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Okay, same problem here. I spent some time on this and I think I have a fix that works. Try it and see if I'm crazy:
First off, I didn't want to take the door panel off, so I didn't. You can access it without disconnecting the wire (inside door panel), but I highly recommend that you roll down the window and wrap a towel underneath the mirror (scratch prevention...). On second thought, don't even detach the mirror assembly from the car. I did, but discovered that I didn't really have to.
Remove the mirror as shown in the diagrams (thanks Go48, you're the man). Getting the mirror out itself is a bit unnatural feeling, but I assure you it just pops out. I highly recommend that you follow the instructions as to the order to do the popping.
Once the mirror is off you'll notice that the top panel of the assembly (body color) has some snap tabs on the inside. Squeze them, remove that panel and set it aside.
The remaining portion of the assembly has some cavities and solid flat parts that the body colored piece covered. I placed some thin sheets of foam rubber (sticky backed from Hobby Lobby or Michael's) on the flat surfaces there. Pop back the body colored panel and the mirror (a bit tricky again, but you'll get it) and rock and roll.
It seems to have done the trick for me. I'll let you know if that changes.
Fasto, thanks for the help on this one. I just tried it; we'll see later if the rattle has been killed.
One note, though. With a long, skinny flathead screwdriver, you can reach the tabs holding the painted cover on WITHOUT removing the actual mirror. Release the outside tab first, with the mirror in the position shown in the pics above. Push the outside of the mirror out, and you can reach the others. Then release the inside top tab, then the inside bottom tab. Voila! Just be ready to catch the cover after the last tab; it WILL jump off the car if you're not ready for it.
This worked for me, thank christ because that rattle was really annoying. I had some leftover weatherstripping that came with my window ac that I used to pad the cover.
MadDashRX8 is right though, you can get the cover off without removing the mirror using a long screwdriver.
Even though this is a HELLA old thread, just wanted to say thanks to all the guys who helped solve this issue long ago. I had this issue as well on my 05' 8, and was thankfully able to follow all the instructions in this to get it fixed.
With that said, though I would share some pictures of how to get the freaking mirror and mirror housing off to fix the issue (for anyone else who attempts this in the future).
Picture 1: shows what the mirror motor mounts look like when you pull the mirror off. You literally just pull the mirror off, but just be slow and gentle when you do to avoid breaking any of the plastic between the mirror and motor ball mounts.
Picture 2: the two types of foam tape I put on the mirror frame to cushion the mirror cover(painted silver piece). The first strips I put on were about 1mm thick. After cover reinstall, found rattle still present. Came back with the 5/16" rubber foam, which did stop the rattle.
Picture 3: Picture of the rubber 5/16" foam I used
Picture 4 & 5: Picture of the mirror cover inside front and bottom view. The plastic tabs have to one by one be depressed away from the mirror frame one-by-one before the cover will come off. Otherwise some of the tabs will likely break off when you go to remove it.
Hope this helps someone else in the future who got as pissed off by this "phhhhhhooooooongggg" rattle as I did... lol
As a related a side nugget, if you have a lot of rattle in the cabin as I did... it sounds crazy... but check your glove box. There's a sheet metal barrier inside the outter and inner shell that can give off A TON of noise. Shoot a boat-load of Great Stuff in there by taking off the handle, and "VOILA", no more cabin rattle.
12-17-2005, 04:20 PM
Rattle noises l/f mirror
