Ive heard our cars/addictions referred to as rattletraps any number of times. What exactly does that mean? The obvious meaning really doesnt apply to mine. Minor ZF trannie noises (thats an unending story) yeah, and the bilsteins need rebuiling/replaced...same for door weatherstripping. But damn, my vette has 102,944 miles and feels tight! The steerings tight, the shifting is tight, she flies to redline like a rocket and she handles like shes on rails even with obviously worn bilsteins. What more do people expect??? :blueangel:

 

Over the years, the engineers made improvemnets to the interior.
Using velcro and stuff to keep interior parts from moving and rattling, stuff like that.
Even though by 1995 it was almost perfect, I still get some creaking here and there and a few rattles in the hatch area.

You want a real rattletrap? Try driving my UPS truck! It's a '97 and makes more noise than all our vettes put together!

 

Mine's tight too. Earlier C4s had it bad. Some people with later ones have compained but mine's quiet. My only rattle is an occasional vanity mirror lid rattle on the passenger side visor.

 

Mines pretty quiet considering... Although sometimes in reverse I have a nasty nasty rattle coming from the hatch latch.

 

Well, my C4 rattles from just about every interior component possible....just figure it's my car's way of talking to me...wouldn't change a thing! :D

 

I've got 1 annoying squeak (that I am real close to identifying), but mine is a 'vert with a little more body flex...

 

Heck...I thought they were SUPPOSED to do that :confused: :D
:seeya :flag

 

My dash is quiet, but my shock bushings are squeeky. No real rattles.

 

Ive noticed that mine seems to "flex" more when I have the roof panel off but I still dont get any rattles. I mean literally nothing makes any noise, thats why its always confused me why people call them rattletraps. Maybe I got lucky and mine was a mid day wednesday build, lol.

 

I don't need a horn and I can't hear my radio. hehe I'll get it all together one day...

 

Maybe they were riding in mine before I bought it! I bought an 85, with only 53000 miles, but it was VERY NEGLECTED! It rattles from everywhere, front, rear, top, sides, ect. This past weekend my power antenna broke on the way down, so the motor just kept running. I slide under the raer of car and see that there is no connector to unplug the antenna, so I followed the wires up into rear hatch area, and notice they head up towards the latch assy. As I go to take the screws out of the plastic panels, I find only two left! They were loose! :eek: This is just some of the things I've found on my neglected wonder! When I changed out the ECM last week, the panel under the dash has a 2" x 4" hole cut out in it! :confused: The I notice the outline of what looks to be a pot pipe in the foam on the backside of the panel! :eek: :eek: To make a very long story short, come to find out when my corvette was bought new the owner was a drug dealer. The car had been reposessed 2 times, then confiscated by the state! Then the guy I bought it from, was only 24 and also had a drug problem, so in the 2yrs. 5 months he owned the car he only put 1300 miles on it. The first summer he drove it, he was busted with transporting narcotics(in the two compartments behind the seats!) across state lines. His mother made the payments on the car for 23 months, then I bought it. Now I'm understanding why I have so many problems with the car running like poo, and the fact that almost everything on it needs to be tightened up! :lol: Oh well, at least I didn't pay much for it! :lol: :lol: :cheers:

 

I would tear that car down completely before I drove it across any international border! I bought a car once from a connected 'leasing' company and was constantly finding evidence of it's checkered past; bashed-in oil & trans pans and crushed brake lines under the car, shell casings throughout the interior. No large bags of drugs in the door panels, though.

[edit]
Halo, the roads obviously aren't as battered where you are as they are here in the land of salt/ice/plows/pork-barrel-misappropriations.

I keep a sheet of sticky-back felt dots in the rear bin. When a rattle develops, I pull over and pound on and disassemble things until I find the culprit. One dot later, I'm under way and rattle-free. Eventually I should be able to drive my car off a four-story parking garage and hear nothing.





[Modified by rocketfinger, 9:34 PM 10/1/2002]

 

I have a '90 with 47K miles on it and the real only noise is a somewhat irritating rear latch rattle when hitting bumps. I noticed the striker is worn on one side, so I'm thinking an adjustment needs made plus replacement of thr striker. Then its all, good - just some minor sqeaks that I actually love :flag Everything else is incredibly tight from the clutch to the shifter to the steering - which transfers to the very best handling car I've ever driven in my 39 years - which includes BMW's and Mercedes (4 of them)!!! :chevy

 

My '69 vert shook and twisted, but I didn't care. With Hooker side pipes, nobody noticed.

 

Mine was rattle free until i installed my sub and its still not that bad.

 

since i put my 383 in everything rattles.....even my eyeballs! :crazy: i still love it! :yesnod: :D

 

Im luccky the 90 is relatively tight. Not a C5 but qiet for a convertible, if i remember to shut the boot tite. Now my 84 had some noises but after 3 years and lots of work and money i had it quiet then i got rid of it. :cheers:

 

I have'nt noticed any rattles in mine. Maybe I have'nt had it long enough, or maybe my big grin when I'm driving it blocks up my ears :D

 

When I bought my son his '92 coupe, it had more rattles and noises than I would put up with. Fortunately, it went into storage for 5 weeks before he got it so I had a chance to go through it completely (in addition to doing some other small tasks).

I checked every visible screw - some were missing completely, some were partially loose and some were even the wrong lenght/size. It was surprising how many small bushings/bumpers were missing - everything from the gas door, rear hatch to the glove box and console lid cover!
I was under the car checking all the bushings and everything there seemed fine - shocks seem fine as well.

The roof was on tight, but the mounting brackets in the windshield were loose so those got tightened. the hood guide pin plastic rectangle grommits were also gone and those got replaced with new models.

Dropped the spare tire and found the jack there but loose. That got fixed.
It was packed with dirt, small rocks and leaves. Removed both seats. Found loose screws, coins, and assorted junk. The tire wrench was sitting loose behind the driver's seat without any screw-down wingnuts.

I had to send off the Bose Gold unit to get repaired so while that was out I tightened up some stuff under the dash, wrapped up some wires/harness and checked all the screws in the console/tunnel that I could get at.

The car became extremely tight and quite. It had to have all the weather stripping replaced and when that was done, any wind noise dissapeared. The car came with a blue-tint acrylic top which is somewhat quiet and keeps the car from twisting in most situations. But I also got him a solid fiberglass top and when that is on, not only is the twisting gone, but with the additional top insulation, the car becomes whisper quiet.

He routinely checks screws and rubber grommits/bumpers whenever he pulls maintenance on the car - at least every other week, so the car has remained tight. Never had any door, rear hatch or dash noises or squeaks. Car has 90K miles now.

Perhaps some cars - despite mileage - have more rattles than other because of the way they were/are driven or where they are driven... one of those Corvette "features" I guess... :lol:


[Modified by linkschamp, 6:17 AM 10/2/2002]


[Modified by linkschamp, 6:19 AM 10/2/2002]

 

But then when I looked at all the squeaking areas I found no interior screws. And if there were screws in a squeak area , the pannel was cracked. a weekend , aome fiberglass resin, sandpaper and screws did a lot.