Taming outside rattles after speaker and subwoofer upgrade (1 Viewer)

[West Hill]

I just upgraded my 2000 Land Cruiser and while the system sounds perfect while listening at high volume inside the car, when outside there are some rattles I’d like to tame. I don’t want to sound like the SPL kids with that distorted rattling noise I’d prefer not to share with other drivers while waiting at lights. It just may be the nature of 20+ year old trucks.

Main issue is the front door handles and the rear wing windows. I may discover more when I tame those.

The door had extensive acoustic treatment but there is play in the handle itself. I can feel the play when wiggling the handle.

The seals on the rear wing windows is likely very worn, as are most of the seals in my LC that at nearly 200K is actually in pretty good shape.

Can the door handles be tightened or is there something that wears out and can be replaced? How difficult is it to have the rear wing window seal replaced?

Suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Kabanstva]

The easiest solution would be to turn up the volume higher to the point where you can't hear anything OR wear ear plugs.

 

[Jackland]

Yes, you can tighten the door handles, not too bad of a job. The small screws that hold those on can back themselves out and end up hanging out in the bottom of the doors, sounds like yours are just loose though.

Once you take the door panels/vapor barrier back off you'll easily find them. I didn't put Loctite on the one I just fixed but I believe many guys do.

 

[TheForger]

I had the exact same issues after installing a new system w/10” woofer in the rear, and although I can’t speak on the door handles the rear vent windows were driving me CRAZY. Also the rear vents on the D pillars were rattling as well. Reminded me of cars in the hood that rattled every time the bass hit. It’s a real PITA to tighten these but to do so you must remove the interior trim in the trunk to access the bolts for all of these.

You can see the small gap between the exterior trim piece and the body of the truck

After tightening the gap became substantially smaller and eliminated one source of the squeak

I also tightened all the bolts and screws in the window motor itself

For the actual hinge bolts, I completely removed them one at a time, applied red loctite because I never want to do this again, and snugged them down really well. You will need a deep 10mm socket and extension for these bolts.

 

[West Hill]

@Jackland and @TheForger, incredibly helpful. Thank you! I’m not excited about removing the panels, especially the doors after all the acoustic treatment I had installed, but my neighbors will appreciate it. In the meantime, all is bliss inside my Carnegie Hall on wheels.