[Guide] Fixing VW Jetta MK6 Rattling Door

Volkswagen.


A brand that is perceived to be premium in this part of the world.
So as expected of a premium brand, one should be expecting a car that is solidly assembled with every single switch gear, panels and trims to be solidly in place.

So it seems.

Less then 1 year into ownership, to be more precise, 7 months later, my rear passenger door develop some annoying rattling sound.
Yes, rattling sound in a Volkswagen. In this case, its my Volkswagen Jetta Mk6.

"What a rattling sound in a less then a year old Volkswagen? Sure or not?". 

That is the exact question my friends asked when topic about my car arises.

It can be heard on the move over some slightly uneven surface, over bump or when you open the door and shake it.
It annoys the hell out of me and the thoughts of making an appointment with the Service Center to resolve this seems daunting. I need to leave the car in the Service Center for the whole day and this don't guarantee that they will be able to resolve my issue.

Time to find a solution to this rattling door.
I took matter into my own hands.
I brought my car to my usual place at EA Autoworks to work on it. They have the tools and here I have some folks to back me up in case I need assistance and I am very confident in their superb workmanship.

So the first step is to dismantle the door to find out the source of the rattling sound. Troubleshooting by ear seems to point the source towards the upper left hand side of the door.

This is how the door looks like behind the panel.

Removing the big rubbery plastic cover for better access.

The troubleshooting is focus towards the upper left hand side of the door. Namely this area.

But guess what, after we have dismantled the door panel, shaking the door did not produced any rattling sound. We were stumped. So we fitted back the door panel and shake the door again. The rattling sound came back. Puzzling indeed.

We removed the door panel again and did a more thorough study. 

Finally we found out the source of the rattling sound.

It is from the tweeter.

How did the tweeter cause the ratting sound?

The tweeter is supposed to be lock in position by its place holder. But it seems that this particular tweeter has come loose from its holder and because it is loose, its free play will knock/rattle against the panel thus causing the annoying rattling sound. 

Since the source of the rattling is found, the good folks at EA Autoworks helps me to secure the tweeter firmly in place with some very fine wood shreds and some industrial or audio equipment glue.

We then fit everything back in place and then we do the "swing" test again.

The rattling is totally gone.

I then went on a test drive on a nearby superbly uneven road and thankfully, the annoying rattling sound is no longer there.

Problem solved.

Never felt such satisfaction in working and resolving issues on your own cars with your own hands.

With some assistance from the good folks in EA Autoworks of course.

The "Altis"

I don't know why I named it Altis.
Maybe out of pure cheekiness as the troll in me is very strong.
Anyway the name stuck and it kinda grew on me.

Time really flies when you are having fun.
I still remember the "Altis" sitting in the delivery bay awaiting to be collected way back in November 2012.

43km on the clock with the MFD totally as it is direct from factory.
Yes the time is off because it is yet to be configured.

Duh.

I can't believe its already 9 months since I took delivery of the car.

9 months and 23k km of fun, even as a daily drive.

Life is good.

A fun daily drive car and a mad weekend car.

[Review] Ultra Racing 23mm Rear Anti-Roll Bar for VW Jetta

Having tracked the "Altis" several times in Sepang and also some competitive events, I figured out areas that needs improvement for the "Altis" to suit me.

One of it is to make the body roll more controllable.
So off I go to my usual place, EA Autoworks to get the necessary parts and services.

The area of upgrade for this time will be the rear anti-roll bars.
The "Altis" comes with 16mm rear anti-roll bar as standard fare from factory.

I am going to replace the stock 16mm rear anti-roll bar with Ultra Racing 23mm Rear Anti-Roll Bar.

 

The replacement process is straight forward and as simple as ABC. Literally.

Raise the car on the hoist. 

Remove the stock anti-roll bar.

Fit in the new anti-roll bar.

Voila. Work completed.

It's time for a test drive at the nearby "handling test course".

The effect of a bigger anti-roll bar is immediate. The car stay flatter around corners now as it is having a much higher resistant to roll now.

Make no mistake, at its limit, the car still have the roll angle of the stock anti-roll bar but with the bigger Ultra Racing 23mm Rear Anti-Roll Bar, the car take a longer time and more force to get there. So this indirectly translate to a "flatter" cornering experience, in layman terms.

As the "handling test course" did not allow for a much higher speed of cornering, it is left to the usual "test track" of many regular driving kakis.

A date is setup with the regular people for a dash uphill.

What ever experience felt during the "handling test course" is replicated at the corners of the "test track".

As the "test track" allows for a much higher speed run, the improvement is more apparent.

The "Altis" has a much sharper turn-in now compared to before and this allows the car to literally dive into a corner later without much worry about the rear swinging wildly about from such last minute maneuver as the up-rated anti-roll bar keep the weight transfer in check.

Taking sweeping corners are now better as the weight transfer is more gradual, thus the car sit flatter through most of the corners and this allow me to have more time on the throttle and less time correcting the car mid-corner. Indirectly this translate to a "faster" drive as you spend more time on the throttle.

All in all, I would say this would be a good up-grade for those who don't want to sacrifice the comfort of stock suspension while at the same time looking for some improvement over their stock suspension.

Just remember that this is an improvement but do not expect the level of handling improvement that coil-overs or sports springs provides. 

Note to kids:

Changing to a bigger anti-roll bar is not magic. You still need proper coil-overs or sports springs to improve your vehicle handling.