Front doors rattle when playing music. Honda Corp. won't insulate under warranty. WTF?

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Update: Honda Canada has concluded that they will not insert the stock foam that comes in other civics under warranty. They did thank me for my feedback as it will help determine whether they continue to strip the insulation for weight in newer models.

Even though I am disappointed, I'll just have to do it myself. I'm going to wait until I install a new sub in it this summer.
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kg4fxg

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I did some more testing of the system. Maybe some sort of equalizer would help as above. Normally listing to Vivaldi, however, with bass all the up I had the volume at 16 to hear good bass. If anything, compared to other cars I would have to turn the bass down. This car seems to be the other way. But much can be attributed to my music tastes.

I wonder if any have tried not having the rear screen pulled across in the hatch or having a back seat lowered? I have a subwoofer in the rear. Not sure if that would produce more bass? Nothing to get rattles on the 2019 but they did say they added more insulation in 2019. Just not exactly sure where and if that helped bass vibrations.
 

kg4fxg

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Of course poster has a type R. Not sure how that compares to Civic Hatch Touring? Doors, insulation, lots of variables. Basically two different cars.
 

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So I've been dealing with an issue I've had since I bought my car in Oct 2018.

Both my front doors rattle when I play music. Even at 12-14/40 volume. I have taken it to three dealerships. The first two couldn't identify a rattle, even after I offered to replicate it. So I said fuck them, I'm not taking it to either of them again, which is unfortunate since one is 5 min from my house.

So I took it to the dealer I purchased it from, which is 2.5 hours away from me. It was the only new black one left in Ontario so I had to go there. I saved a few songs I know cause the rattle onto a USB and left it plugged into the centre console for the techs. I get a call back while they're working on my car telling me they have identified the rattle and are checking with corporate if they can add insulation since the type r's don't have any door insulation like other civics.

They phone back again saying that Corporate said the car is as it should be out of factory and therefor they will not insulate the doors. They said if I want the rattle stopped, I have to take it to a car audio shop and pay out of pocket to insulate it. I told them that was rediculous becuase the speakers are stock and shouldn't cause a rattle out of the factory, so how can they say it's working as it should.

I've escalated the situation with Honda Corporate over the phone and will hear back from them in 10 business days.

Anyone else have an issue with front door rattles with music on? Thanks.
I do but a little tap on the tweeters fixed the problem. I occasionally have the a-piller rattle and a little knock fixed that as well
and i sometime would hear it too but just some specific music. One of them is "Can't help falling in love with you" , try out that song it might give the rattle up so the dealer can hear it.
 

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I did some more testing of the system. Maybe some sort of equalizer would help as above. Normally listing to Vivaldi, however, with bass all the up I had the volume at 16 to hear good bass. If anything, compared to other cars I would have to turn the bass down. This car seems to be the other way. But much can be attributed to my music tastes.

I wonder if any have tried not having the rear screen pulled across in the hatch or having a back seat lowered? I have a subwoofer in the rear. Not sure if that would produce more bass? Nothing to get rattles on the 2019 but they did say they added more insulation in 2019. Just not exactly sure where and if that helped bass vibrations.
Hidden, deep down in the Honda's Head Units "Hidden Menus" is a Speaker Test utility.
It enables you to play a test tone through the SUB, and alter the volume.

I tried it a few months ago... it's just one very low frequency, and it was more a question of FEELING it than Hearing it. It (The Sub speaker) was not that impressive.

A lot depends on your music source (Bluetooth, Radio, Mp3, Flac, etc)
If you get a FLAC music file that is reasonably dynamic, and then produce even a high bitrate Mp3 from it, and then play the two, one after the other, the Flac stands out head & Shoulders over the Mp3, (Even on the Honda Audio systems !!! )

Actually, you might NOT want to do that, because if you only have a large Mp3 collection, and you hear Flac, you might never want to listen to mp3 again !!
 


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I did some more testing of the system. Maybe some sort of equalizer would help as above. Normally listing to Vivaldi, however, with bass all the up I had the volume at 16 to hear good bass. If anything, compared to other cars I would have to turn the bass down. This car seems to be the other way. But much can be attributed to my music tastes.

I wonder if any have tried not having the rear screen pulled across in the hatch or having a back seat lowered? I have a subwoofer in the rear. Not sure if that would produce more bass? Nothing to get rattles on the 2019 but they did say they added more insulation in 2019. Just not exactly sure where and if that helped bass vibrations.
So many reports of the Honda Audio system NOT meeting owners expectations, but it's difficult to tell exactly what is "out of wack", as most of the reports are very subjective, depending on owners perceptions and expectations.

Hopefully, by the end of this weekend, I should have some quantitative measurements (Frequency / Phase respose plots), or exactly what the Audio is doing at various positions within the car, and with a few different passenger loading, and how capable the oem system is of being adjusted, at least to a reasonable flat audio response.

(My Audiophile friend is lending me his calibrated Mic and laptop with software, to do the test in the car)

Should prove most informative !!
 
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Of course poster has a type R. Not sure how that compares to Civic Hatch Touring? Doors, insulation, lots of variables. Basically two different cars.
Yeah unfortunately the type r has all the insulation stripped for weight. Not sure why they even bothered to do that. We prob have the same sub in the back. And you're right, you have to turn the bass and sub up to even get a little bass. Basically, I had asked Honda to install the stock insulation that would come in a touring and they said that would be considered 'modding' and not covered under warranty.

If you ask me, it's just an excuse to not do the work and also not let other type r owners walk in and do the same thing since they did it for one type r owner. Meh, very meh.
 
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I do but a little tap on the tweeters fixed the problem. I occasionally have the a-piller rattle and a little knock fixed that as well
and i sometime would hear it too but just some specific music. One of them is "Can't help falling in love with you" , try out that song it might give the rattle up so the dealer can hear it.
Rattles have been isolated on both front doors. It's a piece of metal that is otherwise insulated in any other civic expect the type r. Unfortunate that they won't do anything about it.
 

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Rattles have been isolated on both front doors. It's a piece of metal that is otherwise insulated in any other civic expect the type r. Unfortunate that they won't do anything about it.
Well, at least you now know for sure where the rattles are coming from.

Look on the bright side. The NON "R" has a little more sound insulation, but it is minimal.
Your "R" has got "NONE", so in theory, you did not pay for minimal "Insulation", that you would probably want to trash, and replace with some decent Insulation.
You, or your Audio Auto Man" can fit whatever you want, and to whatever extend you want to meet YOUR standards, and end up with far better Insulation than any Factory Civic.

ADDED BONUS. When you have the doors opened up, you can also fit some water protection, to stop any water running down the Outside, (or INSIDE) and damaging any of the electrical items in the door (including the speakers).

Typically, water should not run down the Inside of the windows, EXCEPT if you are having any tint fitted, where a lot of water is involved on the inner Glass.

There have been multiple reports of Civic owners, having electrical issue in the door, after having their windows tinted (due to water damage)
 
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Well, at least you now know for sure where the rattles are coming from.

Look on the bright side. The NON "R" has a little more sound insulation, but it is minimal.
Your "R" has got "NONE", so in theory, you did not pay for minimal "Insulation", that you would probably want to trash, and replace with some decent Insulation.
You, or your Audio Auto Man" can fit whatever you want, and to whatever extend you want to meet YOUR standards, and end up with far better Insulation than any Factory Civic.

ADDED BONUS. When you have the doors opened up, you can also fit some water protection, to stop any water running down the Outside, (or INSIDE) and damaging any of the electrical items in the door (including the speakers).

Typically, water should not run down the Inside of the windows, EXCEPT if you are having any tint fitted, where a lot of water is involved on the inner Glass.

There have been multiple reports of Civic owners, having electrical issue in the door, after having their windows tinted (due to water damage)
While you have good points, I'm still a bit salty lol. But it's all good since I'll be doing some audio work on her in the spring.

I had to re iterate that the rattles have been identified already, since a lot of people posting missed that comment in my original post. I posted this thread after it had been already identified and wouldn't touch it. Just to clear things up.
 


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Strange. You pay all that money, more than the Touring for Type R and get no insulation. Insulating a few doors weights what same as your tee shirt? I had the pilar off for the dash cam. Easy to add door weather stripping to prevent rattles. If they really want to save on weight take off the volume knob on the Type R.

Like I said, I have had rattles in the past. Bought a Stethoscope for cars off Amazon - Cheap. So you can accurately trace the noise. Add foam thin door insulation in the dash. Problem solved. Oh, yeah. I am sure I would get better gas mileage if i took out the hatch organizer and spare tire. Maybe my 38 MPG would hit a steady 40!

At least on the Touring, no rattles. Almost no bass. I have my bass max and mid range almost max. But then I listen to classical. Other cars I would need to crank bass way down. Sounds fine. And yes I have some FLAC files. Also used studio in ear monitors such as Shure made to fit your ears. Being an audiophile any car is a compromise. In the house I have ran very high end components. I just don't want to tear the car apart and replace speakers. My bad. Did that in the past. So I settled for Civic. Could afford more, but I run massive miles. In the end will trade in 4 or 5 years anyway. Not a priority.

I would rather drive a Civic than a BMW or Mercedes and I am cheap. Maintenance should be more affordable. Affording and willing to spend are two different things. I was not impressed with my BMW. My choice as cars don't appreciate. Means to an end.
 

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Basically, I had asked Honda to install the stock insulation that would come in a touring and they said that would be considered 'modding' and not covered under warranty.
What isn't covered under warranty?

edit - I just caught up with the thread...I would just install it myself.
 

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You might have issues with Honda themselves doing it... but any sound shop would be happy to exchange money for adding whatever insulation, whether it's what came OEM on another trim or something they'd provide. The dealership may be resistant to essentially modifying your car, even if it's effectively an improvement to you because it's not standard with that trim.

The sound quality on the Civics can be ok. I know the Bluetooth codecs are a little wonky. My Android based phone sounds like tinny, shrieky death on the highs. My wife's iPhone sounds pretty decent with the higher bitrate MP3s... pretty much equivalent to it being wired.

Pulling doors is actually pretty easy. It really takes all of 5-10 minutes. I've pulled piles of them to do door lock actuators, speakers, replace a broken door handle, you name it. Reaching into the shell of a door to do the above items is by far the harder/more tedious/cut your hand up on sheet metal-goodness part of the process.

I've never just paid a sound shop to pull a door but I imagine they'd be very reasonably priced. I can't imagine it's take more than $100, plus whatever supplies. Maybe it'd be a bit less... but there's probably a lower limit where it just isn't worth their time. I'd just give one a call and ask. Adding insulation to doors when changing speakers goes hand and hand so they'd be well suited to taking care of you.
 

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I know this thread is a little stale, but I wanted the OP to know that taking the door panel off is a 5 minute job and only requires a plastic wedge tool and Phillips screwdriver. In fact, one of your Canadian cohorts posted a nice How To video:

.

The idea from above about using a mobile frequency generator app should help you isolate problems once you have the panel off, with one exception. My most noticeable rattle came from the upper and lower sections of the plastic door panel vibrating against each other. Applying some 50 mil Kilmat to the door panel junction of these two sections eliminated most of my rattle, but I also used some Kilmat on the bare metal near the speaker and weatherstripping tape on various gaps that rattled at various low frequencies. I was replacing the factor speakers with some Alpines (Type Rs of course), so some of the rattles I heard may not be present with the factory speakers. All in all, not a difficult or expensive process (the Kilmat is only $35 for 25 sq ft), and you will do a much better job than your dealer.
 
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eee.ccc

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I think this forum should not give attention seeking babies that take the effort to cuss out people WHILE censoring their cussing to make their point.

Responding to these idiots just gives them more of a platform to stand upon.



That being said, to OP were you able to see which areas in the door were reinforced? I actually have a regular nonR and am hearing a buzz just under the tweeter when I'm listening to a podcast sometimes when there are low frequencies in speech.
Asking as I'm looking to DIY a fix.
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