Tesla Model 3 Rattle Fixes

Table of Contents

Do you have some rattling noises or vibrations in your brand new Tesla Model 3? You aren’t alone. You can take it into a service center and complain, or you can take a DIY approach. Here is a collection of information on how to fix Model 3 rattle noises.

Passenger Side Front Wheel Well

Where the fender liner meets the passenger side fender, there is some play in the two parts which can cause a squeeking/rattling type noise when driving. It can be fixed by sticking a piece of window adhesive foam inbetween the two pieces.

Foam is available at HomeDepot or online at Amazon.com

Rattle caused by Passenger door speaker grill being loose

Apply a strip of adhesive foam inbetween the speaker grill and the door panel

Passenger and driver door tweeter assembly rattles

The tweeter is attached to the plastic enclosure by a few small plastic clips. These hold the tweeter in place but don’t necessarily hold it firmly enough to prevent Model 3 rattling noises. You can apply some superglue or silicon to the tabs to hold the tweeter in place firmly.

Don’t worry about replacement troubles – the replacement tweeter part includes the plastic cover as a one piece unit.

There are also some other sources of rattles from the front tweeter assemblies on the Model 3 between two close plastic pieces, and then even the attachment hooks that hold the tweeter onto the door.

Rattle from inside the door

There is a wire inside the Tesla Model 3 front door covers that can cause a rattling or buzzing noise while driving.

The wire by the red circle is the noisy culprit! source

Go here to see how to remove and reinstall the front door panel. This video from LivingTesla explains which wires and wire clips were vibrating.

Seatbelt adjuster rattle fix on Model 3

Fixed the rattle using felt tape from Amazon

Model 3 Driver’s under-dash air conditioning vent rattle

Adhesive foam on the left and right side of the Model 3vent helps hold the pieces firmly and keeps them from rubbing together causing squeeking noises

Rattles from the backseat area of the Tesla Model 3

Reddit user magicbliss removed the headliner and found loose plastic pieces inside. After connecting a rubber band that wasn’t connected, the rattle stopped.

This elastic band, located behind the headliner between the B and C pillar, wasn’t connected to anything.

This is the loose (and probably rattling) plastic piece that the elastic is supposed to be attached to behind the Model 3 headliner.

Model 3 Center Console Vibration Noise

The center console latch on your Model 3 may not hold the armrest securely, allowing for an intermittent vibration noise – intermittent because when you have your arm on the arm rest it won’t make the noise!
This video from Lovesword show how a little bit of foam tape fixes the issue.

VIN plate squeaking against the windshield

The VIN plate on top of the dashboard may slightly touch the windshield. This can cause a squeaking or vibration noise when the Tesla Model 3 is in motion. To fix, gently push on the VIN plate with a screwdriver to push it away from the windshield.

This video gives you a sample of what the noise sounds like:

Model 3 Phone Tray Rattle

The plastic bar that you remove to put the USB cables in causes some rattling issues on certain Model 3. Foam tape and WD40 didn’t seem to fix it for Reddit user dscrptr, so the service center attached a weighted mass inside the slot at the bottom where the bottom of the phone rests.

Another Redditer used furniture leg felt pads and attached them to each side of the phone tray by the rounded corners. src

fajitmondays removed the cell phone tray and applied felt tape on the clips and the plastic/plastic mating surfaces

Remove the two T20 screws under the cell phone tray hinge. Make a mental note of where you removed these screws (for reasons noted below). The cell phone tray is now held onto the center console by five clips. Pull straight back towards you with moderate force to pop the top clips.
Remember where you removed the T20 screws? That entire black plastic trim piece is where the remaining clips are behind. If you can wedge a trim tool from the top where you popped the top clips, you can pop the rest fairly easily. Otherwise, carefully apply force towards you, mentally noting that the entire tray + black plastic trim piece where the screws go in are one unit. Perhaps best to start pulling from the top near the hinge point, so you don’t break anything by pulling on the tray itself once it starts to flex with applied force.
Once removed, go to town with Tesa tape (or similar) on each clip, and any plastic:plastic mating surfaces. Pop back in, tighten screws. Rattle gone.
Source: Reddit

Other sources of rattles

Reddit user gjas24 has 2 rattles that aren’t solved as of January 2020:

the two plastic halves of the steering column cover. If I squeeze them together fairly hard it stops the noise
the wood trim piece in the dash on the driver’s side. It is fully snapped in, but I can push on it and the noise will stop

In this Youtube video, there are some other items outlined that can cause rattles and noises on the Tesla Model 3:

Plastic cover on the hood hinges (0:55)
Mid aero shield rattle (3:05)
Rear aero sheild thud fix
rear seat floor vent rattle (9:25)
bracket bolts under the rear seat are loose causing rattle, or styrofoam support pieces (12:30, 13:09)

Resource

There is a great Reddit thread here that outlines most of these videos and rattling issues

If your steering wheel is squeaking, check out this page