BillK

The number one thing that frankly ticks me off about any car are stupid rattles. While some are inevitable the plastic bits also shouldn't rattle to the point where it feels like you're driving a maraca. IMHO nothing makes you feel like you're driving a Kia rather than a fine $50K car like a squeak coming from the glove compartment door or rear deck.

For some reason German marques are particularly bad about this - I've been in Audis, BMWs, Porsches and VWs that all had really nasty rattles, yet the interior of a GM Suburban is a sea of cheap plastic and the interior is blissfully silent of trim rattles... go figure.

On a test drive I noted that there was a "gurgle" noise that seemed to come from behind the vents on the dash, but the radio covered that pretty well. I also noticed the dreaded "squeaky clockspring when cold" noise when turning the steering wheel back and forth before the car was warm, something that also plagued my B5 S4 (but not my TT, go figure, but the TT had an infinite number of trim rattles to make up for it.)

Any others?

I've seriously lost around $30K trading in various cars because I couldn't stand the rattles over the past few years and really don't want to have to sell my S4 six months after delivery because it too has a variety of rattles the service department can't/doesn't care to fix.

Thanks in advance...

Dolphin Dee

Very annoying.

Silver Stealth

True but all three of these issues can be fixed with some lubrication.....worked great for me!

carve1

zip,zero,nada.

Sia Bani

None yet.

BillK

IMHO, none of these areas should require lubrication on a car that's at most a month or two old.

I suspect the door trim rattle is like the trim I hear in my wife's B5 A4 1.8T, but I'm not afraid I'm not familiar with the back seat rattle.

The sunroof rattle makes me more convinced that the premium package isn't worth it for the cool mirror and Homelink (I actually prefer cars without the sunroof as I can use the headroom...)

Silver Stealth

I agree with your opinion that a new car should not require this type of lubrication.

I've wondered, though, that if the during the assembly and transport process (up to 2 months) things don't get dried out a bit given the conditions. I found this to be the case with my leather in particular. I conditioned it shortly after delivery and was amazed at how it soaked it up like a sponge! I was shocked at how relatively "dry" it was.

As for the lubrication you're referring to, the rubber seals on the doors and particularly the sunroof will squeak and rattle if dried out. I took some Lexol Vinylex to them and it was like magic -- utter silence and no more squeaking.
As for the back seats, if you take some lithium grease to the seat latches, it usually solves that rattle as well...

Maybe Audi needs to address this by doing some lubrication at the port of entry or during dealer prep.....

My two cents.

B612

My console color display rattles... actually it "buzzes"

Whootah

Its good to know, thank you.

I just picked up my B6 and the backseat or door rattles, I cant figure out which yet. I will look into the idea of lub though.

Thanks again.