Hi, ive posted a message on the Interior forum but wanted to put it here too to maybe get a wider audience...

 It seems that a common problem on the Mk5 GTI (and poss others too) is the dashboard centre vent rattling (there is a post on the interior forum by somebody saying they have a fix for it).

My 2006 model Golf GTI is bloody terrible, the rattle is so bad now that its driving me up the wall, I wondered how many cars this has affected and what people's general opinion is, ie (1) do you live with it (2) have you managed to get a dealer to fix it or (3) if you have fixed it yourself how easy was it and has it been succesful ?

I'd really like to hear owner's experiences so i can try and work out what to do for myself.

Cheers.

I managed to fix my dash rattle with two little cubes of wood wedged between the layers under the air box vent. I took the car in to the dealers several times and asked them to do it but all they kept doing was adjusting the radio and telling me it was fixed...

I wont be buying a VW again. THe customer service has been awful. 20 visits in 20 months! They just dont check that the "fixes" they implement actually solve the problems you report.

Now ive got a rattle coming from the tailgate on high speed rough tarmac roads. Like a metallic resonating. THought it was the spare wheel but ive discounted that now. Any ideas anyone?

Also my climate control makes a tap-tap-tapping noise through my journey - gets quite loud at times Very annoying - again the delaers couldnt "reporoduce it" lol. Does it every time - any ideas anyone?

When i'm feeling brave enough i'll have the dash apart and follow the blocks of wood trick.

 I also now have a squeak from the glovebox trim and i also have the tap-tap noise from the climate control !

I had my car in for the climate control tap-tap-tapping  and all they did was "reset the flaps" (ooh er!).

Thats done absolutely nothing. VW are bloody useless.

The mechanic told me "it does tap when it first opens the vent when you turn it on". I replied "should it do it intermittently for an hour?".... no it shouldnt.....

Ive still got this resonance coming from the boot area at high speed - anyone have any ideas? I removed the spare wheel so its not that, dunno if its maybe the rear wiper or the bulbs in the rear lightss resonating??

Dash board rattle - Yep (it can be fixed though - there was a post on it)

Climate control tapping - Yep

Rattle from handbrake - Yep

Would I buy another Golf GTI - NO

I must have landed lucky... mines an 04 reg 1.9tdi, not an single rattle anywhere!

but I read on this forum or another one that some guy fixed it by taking the dash apart, buying something like a selotape sort of thing with a material surface to it... put the tape on ALL edges where plastic touches each other, put it back together again (obviously the tape could not be seen), and it stops because no plastic is rubbing together.

If it ever happens to me, thats my approach too.

 Update - i followed the "fix" mentioned elsewhere with blocks of foam behind the dash and then the anti-rattle felt all over the place inside the aircon vents. It did the trick and i enjoyed many miles of completely rattle free motoring. Very  happy.

However, it has now started to return, im buggered if i can be bothered to take it all apart again so i'll have to put up with it. Its not as bad as it was however.

Both door trims are now rattling and i also have the resonating from the boot area.

My aircon also tap-taps but this doesnt really bother me.

 I have been going through the same senario... decided one day to fix it once and for all. I used strips of  sticky velco tape ( the soft side) on all of the touching surfaces and it did the trick. I now only get some creeks from the vents when the air con is switched on and the plastic adjusts to the temperature. Had a loan car from VW recently ( a 57 reg Golf Bluemotion) and there not a single squeak or rattle from any part of the dash...maybe they have sorted the problem?

 All these problem's with rattleing car's,VW are'nt  what they used to be,sold my Golf for a BMW 530 M-Sport s and not a rattle to be heard!

 On my last 04 plate Golf i had the rattle from the dash speaker which i sorted

I prised the speaker out and underneath is a plastic section which is the cause of the rattle. Fold some carboard over and tuck itdown the sides of the lower section until it's a tight fit, replace speaker - job done

I'm looking at another golf this week and hope it doesn't have any new problems...

I had the 'felt fix' done at the stealers (only after I took the fix number into them thanks to this forum) and it kind of done the trick for a while but I still drive along banging the top of the bloody thing..

I've definity had more rattles on this Golf than any of the 4 I've had ):

 my rattle comes from the passanger sides air vent, where can i get anti rattle foam and other cures etc. Thinking i am going to try and fix it tomorrow as it is driving me insane and im inbarrassed when any1 gets in the car lol

 I have used the soft side of the sticky velcro and itsworked a treat-cheers for the advice

I had a rattle under the speaker on the dash which was fixed by the dealer. However in the time I have owned it so far I have had a new windscreen as the original was delaminating at the bottom, also I have had to have a new steering rack and lastly the most recent one was a new crank shaft sensor. Never mind my rattling seatbelt/door latches.

As you might have guessed this is my last VW. Even the Twingo I drove the other day is better built.

 Hey guys, you all seem to be complaining about the same faults, the cure for this is to use a felt strip tape that VW supply, placing it on the plastics where it is rubbing against another surface! it does work but for how long im not sure! (i just fix them, i dont take them home!! LOL)

And scottish69 - the tailgate trim is probably rattling in your tailgate, theres more than likely a few clips out of place behind the plastic!

Oh and the tapping noise you all complain about, ive never seen this on a golf, but its probably one of the positioning flaps or temperature flap jamming causing it to stick and click!!

pobmk4:

And scottish69 - the tailgate trim is probably rattling in your tailgate, theres more than likely a few clips out of place behind the plastic!

Interesting, is fixing this a warranty item?

I've had rattles in my Jetta since about 6 months after I got it. The problem is that one rattle seems to disappear, but a few days later another one starts, making it difficult to trace the source.

There is one rattle at the moment that is driving me crazy. I swear that it's coming from the passenger door area, but Ive had a passenger touch every surface around the door/dashboard and it hasn't gone away, so it must be somewhere deeper in the dash. As it only happens on certain road surfaces, it's not going to be easy to resolve. The passenger thinks it's coming from the centre of the dashboard.

It really is pretty disappointing that VW can't get something this simple right.