If my '92 hits a bump, there are so many squeaks, rattles, etc, in the cabin, that it sounds like she is going to fall apart!

I never noticed it being this bad, then again, I havent driven her much in the last year.

One other thing I noticed is that several of the interior piece screws are missing. I have seen interior screw replacement sets, and plan on purchasing one.

As for the squeaks and rattles- has anyone here bene through this battle? Did you win? What is the best way to get rid of them? Rip out the whole interior, and reinstall it? Any tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

-Mark

 

i have an 87 coupe with only 35000 miles. it rattles pretty good when i hit a bump. i have tracked down one or two of them but i think it would be impossible to elimate them.. i find it is best to drive with the windows open and radio on so they dont make me nuts.

paul

 

I have a '92 'vert w/ 104,000 miles, same exact thing! The weatherstripping needs replacing, but that's it, I resigned to the fact that hey, its a Corvette,a convertible, and a C4 at that , its old, and it has 104,000 miles on it!(5 strikes against it!) Oh well....

I remember my '83 Z28 Camaro, it had t-tops, it was only 5 years old when I got it, and it had 50k miles, and that thing sounded like I had a bird sanctuary in it!

 

Lyndhurst.. where is that? I am in Princeton.

Mine is a coupe, DESPERATELY needs new weatherstripping, and has 86k miles on it. However, I am not going to give up that easily. There has got to be a way to make the interior of these things a little bit more... solid.

 

put in a harness bar, it really stiffens it up

 

The Helms book has an entire section on trouble shooting this problem with some great tips.

 

http://www.city-data.com/city/Lyndhurst-New-Jersey.html

There's a link about Lyndhurst. I'm in the northeastern part of Jersey, in Bergen County, close to NYC and right near Giants Stadium & the Meadowlands. Off of exit 16W on the TPK. You're about an hour away.

 

Mark,

I have a Z51, which due to the stiffer springs and shocks plus my enjoyment of those components caused my Vette to rattle more than the usual C4. Finally I got sick of it and did something about it. Not done yet, but the progress so far has yielded great results.

First go to NAPA, or you favorite auto parts store and get replacement a couple bags of interior screws to match the ones in your Vette. Also get some new metal clips of the type that the screws go into. The new clips make a significant difference, so don't skimp there.

Get in the car and unscrew every interior screw one at a time. Check to make sure that if it screws into a metal clip that the clip is correctly positioned and is able to hold the screw tightly. If not, readjust or replace the clip. Any clips that are even slightly marginal, replace with new. Carefully tighten the screw back tight enought that it won't come loose, but not so tight it cracks the plastic. Look around and make sure that if a screw is missing that you replace it and the associated clip if need be. The rear panels under the hatch glass can be adjusted and tightened to reduce a lot of squeaking.

When I was doing this I would also take some of the panels completely off and line the back (hidden) edges where they met other plastic pieces with a strip of soft fabric. I got a 6" x 36" (1/6th square yard) of black ultra-suede like fabric from a Hancock's Fabrics store for this. It costs $60 a square yard, but you'll only needed 1/6th yard ($10). Best $10 I've spent on the Vette in a while. Using small thin strips and very limited amounts of plastic cement, I lined the edges where the plastic panels overlapped or touched with fabric where it couldn't be seen.

Over time I've been lining all of the panels one by one. I'm almost done with every panel in the interior and the Vette is MUCH quieter. Enough that I have gotten positive and unsolicited comments from other C4 owners.

 

Suggestion when reinstalling those interior screws. Make sure the plastic panels are in place squarely and lightly dip the end of the screw in (black) RTV. This will hold the screw in place and make it easy to remove when you need to.

 

Got a few in the 89, tightening the rearview alone helped more thaqn you would think. The other noises seem to be the two plastic pieces (pillars?)that run down either side of the windshield and the dash pad. The silicone on screws bit makes sense!

Weird thing is, on average roads the car's fairly quiet:bumpy roads squeaks 'o plenty. Yet on the freeway, no matter how bumpy, quiet as a mouse.??? Was the roof structure designed to "squish" at speed and in effect "tighten everything" due to downforce of the wind?

 

Turn the stereo volume up , and stop driving over bump