U235

I posted this over at AZ with no luck:

Ok, so my 2013 S6 has a nasty rattle. I've tried a handful of things to get it to stop, but I just can't. The rattle is mostly only noticeable when going over grated roads (like when they tear roads up before refinishing them) or highway reflectors, etc.

It is definitely worse when the tires are over inflated, but even at recommended pressure (per the manual, not the doorjam), it is still there. It is persistent, it is loud and it does not sound like it belongs in a car this price (or honestly even in the cheapest of cars). It is without a doubt, the largest and most significant rattle I've had in any car.

I've been unable to tame it either. I remove the fuse panel and left it in my garage and that didn't do it. It is coming from that general area.

The picture below sort of points to the area. The circle is an area where I can jam and wedge my fingers (between the dash and door) in which will reduce the noise, so it is something with those plastic panels in the upper left hand dash area. I do not hear it from the passenger side, and it does not appear to be the door, BOSE speaker. It sounds like it's coming from in the upper dash part or where the upper and lower dash may converse. It's very difficult to tell as the origin of sound is hard to follow and I could be chasing the wrong thing.



I did jam some soft tape in between the dash and A-pillar and that didn't help. I'm at a loss, I'm usually pretty good about finding rattles, but this one is a huge mystery.

I took off both tweeter covers and the center speaker cover area, nothing is loose in there.

Glacier6

Man....I'm right there with you. I have an insanely annoying rattle coming from that general area and cannot determine where exactly it is coming from. It seems if I put pressure on the silver dash area around the AC vent just below where you have circled, it mutes it a tad, but there is still some rattle even when I do that.

It only happens on rough and grated roads like you as well. Wish I had a solution, but all I can say at this point is I feel your pain.

Tinbad

I have rattles everywhere else besides that place lol.

I did notice though my '14 CPO has a piece of felt sticking out of that area, so it may have been addressed already and is probably known by Audi, as mine used to be a service loaner and I'm actually surprised they bothered to repair it before I took ownership. I will take a picture and post when I'm back with the car.

U235

I also have the felt between those two pieces. I've jammed soft tape between a lot of crevices and can't get it to stop. Part of the problem is I can't find a road long enough to really diagnose (that and it's hard to drive and really diagnose it - on driver's side, it's not like I can have someone else drive while I look, etc.).

I'll try the silver trim piece next time. I certainly haven't found the pressure spot that completely mutes it.

Inyoury

Did you take the car to the dealer and have them look at it? I have heard that sometimes the parts inside the vent becomes loose and rattles around (also happens in plenty of other car brands). why don't you try putting some clips in the vent and try to clamp down the plastic parts of possible.

One a side note, my wife complained she has been hearing plastic rattling noises from both front doors of her Mercedes. She wasn't sure exactly where they were coming from and asked me to take the car for a drive before dinner and see if I can figure out where the noise was coming from. So as soon as I started down the road, I heard the rattling noises. I looked inside the pockets on the doors where I refill the 8oz water bottles for my wife on a weekly bases and found they had been rattling around. Sure enough the doors has 1 bottle each in them. As soon as I pulled them out, the noise was gone. My point is, sometimes simply things are over looked...

U235

My dealer told me I was out of the rattle warranty which is only for the first year. I plan to record it because I feel the noise is beyond a normal rattle. Honestly speaking, a few of my friends who have heard it really question the quality of Audi. It really sounds bad, it's not your typical rattle, it is like a can of pennies and nails going off. Hopefully seeing the video might make my dealer and/or Audi feel it's a bit extreme to ignore. Ultimately, I think this rattle cost Audi a sale from my father who was considering an A6 to replace his Infiniti M37, he is now considering Lexus and Mercedes figuring the are "bolted together better".

Inyoury

Unfortunately, not every car manufacture can escape the rattling interior. I was a huge Lexus game based on the service was so great compared to the German brands in Korea. My first was ISF and it had a rattle in the center consol. They removed it and put 3M foam around the edges and worked great. Then my next Lexus GS didn't have a single problem, the rear tires wore out so quickly... But my first Audi I had major issues during the first year ownership. After that, the quality was outstanding for 2.5 more years. I sold it since I moved to the U.S. I bought the 2016 A6 here and love it. I think if your father enjoys driving, then the Audi definitely puts a smile or grin on the face compared to the Lexus. I thought about getting the E400 4Matic, but I felt old driving it and it was boring. My wife loves her Mercedes over her previous Audi.
I think you recording the sounds should wake up the dealer to make some sort of action. Press hard on them and mention about your father worrying about service quality for future purchases as being a reason not to buy Audi. Good luck!

U235

It's not service quality, and I do understand that it's typical for dealers/car makers to only offer rattle warranties for 1 year (Volvo is the same). I didn't press my dealer too hard, instead I took it upon myself to try and fix it myself. In all honesty, in over a decade of owning top European and Japanese luxury vehicles, I have a low success rate in the dealer really fixing any rattles. 50% chance they make it worse actually.

Dealers do not like diagnosing rattles. Even if you say, "It's in the roof or it's in the dash", they'll just take it apart apply some tape and put it back together. They hardly drive them and really make strides to isolate the rattle, it's just guess and check and they don't really check. I've had much better success fixing things myself and taking my time diagnosing it. That's why I'm upset here. I do believe the entire dash needs to come apart based on my current testing, and that's not a job I want to take on.

In regards to my father, my S4 was bulletproof, this is not. My dad's primary issue has and always will be rattles. He is hyper-sensitive to them, and he does NOT buy sports packages, larger wheels, etc. He goes for top-trim premium packages and opts for any feature that adds comfort, quiet, higher material quality, etc.

This rattle is the worst rattle I've had in any car bar none in terms of the noise it produces and the volume of that. Fortunately, it only happens on certain types of roads, but when it does, it is outright embarrassing for Audi and myself.

My only option is to film it and ask nicely if they could address this. I'll start with the dealer service manager and then maybe let AoA know.

The irony is, other than this rattle over specific surfaces, the car is otherwise rattle free and smooth. It doesn't have those tiny rattles that other cars have, but it makes up for all of that with the mother of all rattles when the pavement gets rough.

U235

I just tried to google rattles in general, it is like this one but about 2X as loud and much higher frequency.

With noise cancellation, there is much less tire/wind noise so it stands out really bad, much worse than this video but this will give you an idea: