Rattles / Squeaks.....???

[jserrent]

How is everyone doing in the rattle and squeak division ??? I've only got 1500 mi on mine and have already tamped down a snapping noise in the top right headliner..(used floor foam cut into stips, wedged it in, no noise).

Starting to notice rattle noises behind dash/steering column. That will be a b*tch to find...!!! Handle above passenger door slaps the ceiling driving over bumps....etc.....

These tight suspensions and PA's roads are a real test of body integrity!

I know.....Crank the fantastic stereo and forget about it....

But Honda's and Toyota's never rattle or squeak....right...!?!??

[ryude]

If I mute the radio, I can hear little squeaks when I hit bumps in the road. Not very loud, but enough to hear. Mine only has 2300 miles on it.

[IOI]

I can hear a noise around the sunroof area. I don't know, but I think is when the car is park under the sun from a period of time and I turn the AC on. the plastic start making a cracking noise in one particular area. It goes away after the interior cools down. Does this make sense?

[jserrent]

The bulk of rattles and squeaks in my Kia's are from the rapid assembly plastic snap fasteners that the assembly lines used to speed things up nowadays. Interiors that at least use SOME screws in strategic places dampen jiggling sounds better than any plastic fastener ever will. But putting in more screws takes time and more time ups the cost to produce the car and here we are !!!

What I do:

I had some left over 1/2" hard foam flooring tiles. When I cut these and using my genuine "Harbor Freight plastic interior body tools", I wedge them into spots where the noises or rattles seem to come from. This put outward pressure on the fasteners and they have nowhere to move when I go over a bump. The hard part is finding and gaining access to that sweet spot to deaden the noise.

Another neat idea. Piano tuner use little rubber wedges to deaden strings as they tune a piano. My friend gave me a bunch. You can also find them on the web in different sizes. I can get these into some really tight dash spots that rub and squeak, and cut them off with an Xacto knife. Result: no squeak...!!!!

Only on a Kia:

I had a 2003 Sedona that had a wicked creaking noise when I would turn uphill into my driveway, flexing the body. After tearing the car apart I found a broken spot weld between the B pillar and the floor, right where the sliding door closes. A FREAKIN' BROKEN WELD !!!! The dealer apologetically rewelded the spot.

Now Kia's come a long way from 2003, but I have a 2008 Suzuki SX4 that's also built "on the cheap" and I can tell you....2 yrs. no squeaks and rattles, in fact not one mechanical problem to date. Maybe I'm lucky or do the Japanese still put them together better...??? Makes you wonder....

[rpps]

Originally Posted by jserrent

What I do:





I had a 2003 Sedona that had a wicked creaking noise when I would turn uphill into my driveway, flexing the body. After tearing the car apart I found a broken spot weld between the B pillar and the floor, right where the sliding door closes. A FREAKIN' BROKEN WELD !!!! The dealer apologetically rewelded the spot.

Now Kia's come a long way from 2003, but I have a 2008 Suzuki SX4 that's also built "on the cheap" and I can tell you....2 yrs. no squeaks and rattles, in fact not one mechanical problem to date. Maybe I'm lucky or do the Japanese still put them together better...??? Makes you wonder....

I have had sqeeks and rattles of some sort in all my previous cars and they were Corolla and Honda so I don't find the Kia any worse, it's just sign of the times as most car companies like you said use clip on fasteners tosave time and money.
I had 2 bad rattles and like you I got some rubber and wedged them into certain places and that put tension on this area and stopped the rattles. I found one of the main culprits is the dash, so I ended up wedging rubber between the dash and where it meets the glass behind the clock area. Now its nice and quiet, the other one was the sunvisors, they have a pull out flap that extends the visor . That rattled like hell on my car so I just pulled this flap all the way out and then placed a piece of foam rubber in.
This is my second Kia and both cars had these same rattles but all is quiet now .

[TeeJay1959]

All -

My Forte Sedan was mostly quiet, but..... I had this ANNOYING little squeakity-squeak coming out from the lower left dash, down by my left knee. I would push on the knee-bolster panel, and it would calm down, but not disappear.

Well, I purchased the KIA factory Remote Start, and had to disassemble the entire driver-side lower dash to install everything. Once done, it was ME that re-assembled it all, and I torqued all fasteners to MY specs (tight=it won't turn no more no more!). Once I got it all back together, and drove it out of my driveway, lo and behold.... NO MORE SQUEAKS! AT ALL! I can only guess that the yokels in the factory don't fully tighten the fasteners/screws, not that they have a choice. They use torque-limited tools, either hydraulic or air-powered, that do not ALLOW them to over-torque the fastener or screw. This might meet engineering specs, but doesn't always pull every piece down as tight as it SHOULD be or COULD be. So.... if you have squeaks... try some disassemble (CAREFULLY) and re-assemble (EVEN MORE CAREFULLY).

On a side note, I cannot brag enough about the factory Remote Start. It is such a nice add-on, as well as providing an actually ALARM for the Forte. I highly recommend it to EVERYONE (with an auto tranny).