Common Speaker Rattle Issues Solved For Free

[Durasell22]

You are not alone. You are riding along, tearing it up in your 2010 to 2015 Camaro. The sun is out. The road is clear. The music is cranked. Suddenly you notice a annoying rattle every time a bass note hits. You never heard that before and you try to ignore it...but you can't. Before long it is all you can hear and your ride is ruined. You pull over and change the song. You start adjusting the tone, balance, and fade controls...you isolate it but it will not stop or go away. You ignore it for a few days and hope it stops...but it doesn't. You jump to the worst conclusion: my speaker is blown. Some people head straight to the dealer and demand it be fixed...leading to multiple visits or if you argue enough, replacement of the old speaker with a new one or God forbid, an amp swap out with a less powerful one (the latest bulletin on this subject at least tells dealers not to do those things anymore). Others head to their local audio shop and drop a mint on all new speakers all around or a new amp or head unit.


The dealer will tell you the sound is normal and invite you to turn down the bass. Tough guys will tell you that they would rather listen to the sound of the engine anyway so they just grin and bare it.

If you are like me, you don't have cash or time to waste so you scour the internet looking for do it yourself solutions...and if you are lucky, you'll land on Camaro5 or one of the other good forums, where after some digging...you'll find these two separate solutions deep in threads. I don't claim ownership of these solutions...others figured them out before me...although I have not seen my solution to the second problem posted before.

Your speakers might indeed be blown...but most likely they are not. These are most often mechanical sounds of metal rattling on metal due to vibration. They happen when mounting screws loosen over time or when plastic heats and expands or cools and contracts.

This is one stop shopping and cuts through all the warranty claims, expensive solutions, and nonsense. In 30 minutes or less your problem is solved with basic hand tools and stuff you probably have laying around. It has specifically to do with Boston Acoustic Systems...but would surely work for stock set up as well. My rattles were in the passenger door when I bought the car and 18 months later I got a bad one on the drivers side of the back deck...but I have read about this happening in both doors and on both sides of the deck and these solutions are universal.


For the doors. While sitting in the seat, reach out with your hand and place your fingers into the hand hold that you would use to close the door. There is a rubber piece under your fingers. It is held in place by gravity. Pry it up and remove it. There is a star bit screw underneath. Tightening or loosing that screw will eliminate the door rattle. Count the number of turns of the screw so that you can adjust back and forth as needed to make it stop. Close the door and play something with bass that causes the rattle while you are adjusting so you know for sure when you have it. Don't be afraid to leave it a little loose. Done.

For the 6 X 9's in the back deck, watch this you-tube video to demonstrate the problem: https://youtu.be/1bOVqPb-zG4 . Tintu Vargese nails it. Put on some heavy bass. Pull on the bottom of your speaker to stabilize the back deck. If no more rattle, you are diagnosed and this solution will work. If you still have a rattle, your speaker is probably blown and I can't help you.

You will notice that it is metal on metal contact that is causing the buzz. The metal of the speaker frame vibrates against the metal of the back deck. A quick bass hit won't do it. But long, drawn out bass notes are often the correct frequency to cause it.

Now you know what is wrong...but how to fix it? You could spend hours disassembling your back seat trim, exposing the deck, and then tightening the one screw and then maybe the stabilize the other few clips that hold the speaker in place. That solution wasn't for me.

Here is what I did instead: I created wedges to tighten the gap and eliminate the rattle. Find an "L" or a "V" shaped clip or piece of metal that is thin but somewhat sturdy and about 1/2 inch length on each end and a half inch wide. You could probably bend a good old fashioned angle bracket or find a small one that is just the right shape already. I happened to have some aluminum clips from an old project and they worked for me. They were black so no one would ever notice them unless I pointed it out, but if you do it right they are hard to spot anyway or you could choose to paint yours black so they blend. They have to be thin to fit where you need to put them and sturdy so that they can stand up to the force of wedging them in. The shape allows you to line them up and then pull or push them into place using the tab part that hangs down below.

Next you will want to coat the end of the bracket you are inserting so that you don't create more metal on metal contact which is likely to cause more rattles. I used heavy duty sticky backed valcro. I selected the fuzzy side and just bent it around the metal so there was one layer top and bottom. You might try plastidip or some other rubber substance. You want a little extra thickness so they are snug...but it can't be so thick that you don't have enough space to wedge it in.

Next, with bass playing, feel around the edge between the speaker and the back deck with your fingers. Probe for the spot between the two metal pieces that has significant separation or where you are able to create it by prying. Observe the rattle. There is a good chance you can spot where there is extra space because it will be moving or rattling the most. Using your bracket as a wedge, insert the covered end into that area between the two metals. Mine happened to be on either side of the screw that you can see poking through the bottom (on the inboard side). I inserted two brackets about an inch away from the screw and this solved the problem completely. One I pulled into place towards me. The other I pushed away from me. I left the music playing so I knew exactly when I had them in the right spot.

Be careful you do not stab your speaker cone with a sharp corner of the bracket.

All you are doing is snugging up the space between the two pieces of metal. Do not worry about breaking the seal, because it does not appear to be sealed anyway to begin with. This fix did not decrease my bass performance at all, which you would expect if it was truly a sealed unit.

I have enjoyed one rattle free month since I did this. I play my music loud and listen on 25 to 35 level with lots of bass. The clips stay in place and the rattle is completely gone.

Now I am back to cruising with a smile on my face. Hopefully your experience will be the same. You've got absolutely nothing to lose by trying. I wish you good luck.

[Snoman]

[MyLocalDJ]

Something else that works are small plastic toilet shims. They are small wedges and come in a pack for about $4.

[ShadowYYZ]

Saved this thread nice!!!