index cards. Easy, hidden, and it's worked for over a year and counting.
This did it for me, too! Picked up a MK6 and this rattle was constant at all times the car was moving. Drove me nuts. Shoved a few folded business cards up there and it's dead silent! Thank you for the tip.
 
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